How to import and clean prospect lists in Sendpotion for accurate targeting

If you’re trying to run any kind of targeted outreach—sales, recruiting, partnerships, whatever—your results live and die by your prospect list. Messy data means bounced emails, wrong names, and wasted time chasing folks who’ll never reply. This guide is for anyone who wants to get actual results from Sendpotion, without spending hours wrestling with spreadsheets or sending “Hi FIRSTNAME” to a VP.

Here’s how to import and clean your prospect lists in Sendpotion so you can focus on the real work: sending stuff people might actually care about.

1. Get Your Prospect List Ready (Before You Even Touch Sendpotion)

Don’t rush straight into importing. If your source data is garbage, no tool can fix it after the fact. Here’s what to check before uploading anything:

  • Format: Sendpotion works best with CSVs (Excel is fine, but export to CSV first).
  • Columns: At minimum, you’ll want First Name, Last Name, Email, and maybe Company. More fields? Great, but keep it consistent.
  • Duplicates: No one likes getting four emails from you. Scan for duplicate emails/names.
  • Obvious junk: Watch for missing emails, weird formatting (john@@gmail..com), or fake names (“Mickey Mouse”).
  • Opt-outs: Be careful not to re-import old unsubscribes. That’s the fastest way to get your domain blacklisted.

Pro tip: If you’re pulling lists from LinkedIn or a data tool, always check for those “catch-all” generic emails (info@, sales@). They almost never convert.

2. Clean Up Your Data: The Minimum You Should Do

Think of cleaning as a once-over before you show up at a meeting. You want to make a decent impression, but you don’t need to be perfect.

  • Spell check names and emails. Autocorrect is not your friend here. “Jhon” isn’t a typo you want to email.
  • Trim whitespace. Extra spaces before or after names/emails can break imports.
  • Fix capitalization. “jane DOE” should be “Jane Doe.”
  • Standardize fields. If some rows have “Inc.” and others just company names, pick one style.

You can do this in Excel (Text to Columns, Find & Replace, etc.) or use a free tool like OpenRefine if you’re dealing with thousands of rows.

What NOT to worry about: Don’t try to fill in missing info for every single row, unless you have a super tiny list. Just drop the incomplete ones. Chasing “maybe” prospects is a time sink.

3. Importing Into Sendpotion: What Actually Matters

Once your CSV is in decent shape, you’re ready for Sendpotion. The import process is pretty straightforward, but here’s what you need to watch for:

Step-by-Step

  1. Log in and head to the Prospects section.
  2. Look for “Import” or “Add Prospects.” The button’s easy to spot.
  3. Upload your CSV. Drag-and-drop works, or use the file picker.
  4. Map your columns. This is crucial. Double-check that “First Name” matches to “First Name,” not “Company,” etc. If Sendpotion can’t recognize a column, map it by hand.
  5. Field validation. Sendpotion will usually flag obvious errors (bad emails, missing required fields). Fix these before proceeding, or just skip the bad rows.
  6. Review and confirm. Preview a few rows. If something looks off, go back and fix your CSV before importing the whole thing.

Heads up: If your list is big (think thousands of rows), uploads can take a while. Don’t panic if it’s slow—just let it run.

4. Cleaning Inside Sendpotion: What Tools Help (and What to Ignore)

Sendpotion has some tools for cleaning, but don’t expect miracles. Here’s what’s actually useful:

  • Bulk deduplication: Use this to find and merge duplicate prospects fast.
  • Email validation: Sendpotion can check for valid email formats and sometimes even ping addresses to see if they exist. Always run this.
  • Field cleanup: You can mass-edit columns (e.g., fix all-caps names) after import, but it’s clunky for big jobs.

Don’t bother with: Any “AI enrichment” or “automatic social profile” features unless you know exactly what you’re getting. Nine times out of ten, these fill your list with useless or outdated info. If you want real enrichment, use a dedicated tool outside of Sendpotion and import the results.

5. Segment for Targeting (Don’t Blast Everyone)

Now your data’s in, but you’re not done. Lists are only as good as your targeting. The point isn’t to send more emails—it’s to send better ones.

  • Create segments: Use filters (job title, company size, industry, whatever matters to you).
  • Tag your prospects: Mark VIPs, existing leads, or segments you want to exclude.
  • Exclude junk: Remove anyone with generic emails, missing key info, or past bounces.

Pro tip: Start small. Send a test campaign to a tight segment first. See how it performs before blasting your whole list.

6. What to Do When Things Go Wrong

Even the best prep won’t prevent every issue. Here’s what usually breaks, and how to fix it:

  • Import errors: Usually a CSV formatting problem. Open your file in a text editor—look for weird characters, line breaks, or missing headers.
  • Weird characters (�, Ã, etc): Means your CSV encoding is off. Re-export as UTF-8.
  • Fields not mapping: Double-check your header names. “First_Name” and “First Name” aren’t always treated the same.
  • Duplicates slipping through: Use Sendpotion’s dedupe tool, but also spot-check by searching for known emails.

Don’t bother contacting support for small stuff—they’ll just tell you to check your CSV. If your problem is gnarly (hundreds of failed imports for no reason), then reach out.

7. Keep Your List Fresh

One clean list won’t last. People change jobs, emails go stale, and companies reorg. Schedule a regular cleanup:

  • Monthly or quarterly re-imports.
  • Run validation again before big sends.
  • Remove bounces and unsubscribes after every campaign.
  • Don’t add people back in unless you have a fresh opt-in.

Wrap-Up: Don’t Overthink It

Clean, targeted lists aren’t about chasing perfection—they’re about avoiding obvious mistakes and focusing your time where it counts. Keep your process simple, use Sendpotion’s basic cleaning tools, and ignore anything that promises “one-click enrichment.” Most of the magic comes from caring enough to check your own data.

Start small, iterate, and don’t let perfect be the enemy of “good enough to hit send.” That’s how you actually get replies.