People
Bring your list from another platform
Move your existing email list or clients into Soul with a CSV, tagged so you can reach them with announcements and invite them in.
Bring the people you already know into Audience → People as leads, tagged so you can find them and write to them as a group.
When to use this
- You're moving from another platform (Kajabi, Mailchimp, Squarespace, a spreadsheet) to Soul.
- You met people at a retreat or workshop and have their details.
- You want to invite existing students to join your membership without paying twice.
- For one person, Add a contact is quicker. To move paying members onto a Soul membership with their own price and billing date, use Migrate members instead.
Before you start
- Export your list as a .csv file. In Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets, use Download or Export as CSV. Other file types can't be loaded.
- Keep a row of column headings at the top. Soul reads the first few rows and works out which columns hold the first name, last name, email and phone, so headings like "First name", "E-mail" or "Mobile" are fine.
- Use separate first-name and last-name columns where you can.
- Only those four details are imported. Other columns (tags, notes, addresses, purchase history) are ignored. Add tags to the whole batch in Soul instead.
- Give phone numbers their country code, for example +44 7700 900123. Numbers without one are read as US numbers. A number that can't be a real phone number, such as one with digits missing, is flagged on its row and the list isn't saved until you fix or remove it.
Import the list
Open Add leads
Go to Audience → People, click Add/Invite and choose Add leads.
Switch to Bulk Leads
Open the Bulk Leads tab. "Add multiple leads at once." It shows a table with First Name, Last Name, Email and Phone Number columns.
Load your file
Click Fill from CSV and choose your file. The table fills with First Name, Last Name, Email and Phone Number for each row, and you'll see "Imported N leads." Nothing is saved yet.
Check the rows
Scroll through the table and fix anything that looks wrong. Remove deletes a row, Add Row adds one, and Clear Table starts over.
Tag the batch
Under Tags (applies to all leads), add one or more tags separated by commas, such as
kajabi-import or retreat-2026. "These tags will be applied to all leads in this batch."
Confirm consent and import
Tick "I confirm I have obtained consent to upload this contact information," then click Add N Leads. When it's done you'll see "N leads added successfully!" and the list refreshes.
Fill from CSV replaces whatever is in the table. Load your file first, then add any extra rows by hand.
Fix rows Soul can't import
Before anything is saved, Soul checks every row. If some need work you'll see "N rows need fixing. Check the highlighted rows and try again." The table scrolls to the first one, the problem fields are outlined in red, and the reason is listed under the row. Fix them, or Remove those rows, and click Add Leads again.
| Each row needs | Rule |
|---|---|
| A name | First and last name together at least 2 characters |
| An email or a phone number | At least one; the email must be a real address format |
| A phone number, if there is one | 10 to 15 characters including the country code |
| Tags, if you add them | Each tag at least 2 characters |
Empty rows are skipped.
Duplicates
Soul keeps one person per email address or phone number.
- Within your file: rows that share an email (ignoring capital letters) or a phone number become one person. The last of those rows wins.
- Against People: if someone in the file is already in your list, Soul updates that person instead of adding them again. Their name, email, phone and tags are replaced with the imported ones, and a birthday or address you'd saved is cleared.
- Relationships never go backwards. A Customer or Subscriber in your file stays a Customer or Subscriber.
Re-importing people who are already in People replaces their tags with this batch's tags. If they have tags you want to keep, add those tags to the batch too, or leave them out of the file.
Big lists
Lists of thousands are fine. Soul sends a big list in parts of 1,000 and saves as it goes, so the button reads Adding... for a while. If something interrupts it, you'll see how far it got, for example "stopped after 3,000 of 8,200 people." Everyone before that point is already saved: remove those rows (or just run the same file again; existing people are updated, not duplicated) and import the rest.
After you import
- Find them again: Filter → Tag and type your tag exactly, or Source → Manual. See Find and filter people.
- Tell them you've moved. Send an announcement to "People tagged …" with your tag, or to All Leads.
- Let existing members join for free. Create a 100%-off promo code for your membership or course and share it in that announcement.
- Invite them into your community with your community link from Community → Overview → Invite Members.
What your contacts see
Nothing, until you reach out. Imported leads aren't emailed automatically. They hear from you when you send an announcement or an invite. When one of them later signs up or buys on your portal with the same email, their account is linked to the person you imported and they become a Customer once they pay.
Importing doesn't make anyone a subscriber or give them access to anything. They're leads until they buy, subscribe or claim an invite.
Tips
- One tag per source (
kajabi-import,retreat-2026,newsletter-2024) makes it easy to send each group a message that fits. - Only import people who agreed to hear from you. You confirm consent for every upload, and you're responsible for it.
- When you send an announcement, people who share an email or phone number receive it once.
- Importing needs an active Soul plan.
Can I import an Excel file?
Not directly. Save or export it as CSV first, then use Fill from CSV.
Can I import tags, notes or addresses from my file?
No. Only first name, last name, email and phone are read from the file. Add tags to the whole batch under Tags (applies to all leads), and add notes or addresses on each person's profile.
Can I import people as customers?
Bulk Leads always adds leads. To add a customer, use Add/Invite → Add customers one at a time. People become customers on their own when they pay on your portal.
I clicked Fill from CSV and nothing loaded
Check the file has a row of headings and at least one row of data, and that it's a .csv file. Soul shows "The CSV file appears to be empty.", "Unable to read any data from the CSV file." or "CSV parsing errors detected. Please check your file format." when it can't read it.