This article explains how to let MAAC create SMS contacts automatically, how to import a phone number list through the SMS channel, and how to delete SMS contacts you no longer use. It is intended for operators who need to build or clean up an SMS reachable list.
📕 Read this first: Feature Description｜SMS Contacts and the SMS Channel
📌 Before you begin, confirm that you have configuration permissions in the Admin Center. The first step requires changing the unify keys there.
Prerequisites: enable automatic creation
Automatic creation of SMS contacts requires both of the following conditions.
Step 1. Set "Phone" as a unify key in the Admin Center
Go to the Customer Data Hub settings in the Admin Center and confirm that the unify keys include "Phone".
👉 For the setup steps and considerations for unify keys, see: Tutorial｜CAAC x CDH - Profile Unification
Step 2. Confirm that 【Auto-create SMS contacts】 is on
Go to 【Organization settings】>【Contacts】 in MAAC and confirm that 【Auto-create SMS contacts】 is on (it is on by default). This setting applies to the entire account and covers the creation paths in both MAAC and CAAC.
If the unify keys do not include "Phone", the settings page and the import flow display a message stating that automatic creation is not yet in effect, and imported lists will not create SMS contacts. The toggle can still be switched on or off freely; the system will not turn it off. Once the unify key is configured, the toggle takes effect again automatically and does not need to be switched on again, but it applies only to subsequent imports and syncs. It does not create SMS contacts retroactively for phone numbers that were already in the system.
After you turn off 【Auto-create SMS contacts】, the system no longer creates SMS contacts automatically, but you can still create them manually by importing through the SMS channel. Changes take effect immediately and do not affect or delete SMS contacts that already exist.
When automatic creation happens
Once the setup above is complete, the system creates a matching SMS contact whenever a valid phone number appears in any of these situations:
- A non-SMS channel contact import: a LINE, WhatsApp, Email, or other channel list is imported and the record carries a phone number.
- A phone number entered on a contact profile: a phone number is added or changed and saved on a channel contact profile in MAAC or CAAC.
- A customer provides their phone number: a customer adds your LINE Official Account and authorises sharing their phone number, or the number syncs in through another channel's authorisation flow.
Importing a phone number list through the SMS channel
Use an SMS channel import when you already have a list of phone numbers, or when you need to update the data of existing SMS contacts in bulk.
Step 1. Start the import flow and select the SMS channel
Go to 【Audience】>【Contacts】 and click 【Import】 in the upper right. In 【Select channel】, choose the SMS channel, and in 【Import target】, choose 【Add contacts】.
📌 Select the SMS channel at this step so that the imported phone numbers are created as SMS contacts.
Step 2. Choose an import method and provide the list
In 【Choose the method you want to use to import phone numbers】, select the option that matches your list:
| Import method | When to use | Can update existing data | Limit per import |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone number (quick paste) | You have phone numbers only and can paste them in directly | No | 10,000 records |
| Phone number (upload CSV) | You need to bring in display names, tags, and other data as well, or you need to update existing SMS contacts | Yes | 300,000 records |
When you use a CSV, download the latest template before filling it in, and keep the template's original column names (all half-width lowercase English, joined by underscores):
-
mobile(phone number, required) -
display_name(display name),gender,email,customer_id(customer ID),birthday(birthday, YYYY-MM-DD),tag(tags, separated by half-width commas,)
All seven column names must remain in the file (values may be left empty), and only mobile must have a value. Using the system template directly is recommended. Custom fields must use cl_custom_<identifier> as the column name, and the field must already be created and enabled in the Admin Center. If a column name outside the template appears, the entire import fails. If you prepared the file from an export, note that the phone column in the export file is named phone and must be renamed to mobile.
When you upload a CSV, select a region in 【Phone number region】; when you use quick paste, the region is selected in the window where you add numbers. Based on the region you select, the system normalizes numbers that do not start with "+" into the international format (for example, when Taiwan is selected, 0912345678 is normalized to +886912345678). Numbers that still do not match the format after normalization are flagged as format errors and are not imported.
To apply a common tag to this batch, enter it in 【Add tags】 in the basic settings.
Step 3. Confirm the import and review the results
Confirm your settings to start the import. When the import finishes, the system pushes a report to the notification center in the upper right, showing the number of contacts imported in total, contacts newly created, existing contacts updated, and contacts that failed to import. If there are failures, you can download the failure list CSV to see the reason for each record.
📌 Importing through the SMS channel does not support creating a segment at the same time. To turn this batch of contacts into a segment, go to 【Segment】 after the import finishes and create it there.
Deleting SMS contacts
When a list contains mistyped numbers, or a customer has changed phone number, you can delete the SMS contacts you no longer use.
- Deletion cannot be undone by you, and your number of reachable contacts decreases accordingly.
- The tags on that SMS contact are removed as well.
- What is deleted is that SMS contact only; the customer's unified contact and channel contacts on other channels are not affected.
- Segments are not updated in real time (the system updates them automatically at 3:00 each day). If you have a broadcast scheduled for the same day, go to the 【Segment】 page first and update the relevant segments manually.
- If you later import the same number again, the system creates a brand-new SMS contact that does not carry over the previous engagement history.
Option 1. Delete a single contact from the Unified Contact Profile
Open that customer's Unified Contact Profile, find the SMS contact you want to delete in the channel contacts table below, and click 【⋯】>【Delete】 at the far right of that row. The deletion completes once you confirm in the confirmation window.
Option 2. Select contacts in the contact list and delete them in bulk
Go to 【Audience】>【Contacts】, switch to the 【Channel contacts】 view, select the SMS contacts you want to delete, click 【Delete】, and confirm in the confirmation window. You can delete up to 500 records at a time. If the selected items include contacts that do not exist or do not support deletion, the system does not run the deletion; refresh the page and try again. A success message appears once the deletion completes.
📌 The identities of channel contacts on LINE, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and similar channels are managed by those platforms, so they cannot be deleted in MAAC.
Option 3. Batch delete with a CSV file
Use a CSV batch deletion when you need to remove a large number of phone numbers at once.
- Go to 【Audience】>【Contacts】, click 【Import】 in the upper right, and choose the SMS channel in 【Select channel】.
- In 【Import target】, choose 【Batch delete contacts】.
- Download the latest deletion template, enter one phone number to delete per row below the column description in the first row of the template, and upload the file. The template can keep the phone number column only; using a different template may cause the upload to fail. A single file is limited to 15MB and 300,000 records.
- After the upload, the screen shows the total number of records, how many are valid phone numbers (E.164 format), and how many do not match the format.
- Check the counts in the confirmation window and click 【Delete】. The system then starts the deletion.
Once the run finishes, the notification center pushes a result report showing how many records were deleted successfully and how many failed, and provides a failure detail CSV for download. Check the details for the specific failures (contact not found, format error). The reason column is in English, for example Member does not exist and Invalid mobile format.
FAQs
Q: How do I create SMS contacts for channel contacts that already exist?
- Go to 【Audience】>【Contacts】 and click 【Export】 in the upper right to obtain the phone numbers of your existing contacts.
- Format the exported phone numbers to match the SMS import template (see "Importing a list of phone numbers through the SMS channel" above for the column names).
- Complete the import as described in that section.
Because "Phone" is set as a unify key, the SMS contacts created by the import are unified with existing channel contacts that carry the same phone number into the same unified contact. Note two points: the numbers must be identical to match (0912345678 and +886912345678 are treated as different), so confirm your existing contacts' phone numbers are in E.164 format before importing; unification runs as a background job, so allow some time before it is reflected on the contact profile.
👉 For the export steps and the field mapping, see: Tutorial｜Exporting Contacts and the Data Mapping Table
Q: If I import a phone number that already exists through the SMS channel, does it create a duplicate contact?
No. The system matches on the phone number. If that number already has an SMS contact in your MAAC account, the system updates that contact's field data instead of creating a duplicate. The import report shows the number of contacts created and the number updated separately.
Q: Why does the preview count for a batch deletion differ from the number actually deleted?
The "valid phone numbers" count shown after the upload is the result of the format check. The number actually deleted can be lower, because some numbers have no matching SMS contact in the system. Those are counted as failed deletions and recorded in the failure detail CSV.
📚 Further reading: