Preparing Your Subscriber File (Export Checklist)

What this page is for

Use this checklist to export subscribers from your current provider (for example, Attentive, Klaviyo, Postscript, a CRM, or a spreadsheet) and prepare a clean file that Coco can import reliably.

This page focuses on data preparation (fields, formatting, country codes, deduplication, and packaging opt-in evidence you already have). It does not replace your compliance review.

Before you export: quick decisions

• Choose a single “source of truth” export per upload (one provider/list at a time). If you combine sources, you must deduplicate and normalize columns first.

• Decide your identifier strategy: phone number is the key field for WhatsApp. Email is helpful.

• Decide what you will include as evidence: if you have opt-in timestamp, method, and source URL/form name, include them as columns (details below).

Required fields (minimum file Coco needs)

Coco can work with a minimal export, as long as every row represents a single person with a valid WhatsApp-capable phone number.

Minimum required column

• Phone (one phone number per row, formatted correctly—see Phone number formatting)

• Name

• Email (optional; helps with reconciliation and support)

Strongly recommended columns

• Country (as ISO country code like US, GB, DE) only if you can’t reliably format phones to E.164

Phone number formatting (most common import issue)

Phone numbers must be consistent and unambiguous. The safest standard is E.164:

• Starts with + and country code

• No spaces, parentheses, or dashes

• Example (US): +14155552671

• Example (UK): +447700900123

Country codes: how to handle them

• If your export already contains E.164 phones, you’re done.

• If your export contains national format phones (like 4155552671), you must add the correct country code for each row.

• If your export contains a separate country field, use it to build E.164.

File format rules (CSV)

Recommended format

• CSV (UTF-8) is the only accepted file format.

Column rules

• One person per row.

• One phone per cell. If you have multiple phones for one person, split into separate rows and clearly label which is primary.

• Headers in the first row (no merged header cells).

• Consistent naming (use simple headers like phone, email, name).

• No formulas in the final file. Paste values only.

Allowed characters

• Names can include accents and non-Latin characters.

• Phone numbers should contain only + and digits in the final column.

Deduplication checklist (what to keep when duplicates exist)

Duplicates usually happen when someone appears in multiple lists, or when the same person exists with different formatting (for example +1 415... vs 1415...).

Deduplicate by phone (primary)

• Deduplicate using the normalized phone value.

• If two rows share the same phone, keep one row and merge useful data:

• Name/email: prefer the most recently updated, or the most complete.

• Tags/segments: union them (combine unique tags into one comma-separated list).

• Opt-in evidence fields: keep the strongest evidence (most specific method/source) and the earliest opt-in timestamp that proves consent (when applicable).

Deduplicate by email (secondary)

• If email is present, you can also scan for cases where the same email appears with multiple phones.

• Only include the phone that is actually eligible and intended for WhatsApp messaging.

Including opt-in evidence (where available)

If your current provider tracks opt-in details, include them in the file as separate columns. This makes review faster and reduces back-and-forth.

Recommended evidence columns

• opt_in_channel (example values: whatsapp)

• opt_in_status (example values: opted_in)

• opt_in_method (examples: checkout, popup, landing_page, click_to_whatsapp_ad, in_store_qr)

• opt_in_timestamp (ISO format recommended: 2025-11-03T14:22:10Z)

• opt_in_source (free text: form name, campaign name, or list/source label from your provider)

• opt_in_url (if captured; the page where consent was collected)

• opt_in_ip (if captured)

• double_opt_in (example values: yes/no/unknown)

• double_opt_in_timestamp (if applicable)

Evidence formatting rules

• Use one timestamp format across the file (ISO 8601 is best).

• Don’t paste screenshots into the spreadsheet. If you have screenshots or PDFs, share them separately and reference them via opt_in_source.

• Don’t invent or infer evidence. Leave blank if unknown.

phone_e164,first_name,last_name,email,opt_in_channel,opt_in_status,opt_in_method,opt_in_timestamp,opt_in_source,opt_in_url,double_opt_in,double_opt_in_timestamp
+14155552671,Sam,Lee,[email protected],whatsapp,opted_in,checkout,2025-10-12T18:03:22Z,Shopify checkout,"https://yourstore.com/checkouts/...",yes,2025-10-12T18:04:10Z
+447700900123,Aisha,Khan,[email protected],whatsapp,opted_in,landing_page,2025-09-01T09:15:00Z,WhatsApp VIP list signup,"https://yourstore.com/vip",unknown,

Quality checks before you send the file

• Phones: 100% of rows have phone populated and starting with +.

• No obvious invalids: remove placeholders like +10000000000, 12345, or test numbers.

• Duplicates: no repeated phone values.

• Column hygiene: no merged cells, no formulas, no multi-line cells.

• Encoding: export CSV as UTF-8 to preserve names and special characters.

• Eligibility: only include subscribers intended and eligible for WhatsApp marketing.

Suggested column template (copy/paste)

Use this as a starting point and remove columns you don’t have. Keep the header names simple.

phone_e164,first_name,last_name,email,country,tags,opt_in_channel,opt_in_status,opt_in_method,opt_in_timestamp,opt_in_source,opt_in_url,opt_in_ip,double_opt_in,double_opt_in_timestamp

What not to include

• SMS-only consent indicators relabeled as WhatsApp

• Purchased/rented lists or scraped contacts

• Notes containing sensitive data (medical, financial, etc.)

• Multiple phones in one cell (split into separate rows instead)