# Get email subscribers

To effectively benefit from email marketing, the first step is building a strong email audience. Collecting email addresses and importing existing contacts are crucial to start engaging your users and sending targeted campaigns.
<Aside type="note">
To maintain high deliverability and protect your sender reputation, ensure your email list is clean and valid. Avoid importing temporary or misspelled addresses, and use confirmed opt-in where possible.  
[Learn more about email deliverability best practices and how Pushwoosh helps you](/product/messaging-channels/emails/email-deliverability/)
</Aside>

## Collect email addresses

Think about where and when it makes sense to ask users for their email addresses. For example, you might ask for an email:
- On your website with **subscription forms**. [Learn more](/product/audience-data-and-segmentation/subscription-forms/)
- On the login or registration page of your app.
- When users sign up for a newsletter or special offer.
- After a purchase is completed.

<Aside type="caution" icon="setting" title="Developer assistance needed">
 Once you've decided where to collect emails, you'll need help from your development team to register these emails for your app and associate them with user devices. Please share [this guide](/developer/first-steps/subscribe-users#email) with detailed instructions with your developer.
</Aside>

##  How to import your email list from CSV

Importing email contacts into Pushwoosh is straightforward, but your CSV file must be correctly formatted to ensure a smooth import process. Follow the guidelines below to prepare and upload your email list.

### Prepare your CSV file

#### CSV formatting rules 

To successfully import email contacts, your CSV file must follow these formatting rules:

##### General structure

* The first row must contain column headers that describe the data in each column.  
* Each subsequent row represents a single contact, with values corresponding to the headers.  
* Values must be separated by commas.  
* Save the file in UTF-8 encoding to ensure proper character display.  
* The maximum file size is 100 MB.

##### Required columns

* **Email identifier**:  The recipient’s email address. Email addresses must be valid and properly formatted.  
* **User ID**:  A unique identifier for the user (e.g., name).
<Aside type="note">
The column names in your CSV file don't have to match exactly. During the import process, you can map your existing column names to the appropriate fields in the system. For example, if your CSV file has a column named *Contact email*, you can assign it to the *Email* identifier field during import.
</Aside> 


##### Optional columns

Including additional columns allows for better segmentation and personalization in email campaigns:

* **City**:  Specifies the user’s city. Useful for location-based targeting (e.g., *Exclusive event in New York\!*).  
* **Language**:  Indicates the user’s preferred language. Helps send messages in the recipient's language for better engagement.  
* **Customer type**:  Identifies the user’s type (e.g., New Customer, VIP, Returning). Useful for sending personalized offers.  
* Any additional data that can be mapped to Pushwoosh system tags for further segmentation.

##### Example CSV file

```csv
Email_address, Name, City, Language  
exampleemail@gmail.com, Marko, Belgrade,Serbian  
exampleemail2@gmail.com, Alex, New York, English  
```

### Upload the CSV file

1. Go to **Audience \> Import CSV \> Import Email Contacts**.

<img src="/emails-get-email-subscribers-1.webp" alt="Import CSV menu showing Import Email Contacts option in Audience section"/>

2. Click **Upload CSV** and upload your CSV file.  
3. Map columns:   
* Under **Email Identifier Column in CSV**, select the column that contains email addresses (e.g., "Email").  
* Under the **User ID Column in CSV**, select the column that contains unique user identifiers (e.g., "Name").  
* If you have additional data, match **Column Names** from your CSV to system **Tags** (e.g., "City" → "City", "Country" → "Country").

<img src="/emails-get-email-subscribers-2.webp" alt="CSV import dialog showing column mapping interface with Email Identifier, User ID, and tag assignment options"/>

4. Click **Import** to process the file.

After the import, the contacts will be available for email campaigns in Pushwoosh. They will appear as a new segment in the [Segments list](/product/audience-data-and-segmentation/segmentation/) and can also be accessed via [User explorer](/product/audience-data-and-segmentation/user-explorer/). 


<Aside type="note">
If you upload new CSV, its values will be appended to the previous ones. In case the next imported CSV contains emails already registered for the app, the remaining ones will be registered additionally.
</Aside>

With your email contacts imported, set up the [subscription preference center](/product/messaging-channels/emails/email-preferences/) so you can assign categories when sending and let users manage their preferences. Then create email content using the [Drag & drop](/product/content/email-content/drag-and-drop-email-editor) or [HTML code editor](/product/content/email-content/html-code-editor) and [send an email](/product/messaging-channels/emails/sending-emails).