How to Upload and Manage New Hire Audiences in Mailchimp

Learn how to import and organize weekly new hire lists in Mailchimp, including formatting spreadsheets, tagging contacts, and mapping custom fields.

July 20, 2026 By Karen Green

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for importing a list of new employees into Mailchimp. Completing this ensures that all team members are accurately tagged and added to the correct audience for internal company communications.

This process applies to internal communications or human resources personnel who manage weekly employee updates. It should be used every Friday upon receiving the latest new hire spreadsheet from the HRIS team.

Before starting the upload in Mailchimp, ensure you have received the New Hire Spreadsheet from HRIS. You must split the employee names into separate "First Name" and "Last Name" columns in Excel.

Log in and navigate to imports

Step #1: Click Audience in the left sidebar navigation. — Click **Audience** in the left sidebar navigation.

Step #2: Click the Add contacts ▼ dropdown button. — Click the **Add contacts ▼** dropdown button.

Step #3: Select Import contacts from the menu. — Select **Import contacts** from the menu.

Upload the new hire spreadsheet

Step #4: Click Upload a file. — Click **Upload a file**.

Step #5: Click Select a file. — Click **Select a file**.

Step #6: Select the prepared New Hire Microsoft Excel Worksheet from your computer. Important: before uploading, separate First and Last names in report using this method: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/g7F2ZYyhCO8 - formula is =TEXTSPLIT(cellnumber,", ") — Select the prepared New Hire Microsoft Excel Worksheet from your computer. **Important: before uploading, separate First and Last names in report using this method:** **https://www.youtube.com/shorts/g7F2ZYyhCO8** **- formula is =TEXTSPLIT(**cellnumber,", ")

Step #7: Click Open to confirm your file selection. — Click **Open** to confirm your file selection.

Step #8: Click Continue. — Click **Continue**.

Organize and tag contacts

Step #9: Leave the status configurations as they are and click Continue. — Leave the status configurations as they are and click **Continue**.

Only check the "Update any existing contacts" box if you are re-uploading a complete list of all current employees to purposefully update the entire system.

Step #10: Click the search bar to find or create tags for the upload. — Click the search bar to find or create tags for the upload.

Step #11: Select the New Hire tag. — Select the **New Hire** tag.

Step #12: Select the Current Employees tag. — Select the **Current Employees** tag.

Step #13: Click Continue. — Click **Continue**.

Match columns and finalize

Step #14: Review the field mappings and skip unneeded columns like the Employment Status Code. — Review the field mappings and skip unneeded columns like the Employment Status Code.

Step #15: Skip mapping for the Sub Dept column, as it is not actively used. — Skip mapping for the Sub Dept column, as it is not actively used.

Step #16: Ensure critical fields like email, first name, last name, job title, sector, and location are matched correctly, then click Continue. — Ensure critical fields like email, first name, last name, job title, sector, and location are matched correctly, then click **Continue**.

Step #17: Check the acknowledgment box to confirm that the imported contacts have provided explicit consent. — Check the acknowledgment box to confirm that the imported contacts have provided explicit consent.

Step #18: Click Finalize import. — Click **Finalize import**.

Step #19: Click Complete Import to finish the process. — Click **Complete Import** to finish the process.

Q: Do I need to update existing contacts during the weekly new hire upload?

A: No, you should leave the "Update any existing contacts" box unchecked. Only use that option if you are doing a full system update of all current employees.

Q: How do I handle unneeded columns like "Employment Status Code" or "Sub Dept" during the import?

A: You do not need to map these fields. Simply skip them during the column matching step and only map relevant data like emails, names, job titles, and locations.

Q: Why do I need to edit the HRIS spreadsheet before uploading it?

A: The standard HRIS spreadsheet exports names in a single column. You must split them into separate "First Name" and "Last Name" columns in Excel so Mailchimp automatically parses and maps the identities accurately.

Term	Definition
HRIS	Human Resources Information System, the source of the weekly new hire spreadsheet.
Audience	A centralized directory of contacts and subscribers managed within Mailchimp.
Tag	A customizable label used in Mailchimp to organize and filter specific segments of contacts.
Field Mapping	The process of linking spreadsheet columns to the corresponding data fields in Mailchimp.