So you’ve got a huge list of prospects and you’re staring at Scaledmail, wondering how to get all those contacts in, keep things from turning into a mess, and actually run campaigns without losing your mind. This guide is for anyone juggling large outreach lists—salespeople, founders, agencies, or just someone who drew the short straw at work. We’ll skip the fluff and get straight to what actually works, what usually breaks, and how to save yourself from future headaches.
1. Get Your List Ready Before You Touch Scaledmail
Let’s be honest: most problems with prospect lists start before they ever hit Scaledmail. Garbage in, garbage out.
What to do before importing:
- Stick to CSV: Excel files and Google Sheets exports sometimes get weird. Always export as a CSV—it’s the least likely to break.
- Clean your data: Delete duplicates, empty rows, and any columns you don’t need. If you have “First Name” and “first_name” columns, pick one.
- Standardize headers: Scaledmail expects headers like
email,first_name,last_name. Make them lowercase and use underscores. Ditch spaces. - Validate emails: Use a bulk email checker. Bad emails = high bounce rates = your domain gets flagged. Spend the $10, it’s worth it.
- Trim the fat: If a field won’t be used in personalization or segmentation, drop it. More columns just slow things down.
Pro tip: If you’re pulling leads from different sources, do your merging in Google Sheets or Excel first. It’s easier to spot issues before importing.
2. Importing Large Lists Without Losing Your Mind
Scaledmail can technically handle big lists, but the process gets slower and error-prone as your file grows. Here’s how to make it painless:
Step-by-step:
- Split huge lists: If you’ve got more than 5,000 rows, break it up. Smaller files (1,000–2,500 contacts) import faster and are less likely to crash.
- Go to the “Prospects” section: In Scaledmail, click on “Import.” Choose your CSV.
- Map your fields: Scaledmail will try to auto-detect columns. Double-check—sometimes it gets confused, especially if you have weird headers.
- Review for errors: After uploading, Scaledmail will tell you if some rows were skipped or if there are formatting problems. Don’t gloss over this—fix the file and re-upload if needed.
- Tag your imports: Use tags like “April2024-LinkedIn” or “WebinarLeads” so you can segment or filter later. You’ll thank yourself.
Things to ignore: Fancy “auto-match” features work 80% of the time, but always spot-check. Set-and-forget imports almost always lead to surprises.
Pro tip: If you hit a platform limit or timeout, try importing outside peak hours or with smaller files. Sometimes, it’s just server strain.
3. Organize for Outreach: Lists, Tags, and Segments
Once your prospects are in, don’t just leave them in one massive pile. Scaledmail gives you basic organization tools—use them.
- Tags: Think of these as sticky notes. Apply tags when you import, based on source, campaign, or persona. Example: “conference2024”, “VP-level”, “NYC”.
- Lists: Create lists for different outreach angles or teams. For example, “Product Demo Sequence” or “Follow-up Event Attendees”.
- Segments (if available): If Scaledmail supports dynamic segments, use filters (like industry, role, or last activity) to build smart groups.
What not to do: Don’t create a new list every time you want to send a campaign. Use tags and filters instead. Too many lists = chaos.
4. Keep Your Database Clean (and Why It Matters)
If you’re importing often, things will get messy fast unless you’re proactive. Here’s what actually helps:
- Deduplicate regularly: Scaledmail will usually catch exact duplicate emails, but not always if there are typos or weird formatting. Run a dedupe every month.
- Archive or delete cold contacts: If someone hasn’t opened or replied after several campaigns, move them out. This keeps your open rates healthy (important for deliverability).
- Update info: Use Scaledmail’s bulk edit features to fix company names, titles, or other fields if you spot errors.
- Export backups: Download your full list every so often. It’s annoying, but you’ll be glad if something ever goes wrong.
Real talk: No tool can fully automate data hygiene. Set a recurring reminder to do a cleanup. It’s boring, but it works.
5. Bulk Actions: What Works, What to Avoid
Scaledmail lets you perform actions across big groups of contacts, but not all bulk features are created equal.
Useful bulk actions:
- Applying or removing tags
- Moving prospects to a new list
- Bulk deleting (just double-check before you nuke anything)
- Sending sequence invites or emails
What to avoid:
- Over-segmentation: If you break your list down too much, you’ll spend more time managing lists than actually emailing people.
- Mass updates without review: Changing a field for thousands of contacts at once? Test on a small segment first. One typo and you’ve got “FirstName” in every subject line.
Pro tip: Always preview bulk email actions with a test segment before hitting send to the whole list. It takes 2 minutes and can save you from embarrassing mistakes.
6. Troubleshooting: When Things Go Wrong
Even with the best prep, you’ll hit snags. Here’s what usually happens—and how to fix it:
- Import fails partway through: Usually a bad row or weird character. Open your CSV in a plain text editor, look for oddities (extra commas, strange symbols), and try again.
- Contacts missing after import: Might be duplicate detection or a filter hiding them. Search your list by email to double-check.
- Data in wrong fields: Double-check your header mapping, and make sure you didn’t have extra columns tucked away in your CSV.
- Slow performance: Large lists slow down almost any web app. Use smaller batches, and consider archiving old or unused contacts.
- Weird characters (�) showing up: Usually a file encoding issue. Save your CSV as UTF-8.
If all else fails: Try importing a tiny test file to isolate the issue. If it works, the problem’s in your big file—divide and conquer.
7. Scaling Up: When You Outgrow Manual Imports
If you’re working with huge, constantly-updating lists, manual CSVs will eventually drive you crazy.
Options to automate:
- Integrations: Scaledmail has basic integrations with CRMs or Zapier. Use these to sync contacts automatically.
- APIs: If you have developer help, use Scaledmail’s API to push contacts in real-time. Not worth it unless you’re importing 10,000+ leads/month.
- Third-party tools: Some data providers can push contacts straight into Scaledmail. Just check for hidden fees or data quality issues.
Honest take: These automations save time but can introduce new problems (duplicates, bad data, sync errors). Don’t automate until your manual process is rock-solid.
8. Keep It Simple and Iterate
It’s tempting to overthink your list management—don’t. The best setups are simple: clean CSVs, clear tags, and regular cleanups. If something’s breaking, fix the root cause before adding more tools or complexity.
Most importantly, don’t wait for perfection before hitting “send.” Get your first campaign out, see what breaks, and improve from there. The simpler your system, the less likely it is to blow up when you’re on a deadline. Happy importing.