Member CSV Import

Preparing your member data for import into Hivepass

Moving your members across from another platform, website builder, or spreadsheet into Hivepass is done using a CSV file. The Hivepass team handles the actual import — your job is to get the data into the right format and send it to us.

This guide explains what a CSV is, what columns to include, and how to clean your data so everything goes smoothly.

📄 What is a CSV?

A CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file is simply a spreadsheet saved in a universal format that almost any system can read. Think of it as a plain table: the first row is your column headings, and each row after that is one member.

How to create one:

Open your member list in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers
Make sure the first row contains the column headings exactly as Hivepass expects them (see below)
Fill in one member per row
Go to File → Save As (or File → Download) and choose CSV (.csv) as the format

> 💡 Tip: If your existing platform has an Export feature, use it — then rename and rearrange the columns to match the Hivepass template rather than starting from scratch.

📥 Download the template

We provide a ready-to-use CSV template with all the correct column headings already in place. Download it, fill in your data, and send it back to us.

👉 Download the Hivepass member import template (link provided by Hivepass support)

Open it in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers. The first row shows whether each column is REQUIRED or OPTIONAL, and the second row contains the column headings. Do not change the headings — they need to stay exactly as they are for the import to work.

The third row contains an example member. Delete that row before you send the file.

🧹 Clean your data first

Before filling in the template, spend a little time tidying your member list — especially if it includes older expired members.

Why this matters:

Old email addresses go stale over time. People change jobs, abandon inboxes, or forget about old email accounts. If we import a large list of lapsed contacts and then send them a welcome email, it can damage your email deliverability — meaning even your good emails to active members can start landing in spam folders.

Recommended clean-up steps:

🗑 Remove members who expired more than 2–3 years ago unless you have a specific reason to keep them
🗑 Remove obvious test entries, blank rows, and duplicates
✏️ Fix obvious email typos (e.g. @gmial.com → @gmail.com )
📛 Make sure every member has a first name and last name (first name must be at least 2 characters)
📅 Double-check expiry dates are correct, especially for active members
🔕 Mark anyone who has previously unsubscribed by setting do not email to true

> ⚠️ Important: When we run the import, we can send a welcome email to your members with their Hivepass login details. If your list contains a lot of bad addresses, this first send is when your sender reputation is most at risk. A clean list protects your active members' experience.

🧾 Required columns

These columns are required for every active member. The column headings must be lowercase and match exactly — including spaces.

| Column | What goes in it | Example | |---|---|---| | active membership | TRUE for a current member, FALSE for expired | TRUE | | first name | Member's first name | Jane | | last name | Member's last name | Smith | | email address | Member's email address | jane@example.com | | membership type hivepass | The membership package name in Hivepass — must match exactly | Individual Membership | | membership end date - current | Expiry date of their current membership | 2026-01-01 |

> 💡 For expired members (active membership = FALSE ), you can leave membership type hivepass and membership end date - current blank — just make sure active membership is set to FALSE .

➕ Optional columns

These columns are optional but give us more to work with. Include as many as you have. Use the exact headings shown below.

| Column | What it's for | |---|---| | external id | A member ID from your previous system (useful for cross-referencing) | | membership type old platform | The membership name from your old system, for reference | | membership date first joined | The date they first became a member (any year) | | membership start date - current | Start date of their current membership period | | expired date | The date their membership expired (for expired members) | | member status id | A specific Hivepass status to assign — ask us if you're unsure | | is family primary | TRUE for the primary family member, FALSE for others | | phone number | Member's phone number | | date of birth | Date of birth | | hivepass age group name | Age group — must match a group already set up in Hivepass | | gender | Gender | | address line1 | Street address line 1 | | address line2 | Street address line 2 | | address city | City or suburb | | address state | State or region | | address postcode | Postcode or ZIP code | | address country | Country | | do not email | true if this person has opted out of emails |

Dates should be formatted as YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2026-01-01 ). Most spreadsheet exports will use this format, but double-check before sending.

👨‍👩‍👧 Importing family memberships

If you have family memberships, each family member needs their own row in the CSV.

Set membership type hivepass to your family package name for all members in the family group
Set is family primary to TRUE for the main account holder, and FALSE for everyone else in the family
Secondary family members don't need an email address — they'll be linked under the primary member

Example:

| first name | last name | email address | membership type hivepass | is family primary | |---|---|---|---|---| | Jane | Smith | jane@example.com | Family Membership | TRUE | | Mark | Smith | | Family Membership | FALSE | | Emily | Smith | | Family Membership | FALSE |

✅ What happens after you send your CSV

Once you've filled in the template and cleaned your data, send the CSV file to support@hivepass.app or your Hivepass onboarding contact.

We'll take it from there:

Upload — We load your data into the system for review
Map — We match your members to the correct membership packages, age groups, and family links
Create — Member records are created in Hivepass
Welcome emails — When you give the go-ahead, we send a welcome email to your members so they can log in. You can choose to send to active members, expired members, or both

> 💡 You're in control of when welcome emails go out. We won't send them without your confirmation.

🛠 Common issues

My columns look right but you say it's not working Column headings are case-sensitive and space-sensitive. First Name and first name are treated as different headings. Use the exact headings from the template — the easiest way is to start from the template rather than creating your own headings from scratch.

Dates are showing an error Check that your dates are in YYYY-MM-DD format (e.g. 2026-01-01 ). Formats like 01/01/2026 or Jan 1 2026 may not be read correctly. In Excel or Google Sheets, format the date columns as plain text before saving as CSV to avoid automatic reformatting.

Members are missing after import If a required field is blank for a row, that member may have been skipped. We'll flag these during the upload step and let you know which rows need fixing.

Family members aren't linked Make sure is family primary is set correctly — exactly one TRUE per family group, and FALSE for the rest.

I exported from my old platform and the columns don't match That's completely normal. Open the export in your spreadsheet app, then either rename the columns to match the Hivepass headings, or copy and paste the data into the Hivepass template column by column.

Ready to send your data?

📩 Send your completed CSV to support@hivepass.app and we'll take care of the rest. If you'd like us to review your file before you finalise it, just ask — we're happy to check it over first.