How to Import Email Subscribers to Flodesk

So, you’re switching from your old email marketing tool to Flodesk? Great idea, and as with any other switch, there are a few steps to take. One of them is to export your subscribers from your old provider and then add them to Flodesk. 

That’s something you’d definitely want to do before you lose access to your old dashboard. 

Below, you’ll see exactly how to do that, with screenshots.

1. Export a CSV file from your old email marketing tool.

A CSV file is just a simple spreadsheet file that stores data in plain text.

Each line in the file represents a row (like one subscriber), and the data in each row (like name, email, tag) is separated by commas.

Email tools like Flodesk use CSV files because they make it super easy to move subscriber lists from one platform to another.

So, log into your old email marketing dashboard and head to the Subscribers section. Select ‘All Subscribers’ (assuming you want to export your whole email list) and click Export as CSV.

I was using Kit before switching to Flodesk, and there it looks like this:

Go to Grow>Subscribers

Select ‘Confirmed Subscribers’ from the dropdown menu.

Click all subscribers, which will select all the items on this page. Above, you’ll see an option to click that selects all subscribers on your list. Click it.

Next to it, from the dropdown menu titled ‘Bulk Actions’, choose Export.

Your file will be exported and emailed to you within a minute or two (depending on how big it is).

Download it.

If you have issues doing this correctly, you can always contact support.

2. Prepare your CSV [optional step]

Before importing, open the file and:

• Make sure there’s a “First Name” and “Email Address” column.
• Delete extra data you don’t need (like last email date, custom fields, etc.).
• Save it as a CSV file again.

3. Import to Flodesk.

Log into Flodesk and go to Audience > Segments. 

I created a new one and titled it ‘From ConvertKit’ but you can also use the existing ‘All Subscribers’ Segment. I had 0 before importing this file, so they all got added to the main segment anyways.

When you open the segment (whether a new or existing one), click the ‘Add subscriber’ button and choose to upload CSV.

On the next page, you can drag and drop the file you exported from your old email marketing provider. 

4. Match the columns correctly.

When the file loads, you’ll have the chance to map the existing fields to the Flodesk data fields.

On the image below, you can see how it looks.

One subscriber from the list is used as an example, and I can basically just choose first name, last name and email.

Also, things are in a different order. So in my case, I’ll choose the First name file for the first row, and Email for the second. 

That’s it.

I don’t have other existing fields in Flodesk so this will do for me.

Then, at the bottom of the page click ‘Continue’.

Finally, you can click Finish. 

Give it a few minutes and you’ll get an email notification and will see all your subscribers imported to Flodesk.

A few things to keep in mind:

1. Clean your list first.

Before switching to a new email provider, you might want to clean your email list so you only keep the active subscribers.

Remove duplicates, fake emails, and people who unsubscribed or bounced.

2. Tag or segment right away.

In Flodesk, organize your contacts using segments or fields.
You can import people straight into a specific segment, like “Newsletter” or “Customers.”

3. Send a warm welcome.

After importing, send a short “Hey, I’ve switched email platforms!” email. It keeps things transparent and reminds your audience who you are.

And that’s it. I’ll create more posts about Flodesk soon, but for now, let me know if you have any questions about it.