---
title: "Import customers"
description: "Add or update many customers at once from a CSV file."
url: "https://docs.goomzo.africa/docs/help/import-customers"
docs_index: /llms.txt
lastUpdated: 2026-11-12
section: "Customers"
related:
  - /docs/help/customers
  - /docs/help/segments
---

> For an index of all documentation, see [/llms.txt](https://docs.goomzo.africa/llms.txt). Any page is also available as Markdown by adding .md to its URL.

# Import customers

> Add or update many customers at once from a CSV file.

Importing is the quickest way to bring in the customers you already have, from a spreadsheet or another system.
The organization's owner and admins can import, and so can an
[API key](https://docs.goomzo.africa/docs/developers/authentication?utm_source=llms&utm_medium=ai) with `customers.write`.

## Prepare your file

Save your spreadsheet as a CSV file, separated by commas or semicolons, with the column names in the first row. A
file can hold up to 5,000 customers, and up to 5 MB.

| Column       | Required | What goes in it                                                     |
| ------------ | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Name         | Yes      | The customer's name.                                                |
| Phone        | One of   | A Tanzanian mobile number, such as `0712 345 678`.                  |
| Email        | these    | Their email address.                                                |
| Segments     | No       | Segments to put them in, separated by `;` or `,`.                   |
| Anything else | No      | Saved as a [detail](https://docs.goomzo.africa/docs/help/customers?utm_source=llms&utm_medium=ai#add-your-own-details), such as City. |

Goomzo recognizes column names in English and Swahili, such as **Jina**, **Simu**, **Barua pepe** and
**Makundi**. To start from a blank file, select **Download a template** when you import.

## Import

1. In **All customers**, select **New customer → Import from a file**.
2. Choose your file. Goomzo checks every row first and shows you what will happen.
3. Choose what to do with customers you already have: **Leave their details** or **Update their details**.
4. Select **Import**.

## Customers you already have

Goomzo matches each row to an existing customer by phone or email, so nobody is added twice. Whichever you choose,
existing customers still join the segments the file names. Importing the same file again changes nothing.

## Rows that can't be imported

Goomzo skips a row, and tells you why, when:

- it has no name, or neither a phone nor an email;
- its phone or email isn't valid, or appears in an earlier row;
- its phone and email belong to two different customers.

The other rows are imported. Fix the skipped rows and import them again.

---

For an index of all available documentation, see [/llms.txt](https://docs.goomzo.africa/llms.txt)