Importing & Exporting Contacts

Leenkies lets you move contacts in and out of your CRM with simple CSV file operations. Whether you need to export your contact list for use in an external email marketing tool, create a backup, or import an existing list of contacts from another platform, the import and export features make it straightforward.

Exporting Contacts

Exporting creates a CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file containing all of your contacts. This file can be opened in any spreadsheet application (Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers) or imported into other tools.

How to Export

1. Navigate to Contacts in your Leenkies sidebar.
2. Click the Export button at the top of the Contacts page.
3. A CSV file is generated and downloaded to your computer automatically.

The export includes all contacts in your database, regardless of how they were added (contact form, product order, or appointment booking).

CSV Columns

The exported CSV file contains the following columns:

Column	Description
Name	The contact's full name
Email	The contact's email address
Phone	The contact's phone number (blank if not provided)
Source	How the contact was added (form, order, or booking)
Created At	The date and time the contact was first created

Each row in the file represents one contact. The data is exported exactly as it appears in your Contacts list, with no transformations or modifications.

Common Use Cases for Exporting

• Email marketing -- Export your contacts and import them into an email marketing platform (Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Beehiiv, etc.) to send newsletters, product announcements, or promotional campaigns.
• Backup -- Download a periodic backup of your contacts so you always have a copy of your data outside of Leenkies.
• Analysis -- Open the CSV in a spreadsheet to analyze your contact growth, filter by source, count contacts by date range, or run any other analysis you need.
• Sharing -- If you work with a team, share the exported file with a colleague or assistant who needs access to your contact information.

Pro Tip: Set a monthly reminder to export your contacts as a backup. While Leenkies stores your data securely, having an offline copy gives you peace of mind and ensures you always have access to your contact list.

Importing Contacts

Importing lets you bulk-add contacts to your Leenkies CRM from a CSV file. This is especially useful when you are migrating from another platform or tool and want to bring your existing contact list into Leenkies.

How to Import

1. Navigate to Contacts in your Leenkies sidebar.
2. Click the Import button at the top of the Contacts page.
3. Select the CSV file from your computer.
4. Leenkies processes the file, validates the data, and adds the contacts to your database.
5. Once the import is complete, the new contacts appear in your contacts list.

CSV Format Requirements

Your CSV file must follow these formatting rules for the import to succeed:

Header Row

The first row of your CSV file must be a header row that labels each column. Leenkies uses the header names to identify which column contains which data. The expected headers are:

• name -- Required
• email -- Required
• phone -- Optional

The header names are case-insensitive, so Name, name, and NAME all work.

Required Fields

• Name -- Every row must include a name. Rows without a name value will be skipped during import.
• Email -- Every row must include a valid email address. Rows without an email or with an invalid email format will be skipped during import.

Optional Fields

• Phone -- The phone number column is optional. If your CSV does not include a phone column, contacts will be imported without phone numbers. If the column exists but a specific row has no phone value, the contact is imported with a blank phone field.

Example CSV Format

name,email,phone
Jane Smith,[email protected],+1-555-0101
Alex Johnson,[email protected],
Maria Garcia,[email protected],+44-20-7946-0958

In this example, Jane and Maria have phone numbers, while Alex's phone field is blank. All three contacts would be imported successfully because they all have the required name and email fields.

Deduplication During Import

Leenkies applies the same email-based deduplication during import that it uses for all contact sources. If your CSV contains an email address that already exists in your contacts database, that row is skipped -- the existing contact record is preserved and not overwritten or duplicated. This means you can safely import a list that might contain some contacts you already have without worrying about creating duplicate entries.

Pro Tip: Before importing, open your CSV in a spreadsheet application and clean it up. Remove any rows with missing emails, fix obvious typos, and standardize phone number formats. A clean CSV ensures a smooth import with no skipped rows.

Migrating From Another Platform

If you are moving to Leenkies from another link-in-bio tool, CRM, or email marketing platform, the import feature is your migration path:

1. Export from your current platform -- Most tools offer a CSV or Excel export of your contacts. Download this file.
2. Reformat if needed -- Open the file in a spreadsheet application and ensure it has the correct column headers (name, email, phone). Rename columns if necessary and remove any extra columns that Leenkies does not use.
3. Import into Leenkies -- Use the import feature to upload your reformatted CSV.
4. Verify -- After the import completes, browse your contacts list to confirm that everything was imported correctly.

Pro Tip: If your previous platform uses separate first name and last name columns instead of a single name column, combine them before importing. In Google Sheets, you can use a formula like =A2 & " " & B2 to merge first and last names into a single "name" column.