Contacts & Import

Contacts are the foundation of your email marketing. This guide covers importing contacts, managing custom fields, organizing with tags, and using lead scoring to prioritize engagement.

Contact Overview

Contact Record Structure

Each contact stores essential information and engagement data:

Core Fields

  • Email address (required, unique)
  • First name, Last name
  • Company, Phone
  • Status (active, unsubscribed, bounced)

Engagement Data

  • Created date, Last activity
  • Open rate, Click rate
  • Lead score
  • Tags and custom fields

Importing Contacts

CSV Import

  1. Go to Contacts → Import and click "Upload CSV".
  2. Select your CSV file (must include an email column).
  3. Map CSV columns to Mailneo fields in the preview step.
  4. Review sample data to verify correct mapping (10 rows shown).
  5. Optionally apply tags during import for organization.
  6. Click "Import" to process your contacts.

CSV Format Requirements

  • Email column required: Must have a column with valid email addresses.
  • UTF-8 encoding: Save your CSV with UTF-8 to preserve special characters.
  • Header row: First row should contain column names.
  • Max file size: 10MB per import (up to 50,000 contacts).

Field Mapping

Map your CSV columns to Mailneo fields:

CSV Column→Mailneo Field
email, Email, EMAIL→Email (auto-detected)
first_name, firstName→First Name
last_name, lastName→Last Name
Any other column→Custom Field (create new)

Handling Duplicates

  • Skip duplicates: Existing contacts are left unchanged (default).
  • Update duplicates: Merge new data with existing records.
  • Duplicates are identified by email address (case-insensitive).

Custom Fields

Create custom fields to store any additional data about your contacts. Use these fields for personalization and segmentation.

Field Types

  • Text: Single line, any content
  • Number: Integer or decimal values
  • Date: Date picker format
  • Select: Dropdown with predefined options
  • Boolean: True/false checkbox
  • URL: Web address validation

Creating Custom Fields

  1. Go to Settings → Custom Fields.
  2. Click "Add Field" and choose a field type.
  3. Enter a name (e.g., "industry", "plan_type", "signup_source").
  4. For Select fields, add your dropdown options.
  5. Save the field—it's now available across all contacts.

Using Fields in Emails

Reference custom fields in your emails using merge tags: {{custom.industry}} or {{custom.plan_type}}. Fields with no value show the fallback text you specify.

Tags

Tags let you categorize contacts for easy filtering and targeting. Tags are manually applied and can be used to organize contacts by source, lifecycle stage, or interests.

Tag Use Cases

  • Lead source: "webinar-attendee", "website-signup", "referral"
  • Lifecycle stage: "prospect", "trial-user", "customer", "churned"
  • Interests: "interested-in-feature-x", "pricing-page-visited"
  • Manual flags: "vip", "do-not-contact", "needs-follow-up"

Managing Tags

  • Add tags: Select contacts → Click "Add Tag" → Choose or create tag.
  • Remove tags: Select contacts → Click "Remove Tag" → Choose tags.
  • Bulk apply: Apply tags during CSV import or after filtering.
  • Automation: Add/remove tags via workflow actions.

Lead Scoring

Lead scoring assigns points to contacts based on their behavior and attributes. Use scores to identify your most engaged leads and trigger automations.

Scoring Rules

Configure points for different actions:

ActionPoints
Opens email+5
Clicks link+10
Replies to email+20
Visits pricing page+15
Unsubscribes-50
Inactive for 30 days-10

Score Tiers

  • Cold (0-25): New or low-engagement contacts
  • Warm (26-75): Moderate engagement, showing interest
  • Hot (76+): Highly engaged, ready for sales outreach

Score-Based Automations

Trigger workflows when scores reach thresholds. For example: notify sales when a contact becomes "Hot", or send a re-engagement campaign when score drops below 20.

Contact Activities

Activity Timeline

View a complete history of each contact's interactions:

  • Email sends, opens, and clicks
  • Campaign enrollments and completions
  • Tag additions and removals
  • Field value changes
  • Form submissions
  • Score changes

Viewing Contact Details

  1. Go to Contacts and click on any contact row.
  2. View profile information and custom fields.
  3. See the activity timeline in chronological order.
  4. Edit fields, add/remove tags inline.
  5. See which campaigns they're enrolled in.

List Hygiene

Maintain a clean contact list to improve deliverability and engagement rates.

Automatic Handling

  • Hard bounces: Automatically marked as bounced and excluded from sends.
  • Unsubscribes: Automatically honored and excluded from campaigns.
  • Spam complaints: Automatically suppressed to protect sender reputation.

Manual Cleanup

  • Review contacts with no activity in 90+ days for cleanup.
  • Run re-engagement campaigns before removing inactive contacts.
  • Use filters to identify and archive low-quality contacts.
  • Export and backup before bulk deletions.

Suppression List

Suppressed contacts (bounced, unsubscribed, complained) are never sent emails, even if they appear in campaign recipients. You cannot override this protection.

Exporting Contacts

Export Options

  • All contacts: Export your entire contact database.
  • Filtered/Segment: Export contacts matching current filters.
  • Selected columns: Choose which fields to include.
  • Format: CSV (compatible with Excel, Sheets, etc.)

Next Steps

→ Send your first campaign→ Create email templates→ Set up automations→ Create newsletter lists