How to Import Contacts into HubSpot (Step by Step)

You just got back from a trade show with a spreadsheet full of leads. Here’s how to get them into HubSpot.

to start with the right headers, or use the BoothIQ CSV Formatter to automatically remap your existing CSV for HubSpot. No account required for either.

Step by Step: HubSpot CSV Import

1. Open the Import Tool

Log into HubSpot. Click Contacts in the top navigation, then click Contacts from the dropdown. On the contacts page, click the Import button in the upper right corner.

2. Choose Your Import Type

HubSpot will ask how you want to import. Select Start an import. Then choose File from computer on the next screen.

3. Select Your Data Type

Choose One file, then One object. Select Contacts as the object type. Click Next.

4. Upload Your CSV

Drag your CSV file into the upload area or click to browse. HubSpot will process the file and show you a preview of your data.

5. Map Your Columns

This is the critical step. HubSpot will try to auto-match your CSV column headers to HubSpot contact properties. Review each mapping carefully.

For each column, you’ll see HubSpot’s suggested match. If it shows Don’t import column, that means HubSpot couldn’t find a match and you need to manually select the right property from the dropdown.

Check these specifically:

• Email must map to “Email”
• First Name and Last Name should map to their respective fields (not to a combined “Name” field)
• Company should map to “Company Name”
• Phone variations should map to “Phone Number”

If you have columns that don’t match any existing HubSpot property, you can create a new custom property right from this screen by clicking Create a new property.

6. Set Import Options

On the final screen before importing, you’ll set a few options:

• Create a list from this import: Check this box. It creates a static list of everyone you just imported, which makes it easy to find them later or enroll them in a workflow.
• List name: Use something descriptive. “CES 2026 Booth Leads” is better than “Import 3.”

7. Review and Complete

Click Finish import. HubSpot will process your file. For a few hundred contacts, this takes under a minute. For larger files, it may take several minutes.

Once complete, HubSpot shows you a summary: how many contacts were created, how many were updated (because they already existed), and how many rows had errors.

Importing Contacts with Company Associations

The step-by-step walkthrough above imports contacts as standalone records. If you also want to create company records and link each contact to their company in one import, HubSpot supports that through a multi-object import.

How to Structure Your CSV

Your CSV needs a shared column that tells HubSpot which contact belongs to which company. The two options are Company Name or Company Domain Name. Company Domain Name (e.g., acme.com) is the more reliable choice because HubSpot uses it as the unique identifier for company records.

Each row in your CSV contains both the contact’s information and the company’s information on the same line. Include Company Domain Name alongside your regular contact columns. HubSpot will create the company record if it doesn’t already exist and associate the contact with it.

Changing the Import Wizard Steps

The import wizard flow is slightly different for a multi-object import. In Step 3 of the walkthrough above, instead of choosing One object, select One file and then Two objects. Choose Contacts and Companies as the two object types.

HubSpot will then ask you to identify the common column that links contacts to companies. Select your Company Domain Name or Company Name column. This is what tells HubSpot which contact record to associate with which company record.

The mapping step works the same way. You’ll map columns to both contact properties and company properties on the same screen. Verify that company fields like Company Domain Name and Company Name are mapping to the company object, not the contact object.

How to Import LinkedIn Contacts to HubSpot

If you’re trying to import LinkedIn contacts to HubSpot, the process is the same. You just need to export from LinkedIn first.

1. Go to LinkedIn. Click your profile picture, then Settings & Privacy.
2. Under Data privacy, select Get a copy of your data.
3. Choose Connections and request your archive.
4. LinkedIn will email you a CSV file (usually within 10 minutes).

The LinkedIn export includes First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Company, Position, and Connected On. The column headers won’t match HubSpot’s expected format exactly. You can rename them manually, or run the file through the BoothIQ CSV Formatter to remap the headers for HubSpot automatically.

One thing to know: LinkedIn only includes email addresses for connections who have made their email visible. Many rows will have blank email fields. HubSpot will still import these contacts, but they’ll be harder to use for email outreach without that identifier.

Importing Contacts Without an Email Address

At trade shows, it’s common to scan a badge that only has a name and company on it. No email address anywhere. HubSpot can still import these contacts.

When no email is available, HubSpot falls back to using First Name + Last Name as the unique identifier for each record. You can also assign a Record ID in your CSV to give HubSpot an explicit unique key per row. Either approach lets you get the contact into your CRM.

There are limitations. Contacts without an email address can’t receive marketing emails or be enrolled in email sequences. They’re also harder to deduplicate. If you later scan the same person’s business card and it has their email, HubSpot may create a second record instead of merging it with the original because it has no email to match on.

The best fix is to fill in the missing email after import. BoothIQ’s contact enrichment can look up email addresses using just a first name, last name, and company. That way your contacts captured at events are import-ready with email included, even when the badge didn’t have one.

Common HubSpot Import Errors and How to Fix Them

Even with a properly formatted file, you’ll occasionally hit errors. Here are the ones that come up most often when importing contacts into HubSpot.

“Unable to Parse File”

Your file isn’t valid CSV. This usually happens when you export from Excel and the file saves as .xls or .xlsx with a .csv extension. Open the file in a text editor. If you see garbled characters instead of comma-separated values, re-export from your spreadsheet using Save As > CSV (Comma delimited).

“Invalid Email Address” on Multiple Rows

HubSpot validates email format during import. Common causes:

• Extra spaces before or after the email address
• Missing the @ symbol or domain
• Non-standard characters copied from a PDF or badge scan

Fix this by trimming whitespace in your email column. In Excel or Google Sheets, use =TRIM(A2) to clean each cell.

“Property Doesn’t Exist”

You mapped a column to a HubSpot property name that doesn’t exist in your portal. This happens when you type a custom property name during mapping but misspell it, or when you copy import settings from a colleague whose portal has different custom properties.

Go to Settings > Properties in HubSpot to see your available contact properties. Match your mapping to an existing property or create the new one before re-importing.

Duplicate Contacts After Import

HubSpot deduplicates on email address only. If your CSV has the same person listed twice with different email addresses (their personal and work email, for example), HubSpot creates two separate contact records.

To prevent this, deduplicate your CSV before importing. Sort by Last Name and Company, then check for rows that look like the same person.

Some Fields Are Blank After Import

If certain fields show up empty even though your CSV had data in those columns, check two things:

1. The column was mapped correctly. Go back to your import summary and verify each mapping.
2. The data format matches HubSpot’s expectation. Date fields need to be in MM/DD/YYYY format. Number fields can’t contain currency symbols or commas. Phone numbers should not have parentheses or dashes as separators.

After the Import: What to Do Next

Getting contacts into HubSpot is step one. Here’s what to do immediately after a successful import.

Verify a sample. Open 5 to 10 randomly selected contacts from your import list. Check that all fields populated correctly. Look at the full contact record, not just the list view, because the list view only shows a few columns.

Set lifecycle stage. If you imported trade show leads, set their lifecycle stage to “Lead” in bulk. Select all contacts in your import list, click More, then Set lifecycle stage.

Assign owners. If your sales team needs to follow up, assign contact owners. You can do this in bulk from the list view or set up a workflow to auto-assign based on criteria like geography or company size.

Enroll in a sequence or workflow. If you have a post-event email sequence ready, enroll your imported contacts. The import list makes this easy since everyone from the event is already grouped together.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I import a list of contacts into HubSpot?

Go to Contacts > Contacts in HubSpot, click Import, and select File from computer. Upload a CSV file with your contact data and map each column to a HubSpot property. The full walkthrough is covered in the Step by Step: HubSpot CSV Import section above.

Can you import CSV files into HubSpot?

Yes. CSV is the standard file format for HubSpot imports. Your file needs to be saved as .csv (not .xlsx or .xls), use UTF-8 encoding, and include column headers in the first row. See File Requirements for the full list of constraints.

How do I add contacts to HubSpot?

You can add contacts one at a time by clicking Create contact on the contacts page, or add many at once by importing a CSV file. For trade shows and events where you’re capturing dozens or hundreds of leads, the CSV import method is the practical choice. If you use a tool like BoothIQ, contacts sync to HubSpot automatically without a CSV.

How do I import contacts into HubSpot from Excel?

Open your Excel file and use Save As > CSV (Comma delimited) to convert it to CSV format. HubSpot does not accept .xlsx or .xls files directly. Once you have the .csv file, follow the same import steps outlined in the step-by-step walkthrough.

Importing Contacts into Other CRMs

This guide covers HubSpot. If your team uses a different CRM, we have step-by-step guides for those too:

• How to Import Contacts into Salesforce

References

• Set Up Your Import File — HubSpot Knowledge Base
• Import Records and Activities — HubSpot Knowledge Base
• Import Opted-Out Contacts — HubSpot Knowledge Base
• Create and Use Contact Properties — HubSpot Knowledge Base
• Downloading Your Data from LinkedIn — LinkedIn Help Center

Skip the CSV Entirely

If you’re regularly importing contacts from trade shows and conferences, formatting CSVs after every event gets old fast. BoothIQ captures leads at the event by scanning badges, business cards, and nametags, then syncs contacts directly to HubSpot with proper field mapping, lifecycle stages, and event attribution. No CSV step required. Your contacts show up in HubSpot before you’ve even left the booth.