CSV format for customer import

SalesThumb's CSV import handles customers, vehicles, and service history. Here's the exact format.

Required columns

• `first_name` — first or full name (required)
• `phone` OR `email` — at least one contact method (required)

Recommended columns

• `last_name`
• `email` (in addition to phone)
• `phone` (in addition to email)
• `notes` — free-text notes carried over from your old tool
• `tags` — comma-separated tag list (e.g. "vip,fleet")

Vehicle columns (optional — creates linked vehicles)

• `vehicle_year`
• `vehicle_make`
• `vehicle_model`
• `vehicle_color`
• `vehicle_vin`
• `vehicle_license_plate`

If you have multiple vehicles per customer, add them as separate rows with the same customer name + contact info. SalesThumb dedupes the customer record and attaches both vehicles.

Sample row

first_name,last_name,phone,email,vehicle_year,vehicle_make,vehicle_model,notes
Sarah,Chen,5550142821,sarah.chen@hey.com,2024,Tesla,Model Y,VIP — full PPF + ceramic last June

Common gotchas

• Phone formatting — we accept any format (555-014-2821, (555) 014-2821, +1 555 014 2821); we normalize to E.164 internally.
• Email validation — invalid emails are imported as null with a warning shown in the import preview.
• VIN length — we don't validate VIN check digits, but VINs over 17 chars are flagged.
• Multiple emails per customer — only the first is stored; additional ones get appended to the notes field.

After import

Check the import summary screen for warnings. Fix any flagged rows (most common: missing contact info) and re-import just those rows.