How to import your existing leads into VICIdial

Getting leads into VICIdial is one of the first things you do after provisioning, and it is also where most new operators run into problems. Wrong phone format, missing time zone columns, duplicate records - any of these will quietly degrade your dial rate. This post walks through every step from raw CSV to a live Lead list ready to dial.

Clean your CSV before you import

VICIdial expects phone numbers in 10-digit format without country code, dashes, or parentheses - for example 3125550100, not +1 (312) 555-0100. Run a find-and-replace in your spreadsheet to strip all non-numeric characters, then drop the leading 1 from 11-digit US numbers. Any number that does not come out to exactly 10 digits after that cleanup is a bad record.

Add a gmt_offset_now column if you want VICIdial to respect calling hours by time zone. Values are numeric offsets like -5 for Eastern, -6 for Central, -7 for Mountain, -8 for Pacific. VICIdial uses this to enforce the calling curfew (the configured earliest and latest hour you are allowed to dial each contact). Without it, every Lead is treated as if it is in the server's local time zone.

Required and useful columns

• phone_number - required, 10 digits
• first_name, last_name - show on agent screen
• vendor_lead_code - your original lead ID for dedupe
• gmt_offset_now - numeric time zone offset
• state - two-letter abbreviation, used for state DNC filtering
• source_id or list_id (set in loader, not the CSV) - which list this batch belongs to

Using the lead loader

The Lead loader is the admin tool at Admin > Lead Import. You upload your CSV, select a target list ID (create one first under Admin > Lead Lists if you have not), and map each column header in your file to the corresponding VICIdial field name. The loader shows you a preview row so you can confirm the mapping before committing.

The duplicate check option in the loader will skip any phone number already present in the target list. For cross-list dedupe, use the Vendor lead code field instead - the loader can match on this value across your entire account, not just the target list.

Lead import pipeline

flowchart LR
  A[Raw CSV from CRM] --> B[Strip phone formatting]
  B --> C[Add gmt_offset_now column]
  C --> D[Remove duplicates by vendor_lead_code]
  D --> E[Upload to VICIdial lead-loader]
  E --> F{Duplicate check}
  F -->|Duplicate| G[Skip record]
  F -->|New| H[Insert into lead list]
  H --> I[Lead available in hopper]

After the import

Once leads are loaded, assign the list to a campaign. The Hopper is the buffer VICIdial uses to pre-load leads before dialing them. Check the hopper count on the real-time report after you start the campaign - if it shows zero and the list has records, the campaign's calling hours or filter settings are likely excluding everything. Verify the gmt_offset_now values and the campaign's call time range.

If you are migrating from another dialer and have a large existing database, the VICIdial migration guide covers the full context of moving your operation, not just lead data. Also see the migration data export checklist to make sure you have not missed anything before you import.

If you want a server ready to receive this import without setting up infrastructure yourself, VICIfast managed plans provision a configured VICIdial server in under 40 seconds. Bring your CSV and your carrier; the box handles the rest.