Uploading Contacts
Before uploading, make sure your CSV file is formatted correctly. (You can still map columns later even if they aren’t formatted exactly.)
Example CSV Format
John Smith
John
Smith
+1-234-567-8910
"Top Spenders", "VIP"
"Dance/Electronic"
San Francisco, CA
Jan 1, 1990
Supported Date Formats
When including dates in your CSV (e.g., birthdays), Cymbal supports the following formats:
2006-01-02 – ISO 8601
2006/01/02 – ISO with slashes
02 Jan 2006 – Human-readable (day first, abbreviated month)
2 Jan 2006 – Human-readable, no leading zero
January 2, 2006 – US-style written date
Jan 2, 2006 – US-style with abbreviated month
01/02/2006 – US short format (MM/DD/YYYY)
Steps to Upload Contacts
Go to Audience tab: https://manager.cymbal.co/audience
Click Add contacts (top right).

Select Upload CSV.

Upload your file by either:
Clicking Choose a file, or
Dragging and dropping your file onto the screen.

Choose how to handle Email and Text subscriptions:
Subscribe everyone – marks all contacts as subscribed, even if they previously opted out.
Subscribe only if not opted out – adds contacts without re-subscribing anyone who unsubscribed.
Unsubscribe everyone – marks all as unsubscribed.
Unsubscribe only if not subscribed – unsubscribes only those not already subscribed.
Don’t change subscription – keeps current subscription status. Click Continue.

Map your CSV fields to Cymbal attributes:
Left column = your CSV column names.
Middle = assign each to the correct Cymbal field (e.g., email, phone, first name, last name).
Right column = preview of your CSV data for accuracy. Click Continue.

⚡ Note: Only contacts with explicit consent may receive emails or texts.
Add tags or lists to organize contacts:
Tags: Internal only, customers cannot see them. Used for segmentation and tracking.
Lists: Can be public or private. Customers can subscribe/unsubscribe if public. Used for managing preferences. Select tags and/or lists, then click Continue.

Cymbal will process your CSV (this may take a few minutes). Your audience size will update once complete.
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