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Import Your Existing Customers

What this does

If you already keep a customer list — in a spreadsheet, your booking system, or your old loyalty software — you can bring it into Passtastic instead of starting from zero.

Each person you import gets their own card and their own one-time invite link. They tap the link, their card installs, and they carry on collecting from wherever you set them.

Importing does not install cards on anyone's phone by itself. Only the customer can add a card to their own wallet — the import prepares each card and gives you a link to send.

Before you start

You'll need a file with one row per customer and a header row at the top. Both formats work:

  • CSV (`.csv`)
  • Excel (`.xlsx`)

Older Excel files (`.xls`) aren't supported — open the file in Excel and use File → Save As to save it as `.xlsx` or CSV UTF-8 first.

Your columns can be named anything sensible — Passtastic matches common names automatically, and you can correct the matching by hand in the next step. A typical file looks like this:

NameEmailPhone
Ana Novakana@example.com+61 400 000 001
Ben Carterben@example.com+61 400 000 002

Each row needs at least an email or a phone number. Rows with neither are skipped and shown to you before anything is saved.

If your export starts with a title row or a "generated on" date above the real header, that's fine for Excel files — Passtastic looks for the row that actually holds your column names.

Step 1: Upload the file

1. Open Customers in the sidebar and click Import Customers.

2. Choose the program the customers should join.

3. Drop your file onto the upload box, or click it to browse.

If the file can't be read, you'll get a message saying why — wrong file type, an older `.xls`, or no usable rows — and nothing is imported.

Step 2: Match your columns

Passtastic matches your columns to Name, Email, Phone and Points automatically. Check each one and correct anything it got wrong using the dropdowns.

If your file splits first and last name into two columns, map both — they're joined into a single name.

Set anything you don't want brought over to Do not import.

Step 3: Review

You'll see how many rows are valid and how many have problems, with the reason for each. Fix the file and re-upload if you want to correct them, or carry on — rows with errors are skipped, not imported half-finished.

Step 4: Import and invite

Tick the confirmation that these are your existing customers and that you're allowed to message them about their loyalty card. This is required — it's your record that you have a genuine relationship with the people on the list.

Then choose how to send:

  • Start import — imports everyone and sends their invite straight away, by email, SMS, or both, depending on the channels you picked.
  • Import only — invite later — imports everyone without sending anything. Use this when you want to check the list first, or send invites at a specific time.

You can invite later at any point from the Customers page, either everyone who hasn't been invited yet or a selected few. You can also copy one customer's invite message and send it through your own channel.

Which card types can be imported

Most programs can be imported into, including Memberships you issue yourself.

Bundles and Store credit can't be imported. Those cards carry a balance — visits or money — and a spreadsheet can't say reliably whether "50" means fifty visits, fifty points or fifty euros. Getting it wrong would hand out real value by mistake, so they're issued with activation codes instead. See Selling Bundles, Store Credit & Memberships Yourself.

Programs you can't import into simply won't appear in the list when you open Import Customers.

Common questions

Does importing send anything to my customers straight away?
Only if you choose Start import. Pick Import only — invite later to bring the list in silently and send invites when you're ready.
What if someone is already in my customer list?
They're matched on email or phone and updated rather than duplicated. Someone who has already installed their card keeps their balance — an import won't overwrite what they've earned.
Can I import the same file twice?
Yes. The second run updates the people already there instead of creating copies. It won't extend a membership's expiry date, though — that stays as it was first issued.
Is there a limit?
Up to 10,000 rows per import.
Who can do this?
You need an Editor role or higher. See Team Roles & Permissions for the full breakdown.