Contact groups organize the people your team needs to call or message. A useful group has a clear purpose, correctly formatted phone numbers and only the extra information needed for that work.
For example, a repair business could maintain a “Ready for collection” group with each customer's name, phone number and order reference. That makes a targeted update easier to prepare and check.
Create a group with a clear purpose
Your role needs access to Contacts. Creating groups, changing contacts, importing, exporting and deleting have separate permissions, so available controls may differ between colleagues.
- Open Contacts and select New Group. Enter a recognizable Group Name and choose its Status. Prefer a name that explains who belongs in the group.
- Add any custom fields before importing contacts. Give each field a clear label, a stable key and an appropriate type. For the repair example, use an order-reference field with the key
order_reference. - Open the group and select Add Contact. Enter the customer's name, country code, phone number and any custom values. Check the complete number shown by the form before saving.
- Review the contact in the group. Search by name or number to confirm that a colleague can find it, then add the rest of the audience.
- Keep the group current as its purpose changes. Correct numbers, update references and remove people who should no longer receive the planned communication.
Keep field keys consistent. A label is for people reading the form; a key is also used when matching imported values and inserting information into messages.
Import a prepared CSV
Select Import inside the destination group. The file needs at least name and phone_number columns. Including country_code and is_subscribed makes your intentions clearer. Add a column matching each custom-field key that you want to populate.
For example:
name,country_code,phone_number,is_subscribed,order_reference
Example Customer,255,712345678,1,AB104
Use your actual customer data and verified numbers. Review a small sample first, including numbers from different countries if relevant. After import, check the result for invalid rows and skipped duplicates. Duplicate checking applies within the selected group; importing a duplicate does not act as an update to the existing contact.
Use Export to download the group's current contacts when your role permits it. Check the file before sharing it outside the team.
Google Contacts and subscription checks
The Google option connects an account for an initial background import and optional daily synchronization from Google into this group. Check the displayed sync status before assuming the import is complete. Disconnecting stops future synchronization and leaves the imported contacts in place; do not treat it as a two-way address-book editor.
The subscription checkbox records a contact's subscription state. Current messaging campaigns do not automatically exclude contacts just because that box is unchecked. Before sending, review the target group and exclude people who have opted out; use the relevant blocking controls where applicable.
If custom values are missing, check that the fields existed before import and that CSV headers match their keys. If a contact cannot be saved, check the country code, number and duplicate error. Continue with the campaign guide once the audience is ready.
Check a sample before using the audience
After an import, inspect several contacts from the beginning, middle and end of the file. Check the name, complete phone number and each custom field used in your message. A file can import successfully while placing the wrong reference against the wrong person because the source rows were incorrect.
Keep phone numbers as text when preparing a spreadsheet, particularly where leading digits or country codes could be changed by automatic number formatting. Export a small group and compare it with your input when you need to understand the expected format.
Use one clear rule for membership, such as “customers with a repair ready for collection.” Review that rule again before each campaign. A group created for last month's promotion may no longer be the right audience this month.
If a customer appears in several groups, update the relevant entries deliberately. Do not assume that correcting one group's custom field updates every other copy. The SMS troubleshooting guide explains how audience problems can appear in campaign results.