Funnel Builder: Importing Funnels From a CSV File

The CSV import builds many funnels in one go. Each row in your spreadsheet becomes one funnel, with its own squeeze page, download page, PDF and cover. It is the fastest route when you have a batch of lead magnets ready.

Where to find it:

Open Free List Building, CSV Import in the WordPress sidebar, or click Import CSV on My Custom Funnels. The screen is titled Bulk Import Funnels from CSV.

Step by step:

1. Click Download Sample to get funnel-import-sample.csv. It has the right column names and two example rows. Click CSV Format Reference to open the column list on screen.
2. Fill in one row per funnel in Google Sheets or Excel and save it as a .csv file.
3. Click Choose CSV File and pick your file. Its name and size show with a Remove button.
4. Click Upload & Validate. Nothing is created yet: the add-on checks every row.
5. Under Review & Import you see how many rows are valid and how many errors there are. Each error names its row, for example Row 5: Headline is empty. Row numbers match your spreadsheet, with the header as row 1.
6. If your file uses categories you do not have yet, you see New categories detected in this CSV. Click Create These Categories & Continue. They are created and the file is checked again.
7. Click Import followed by the number of valid rows. Rows with errors are left out. The rows go in a few at a time, and the progress bar shows how many are done.
8. When it finishes you see Import Complete with how many funnels were created, how many were skipped because they already exist, and any that failed, each with its spreadsheet row number and the reason. Click View All Funnels or Import Another CSV.

Good to know:

• Each PDF and cover image is downloaded to your site during the import, so big files take a little while.
• Importing the same file again is safe. A row whose funnel already exists (same title in the same category) is skipped and listed as already exists, so you never get -2 copies.
• If an import stops part way, the funnels already saved stay. Upload the same file again and import: the saved rows are skipped and the rest are added.
• Files saved from Excel as CSV UTF-8 work, as do plain CSV files and Google Sheets downloads.
• A checked file is kept for one hour. After that, click Upload & Validate again before you import.

A real example:

Sam prepared four rows for yoursite.com: Home Staging On A Budget (Real Estate), Podcast Show Notes Template (Podcasting), Garden Planner For Beginners (a new Gardening category) and Weekly Meal Prep Guide with its headline left blank. Upload & Validate reported 3 valid rows and 1 error, Row 5: Headline is empty, and offered to create Gardening. Sam clicked Create These Categories & Continue, then imported the 3 valid rows, filled in the missing headline and imported the same file again. The three earlier rows were skipped as already there and the fourth was added.

Tips:

• Use slugs in the category column (email, podcasting) to avoid typos. Names work too, in any letter case.
• See Funnel Builder: CSV Columns and an Example Row for every column and a row you can copy.