Importing your clients
Moving a client list in from a spreadsheet, and the order that avoids orphaned records.
Three things import from a spreadsheet: your clients, your service menu, and appointments already on the books. All of them live under Settings → Import & export (opens in a new tab).
Getting the columns right
Each import takes a CSV, and the same page exports in the same format. Export first, look at the file, match it — that's faster and more reliable than guessing at column names from the import screen.
Import in this order
- Services — appointments point at them, so they have to exist first.
- Clients — same reason.
- Appointments — last, once there's something for them to attach to.
An appointment that can't find its client or its service has nothing to hang on. Importing appointments first is the one mistake here that costs real time to unpick.
Straight after an import
Two things are worth ten minutes while the import is fresh in your mind:
- Duplicates. The same client under two email addresses is the usual outcome of merging lists from two systems. Merge them rather than deleting the one that has the history.
- Phone numbers. A client imported without a mobile number can't be texted, and that's the sort of thing you find out on the day it matters.
An imported client hasn't agreed to be texted
This is the one that catches people. Bringing a phone number across from your old system does not bring consent with it — texting is off for imported clients until they opt in themselves. See who you're allowed to text.
If the list is a mess
If you told us at registration that you wanted help moving your data, a person handles that — there's no automatic importer per booking system, so it's a conversation rather than a button.