Contacts
Create and update WhatsApp contacts, link customers, and record existing marketing consent.
Overview
The contact importer creates or updates WhatsApp contacts from a CSV file. It can link contacts to imported customers, manage authentication, and record existing WhatsApp marketing consent.
Do not use automatic opt-in to add contacts who have not already given valid WhatsApp marketing
consent. A phone number, customer relationship, PECR soft opt-in or corporate-subscriber exemption
is not sufficient for Meta's opt-in requirement. Read WhatsApp consent and
opt-in before importing contacts with OPT_IN=Y.
Upload a contact file
Open Imports in the admin panel, select Import WhatsApp Contacts, then upload your CSV file.
The import is additive: contacts missing from the file are not deleted. A matching phone number updates the existing contact.
Columns
| Column | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
PHONE | Yes | WhatsApp phone number as E.164 digits without +, for example 447700900123. |
AUTHENTICATED | Yes | Y marks the contact as authenticated, N clears authentication, and a blank value preserves the current setting. |
REFERENCE | No | Customer reference to link to the contact. A blank value unlinks an existing contact from its customer. |
OPT_IN | No | Y opts the contact into every existing company channel. N or a blank value leaves consent unchanged. |
Boolean columns accept 1, true, y, yes, or one for yes, and 0, false, n, no, or zero for no. Values are not case-sensitive.
Automatic opt-in behaviour
Use automatic opt-in only when each contact has already given valid consent to receive WhatsApp marketing from your business. It records the contact as opted in to every existing company channel without sending an invite, so your evidence must cover marketing across every company channel.
When OPT_IN is Y, ProConnect:
- Creates or updates the contact
- Records the contact as opted in to every existing company channel
- Does not send a WhatsApp invite
- Preserves any existing opt-out instead of overriding it
If the consent only covers one channel or type of message, do not use automatic opt-in because the import records opt-in for every company channel. Collect suitable consent before importing; the public join flow can do this without an unsolicited WhatsApp message when it is configured with clear opt-in wording.
OPT_IN=N does not opt a contact out. Both N and a blank value leave their current consent unchanged.
If another channel is added later, upload the contact again with OPT_IN=Y to opt them into that new channel. Existing channel consent remains unchanged.
Example CSV
PHONE,AUTHENTICATED,REFERENCE,OPT_IN
447700900123,Y,cust1001,Y
447700900999,0,,
447700900111,,cust1003,NDownload the sample contact CSV to use as a template.
In this example:
- The first contact is linked to
cust1001, marked as authenticated, and opted into every company channel. - The second contact is unlinked from any customer, has authentication cleared, and keeps its current consent.
- The third contact is linked to
cust1003and keeps its current authentication and consent.