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Contacts Overview

Contacts are the recipients of your campaign messages. In Outreach, contacts are uploaded via CSV file during the Add Contacts step of the campaign wizard. This page explains how contact upload, mapping, and validation work.

How Contacts Are Added​

Contacts are not stored as a persistent list in Outreach. Instead, each campaign has its own set of contacts that are uploaded during the campaign creation wizard.

  1. Upload a CSV file on the Add Contacts step of the campaign wizard.
  2. Map columns from your CSV to recipient and variable fields.
  3. Outreach validates the data and creates individual message records for each valid contact.

CSV Requirements​

RequirementDetail
File format.csv only
Maximum rows300,000
Maximum file size50 MB
Header rowOptional. Outreach detects whether the first row contains headers

If the file does not meet these requirements, the upload is rejected with an error message.

Before a CSV upload begins, Outreach asks you to confirm that you have obtained explicit consent from all contacts for communication. You must accept this confirmation to proceed. If you cancel, no file is uploaded.

Mapping Columns​

After a successful upload, Outreach displays the columns found in your CSV. You assign a role to each column:

Destination (Required)​

Exactly one column must be mapped as the Destination; this is the recipient field:

  • SMS campaigns: the column containing phone numbers. Numbers must be in E.164 format.
  • Email campaigns: the column containing email addresses. Addresses must be in a valid RFC 5322 format.

You cannot map multiple columns to the Destination field.

Custom Variables (Optional)​

Other columns can be mapped as Custom Variables. These become available as dynamic placeholders in the message template. For example, a column called "first_name" can be inserted into the message as a variable that resolves to each recipient's name.

Do Not Import​

Columns you do not need can be set to Do not import. These columns are excluded from the campaign data entirely.

Validation​

After mapping, Outreach validates the recipient column against the channel-specific rules:

  • SMS: checks that each value is a valid E.164 phone number (starts with +, followed by country code and number, no spaces or special characters)
  • Email: checks that each value is a valid email address format

What Counts as an Invalid Contact​

A contact is marked as invalid if:

  • The recipient field (Destination) is empty or missing
  • The recipient value does not match the expected format for the selected channel
  • Any mapped variable field has a missing value

How Invalid Contacts Are Handled​

  • Invalid contacts are counted and displayed in the contact summary panel.
  • Invalid rows are automatically skipped; they are not included as sendable messages.
  • The campaign can still be saved and run with the remaining valid contacts.

Re-Validation on Mapping Changes​

If you change which column is mapped to the Destination field, Outreach re-validates the recipient values. A loading indicator appears under the invalid contacts count while this runs.

Contact Summary​

After mapping and validation, the contact summary shows:

  • Total contacts: the number of valid rows that will be imported as messages
  • Invalid contacts: the number of rows that will be skipped

Contacts in Edit Mode​

When editing an existing campaign, the contacts step displays a read-only summary of the contact data. You cannot:

  • Upload a new CSV
  • Change the existing CSV
  • Modify column mappings

If you need different contacts, create a new campaign.

Next Steps​