Intercom CSV: Export Contacts and Import User Lists

Intercom Lists Move Through CSV at Migration Time

Support and growth teams in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Europe use Intercom for messaging and help content. CSV is how you export contact segments for analysis and import user lists during migrations or campaign backfills. Email identity, custom attributes, and marketing consent flags need discipline — especially under GDPR/UK GDPR expectations.

Which Intercom CSV Job?

Pick the job before shaping columns.

Step-by-Step: Export Contacts for Analysis

Segment → spreadsheet path.

• Build/save the Intercom segment you mean.
• Export CSV per Intercom’s UI.
• Archive raw as workspace-intercom-segment-YYYY-MM-DD.csv.
• Open in Online CSV Editor; confirm row counts.
• Keep Intercom IDs as text.
• Redact before sending to freelancers when possible.
• Convert to Excel for stakeholders if required.

Email,Name,user_id,plan,Country,Last seen
alex@acme.example,Alex Nguyen,usr_1001,pro,US,2026-05-03
sam@beta.example,Sam Lee,usr_1002,free,GB,2026-05-02

Step-by-Step: Import Contacts Safely

Migration and list load path.

• Start from Intercom’s current import guidance/sample.
• Deduplicate on email before upload.
• Map only attributes that already exist (or create them intentionally first).
• UTF-8 for names (José, Müller, Zoë).
• Phones as text with country codes.
• Pilot 20 rows; review results; then load the rest.

Consent, Tags, and Messaging Eligibility

CSV convenience is not legal advice — operational hygiene matters.

• Do not invent marketing opt-in flags without source-system evidence.
• EU/UK lists: keep consent source/timestamp in systems of record.
• Unsubscribes and bounces should win over stale “TRUE” columns from old CRM exports.
• Tags: standardize casing to avoid “VIP” vs “vip” fragmentation.

Companies and B2B Mapping

Shared inboxes and account-based messaging depend on clean company data.

• Import/update companies before bulk-attaching users when both are new.
• Company name uniqueness is fragile — prefer stable company_id attributes when available.
• Domain typos create orphan users.

Intercom vs Zendesk vs Klaviyo CSV

Adjacent tools, different contracts.

• Intercom: product messaging + support hybrid contacts.
• Zendesk: ticket-centric user/org imports.
• Klaviyo: marketing profiles with explicit commerce consent workflows.
• Maintain a master identity sheet; generate tool-specific CSVs.

Common Mistakes

Workspace foot-guns.

• Importing without email dedupe.
• Creating parallel attributes (plan vs Plan).
• Excel destroying user_ids.
• Exporting “everyone” when you meant one segment.
• Mass-updating consent from a spreadsheet guess.

Best Practices

Treat list imports as compliance events.

• Pilot every new source system.
• Version CSVs with segment + date.
• Document attribute dictionary for the workspace.
• Prefer native integrations for continuous sync.
• Clean identity fields in-browser before upload.

Why Use Convert CSV Online?

Convert CSV Online is free, browser-based, and requires no account for everyday conversions. Preview Intercom exports in the Online CSV Editor, fix encoding and delimiters, and convert to Excel for agency reviews across US, UK, AU, and EU teams.

Conclusion

Intercom CSV succeeds when email identity is clean, attributes are consistent, and consent columns reflect reality. Use CSV for controlled backfills; use integrations for daily sync — and pilot before you load the whole workspace history.