How to Import Data into Follow Up Boss: A Step-by-Step Guide

What data can you import into Follow Up Boss?

Follow Up Boss (owned by Zillow Group) is built around contacts as its core object, and the import system reflects that. Understanding what can and cannot travel through the importer saves significant cleanup time after the fact.

The CSV importer supports:

• Contact records — name, email addresses, phone numbers, mailing address, birth date, and anniversary date
• Custom fields — any custom fields already defined in your FUB account can receive imported values
• Lead source — you assign a source at import time so every contact is properly attributed
• Tags — you can tag imported contacts in bulk during the import step
• Notes — a single note field per contact is supported; longer history requires manual entry or API access
• Stage — you can pre-assign contacts to a pipeline stage during import

What the CSV importer does not support: historical activity logs, email thread history, call recordings, or document attachments. Those must be migrated via the FUB API or recreated manually. For large-scale database migrations from another CRM, the FUB API is typically more reliable than repeated CSV uploads. See the FUB API integration guide for a deeper look at programmatic data access.

How to prepare your CSV for a clean import

The quality of your import is determined almost entirely by the state of your spreadsheet before you upload it. FUB's field mapper is helpful, but it cannot fix data that is structurally broken.

Recommended CSV column structure

Use clean, descriptive header names in row 1. FUB's mapper recognizes many common labels automatically. The columns listed below map reliably:

Pre-import data hygiene checklist

1. Remove duplicate rows. Deduplicate on email address first, then on phone number. FUB will merge records if it detects a matching email, but duplicate phones can still create separate contacts.
2. Standardize phone format. Strip non-numeric characters or use a consistent format like (555) 555-5555. Inconsistent formats cause phone lookup failures.
3. Validate email addresses. Remove obviously malformed addresses (missing @, no domain). Invalid emails block the row from importing correctly.
4. Check stage names match exactly. The Stage column value must match your FUB pipeline stage names character-for-character, including capitalization.
5. Flatten multi-email contacts. If a contact has two email addresses, use separate columns (Email and Email 2) rather than combining them in one cell.
6. Limit to 10,000 rows per file. Very large files are better split into batches to allow easier troubleshooting if a batch fails.
7. Save as CSV UTF-8. Avoid Excel's default .xlsx format; always export as CSV (UTF-8) to prevent encoding issues with special characters in names.

Step-by-step: how to import contacts into Follow Up Boss

The import tool lives inside the FUB admin area. You need admin or owner access to complete these steps.

1. Open the import tool. In Follow Up Boss, click Admin in the left sidebar, then select Import Contacts. The import wizard opens.
2. Upload your CSV file. Click the upload area or drag your prepared CSV onto it. FUB reads the file and displays a preview of your column headers alongside its best-guess field mappings.
3. Review and correct field mappings. For each CSV column, confirm the dropdown shows the correct FUB field. If FUB's auto-match is wrong, change it using the dropdown. Any column you do not want imported can be set to "Do not import." Custom fields you have defined in your account appear at the bottom of each dropdown list.
4. Assign a lead source. Every imported contact must be assigned a lead source. Choose from your existing sources in the Lead Source dropdown, or type a new source name to create it on the fly. Getting source attribution right at import time is important — it feeds reporting and smart list filters later.
5. Choose duplicate handling. FUB checks for existing contacts by email and phone. You will be prompted to decide whether to update existing records, skip duplicates, or create new records regardless. For most imports, "Update existing records" is the safest choice.
6. Optionally assign to an agent. If you are importing leads that belong to a specific agent on your team, you can assign them during this step rather than sorting them afterward.
7. Click Import. FUB processes the file in the background. For large imports this can take a few minutes. You will receive an email confirmation when the import finishes, with a summary of how many records were created, updated, or skipped.
8. Review the import report. After the email arrives, return to the Import Contacts page to view the results. FUB shows a per-row breakdown of any errors so you can fix and re-import only the failed rows.

Field mapping tips that save time

Field mapping is where most import friction occurs. A few principles help:

Use FUB's exact field names in your CSV headers when possible

FUB's importer performs fuzzy matching on column headers, so First Name, firstname, and first_name all resolve to the same field. However, custom fields are matched by exact name. If your FUB account has a custom field called "Buyer Budget Range," your CSV column must be named exactly "Buyer Budget Range" for auto-mapping to work. Mismatches require manual correction in the mapper for every upload.

Importing multiple phone numbers or emails

FUB contacts can have multiple phone numbers and email addresses. Use numbered columns to handle this: Phone, Phone 2, Phone 3 and similarly Email, Email 2. Each will map to a separate value on the contact record rather than overwriting the primary.

Importing from other CRMs

When migrating from another CRM (BoomTown, kvCORE, Sierra Interactive, Salesforce, etc.), export a full contact CSV from your old system, then spend time renaming columns to match FUB's expected labels before uploading. Do not try to import the raw export directly — column naming conventions vary significantly between platforms and you will end up with a screenful of unmapped fields to resolve manually.

Other ways to get data into Follow Up Boss

CSV upload is not the only path. Depending on your data volume and source, one of these alternatives may be more appropriate:

If you use Zapier to route contacts into FUB, see our guide on 5 Zapier workflows for Follow Up Boss for practical automation patterns.

What happens after you import: action plans, smart lists, and Ace fields

The import itself is the beginning, not the end. Getting contacts into FUB is only valuable if those contacts enter a workflow that drives follow-up. Here is what you should configure to activate imported contacts.

Enroll contacts in action plans

After import, you can bulk-enroll the newly created contacts in an action plan directly from the contact list view. Filter to your import's lead source (which is why getting lead source right at import time matters), select all matching contacts, and choose "Apply Action Plan" from the bulk actions menu. This immediately queues tasks and messages for every imported contact without opening records one by one.

Build a smart list for the imported batch

Smart lists in FUB are dynamic saved searches. Create one filtered by the lead source you assigned during import — it will show your imported contacts as a group and stay current as their status changes. Common post-import smart lists:

• Imported contacts with no assigned agent (unassigned batch)
• Imported contacts with a valid email but no phone number (enrichment needed)
• Imported contacts in "New Lead" stage with no activity in 7 days (follow-up gap)

How Follow Up Ace fields populate after import

If you have Follow Up Ace connected to your Follow Up Boss account, the Ace intelligence fields do not populate at import time — they populate as contact activity triggers webhooks. This is by design: the Ace scoring fields reflect real behavioral signals, not just the existence of a contact record.

The fields that populate on webhook activity are:

• Ace Score (0–100) — composite engagement score
• Ace Tier — Hot, Warm, Cool, Cold, or Dormant
• Ace Status — current CRM status classification
• Ace Response Time — how quickly the agent responded to the contact's last inbound activity
• Ace Velocity Score — rate of activity change over time
• Ace Days Since Inbound — elapsed time since the contact last initiated contact
• Ace Preferred Channel — the channel (email, phone, SMS) on which the contact responds most reliably

All seven of these fields are available on the free Ace tier. Once a contact in your newly imported batch receives an email, makes a call, or triggers any CRM activity, the webhook fires and Ace scores that contact automatically. The practical implication: prioritize outreach to your freshest imports first so Ace can start building behavioral data. As contacts respond, their Ace Tier rises from Cold toward Hot, and the Ace Trove nightly scoring pass refines those signals further for accounts with the add-on enabled.

For a closer look at how scoring works across your whole database — not just recently imported contacts — see the guide to AI lead scoring and segmentation.

Common import mistakes and how to avoid them

Mistake 1: Skipping the lead source field

Importing contacts without a lead source leaves them unattributed in FUB reporting. You cannot filter or build smart lists by source if every imported contact shows as "Unknown." Always assign a descriptive source — "Sphere of Influence 2026," "Open House June 2026," "BoomTown Migration" — even for contacts that came from your personal phone book. You can always update the source later, but mass-updating is tedious.

Mistake 2: Importing duplicates

FUB will attempt to detect duplicates by email and phone, but it cannot catch duplicates if the same person appears in your CSV with slightly different spellings or a different email format. Deduplicate your CSV before uploading, not after. Cleaning duplicates in FUB after the fact is manual and time-consuming.

Mistake 3: Importing everyone at once with no follow-up plan

A database import that dumps 3,000 contacts into FUB with no action plan attached is a missed opportunity. Enroll contacts in an appropriate action plan immediately after import. If you do not have a plan built for the type of contacts being imported, build it first and then import. Contacts that sit idle in FUB generate no value and inflate your contact count.

Mistake 4: Using .xlsx instead of .csv

FUB's importer expects a CSV file. Excel's default .xlsx format is not a CSV. Always export your spreadsheet as "CSV UTF-8" before uploading. Attempting to upload a raw Excel file will fail or produce garbled field mappings.

Mistake 5: Ignoring the post-import error report

FUB emails you a summary after every import. Read it. The report lists every row that failed and why. Common failure reasons include invalid email format, unrecognized stage names, and missing required fields. Fix and re-import only the failed rows — do not re-upload the entire file or you will create duplicates for the rows that already succeeded.

Frequently asked questions

Can I import contacts without an email address?

Yes. Email is FUB's primary deduplication key but it is not required for a contact to be created. Contacts with only a phone number or name will import, but they will not be matched against existing records by email. Duplicate risk increases when email is absent.

How do I import contacts and assign them to specific agents?

During the import wizard, there is an "Assign to" option where you can select a specific agent. For imports that mix contacts across multiple agents, consider splitting your CSV into per-agent files and importing each separately, assigning the correct agent each time.

Will importing update existing records or create new ones?

FUB gives you the choice at import time. If you select "Update existing records," any row with a matching email or phone number will update that contact's fields rather than creating a duplicate. If you choose "Create new records," FUB creates a new contact regardless of whether a match exists. For most imports, "Update existing records" is the correct choice.

Is there a limit to how many contacts I can import?

FUB does not publish a hard per-file limit, but very large files (tens of thousands of rows) are more reliably processed in batches of 5,000–10,000 rows. Check followupboss.com/pricing for any contact-count limits tied to your specific FUB subscription tier.

Can I import data into Follow Up Boss using the API instead of a CSV?

Yes, and for ongoing integrations the API is usually the better path. The FUB REST API lets you create and update contacts programmatically, attach notes, set custom fields, and trigger action plans — all without manual file uploads. If you use tools like Zapier or Make, those connect to the FUB API under the hood. See our guides library for resources on FUB API workflows.