TL;DR: Importing leads into Onyx CRM takes minutes, not hours. Whether you’re uploading a CSV from a lead vendor, syncing through a GoHighLevel integration, or adding a single prospect manually, Onyx maps your fields, fires your automations, and puts your leads into vertical-specific pipelines — ready to work from day one.
For independent insurance professionals selling Medicare, Final Expense, or any of the other seven product lines Onyx supports, a slow or broken lead import process costs real money. Every minute a new lead sits idle is a minute a competitor could be on the phone. This guide walks you through every import path available inside Onyx CRM, from file format requirements to the automation triggers that fire the moment a contact lands in your pipeline.
Where Insurance Agents Actually Get Their Leads
Before you can import leads into your CRM, you need to know what format they’re arriving in. The answer depends heavily on your lead source — and insurance professionals pull from several different channels.
Lead vendors are the most common source for Final Expense and Medicare sellers. Companies like Nectar, Quote Wizard, and EverQuote deliver leads via CSV download, real-time API ping, or email notification. The format varies by vendor, which is why field mapping (covered below) matters so much.
Facebook and Google Ads generate leads through native lead forms. Facebook Lead Ads connect to Onyx through the platform’s Facebook integration, while Google Ads leads typically route through a Zapier connection or webhook. Both paths are supported inside Onyx’s 50+ integration library.
Referral lists and carrier data often arrive as Excel files or CSVs exported from a carrier portal or agency management system. These are the messiest imports — column names are inconsistent, phone formats vary, and duplicate checking becomes critical.
Manual entry covers one-off prospects from networking, community events, or word of mouth. Onyx handles these as single-lead additions directly through the contact creation screen.
Knowing your source tells you which import path to choose.
File Format Requirements for CSV Imports
The bulk CSV import is the workhorse of lead importing for most insurance professionals. Onyx, built on the GoHighLevel platform, accepts standard CSV files with a few non-negotiable requirements.
Encoding: UTF-8. Files saved in other encodings (common with older Excel exports) can produce garbled characters in name and address fields. Before uploading, open your file in Excel, choose “Save As,” and select CSV UTF-8 from the format dropdown.
Required columns: At minimum, your CSV needs a first name, last name, and either a phone number or email address. Without one of those contact points, the lead can’t enter an automated follow-up sequence.
Recommended columns for insurance imports:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Phone (format: 10-digit, no dashes or parentheses)
- Address, City, State, ZIP
- Date of Birth (critical for Medicare and Final Expense leads)
- Lead Source (used for pipeline tagging and attribution)
- Product Interest (maps to the relevant Onyx Stack)
Phone formatting is the most common reason imports fail or produce unreachable contacts. Strip all formatting characters before upload — no dashes, no parentheses, no country codes unless you’re intentionally including them. A phone column that reads “(555) 867-5309” should read “5558675309” in your CSV.
Duplicate handling: Onyx checks for existing contacts by email and phone number during import. If a match is found, you can choose to skip the duplicate, update the existing record, or create a new contact. For aged lead campaigns, updating existing records is usually the right call — it preserves conversation history and previous tags.
For a detailed walkthrough of import mechanics and automation triggers, this guide on importing leads and launching calls and texts in CRM covers the process step by step.
Bulk Import vs. Single-Lead Workflows
Onyx supports two distinct import paths, and choosing the wrong one wastes time.
Bulk Import: When and How
Bulk import is the right choice when you’re uploading 10 or more contacts at once — a fresh batch of Final Expense leads from your vendor, a list of Medicare prospects turning 65 in the next 90 days, or a database reactivation campaign targeting contacts who went cold six months ago.
The process inside Onyx:
1. Navigate to Contacts → Import
2. Upload your CSV file
3. Map your columns to Onyx fields (covered in the next section)
4. Set duplicate handling rules
5. Assign the contacts to a pipeline and tag them with the relevant lead source
6. Choose which automation workflow fires post-import
7. Confirm and run
For large files (1,000+ contacts), Onyx processes the import in the background. You’ll receive a notification when it completes, along with an error report showing any rows that failed validation.
Single-Lead Entry: When It Makes Sense
Manual single-lead entry is faster for individual prospects — a referral from a client, a prospect you met at a community event, or a caller who wants a callback. Inside Onyx, click “Add Contact” from any screen, fill in the fields, assign to a pipeline stage, and the contact enters the same automation sequence as any imported lead.
The critical difference: single-lead entry gives you a chance to add context notes immediately, before the automated follow-up begins. Use the notes field to capture anything the lead mentioned during first contact — coverage preferences, family situation, budget constraints. That context makes the AI follow-up conversations more relevant.
Field Mapping: Getting It Right the First Time
Field mapping is where most bulk imports go wrong. Your vendor’s CSV has a column called “DOB” — Onyx needs to know that maps to the Date of Birth field. Your carrier export calls it “Insured Name” — Onyx needs to split that into First Name and Last Name.
Onyx’s import screen shows your CSV column headers on the left and Onyx field options on the right. You drag and match, or use the dropdown selectors. A few rules that prevent headaches:
Create a saved mapping template. If you buy from the same two or three lead vendors regularly, their column formats don’t change. After your first import from each vendor, save the mapping as a template. Future imports from that vendor become a one-click operation.
Map the Product Interest field to Tags. Onyx’s tag system is what drives pipeline assignment. A Medicare lead tagged “Medicare” routes to the Medicare Stack pipeline. A Final Expense lead tagged “Final Expense” enters the Final Expense Stack’s drip campaign. Getting this mapping right at import time means every lead lands in the right workflow without manual intervention.
Use custom fields for insurance-specific data. Date of Birth, Tobacco Use status, Current Coverage carrier — these don’t exist as default CRM fields but matter enormously in insurance sales conversations. Onyx lets you create custom contact fields and map your CSV columns to them during import. Set these up once, map them, save the template.
For a deeper look at how Onyx’s tagging system works in pipeline management, this piece on automated lead tagging for CRM pipeline explains the logic behind tag-driven routing.
Validation and Data Integrity Checks
A lead list with bad data is worse than no list — it pollutes your pipeline with unreachable contacts, skews your conversion metrics, and wastes automation credits on dead numbers.
Before you hit upload, run these checks:
Phone number validation: Use a free tool like NumLookupAPI or your vendor’s built-in validation to confirm numbers are active and connected. Final Expense lead lists, in particular, often contain disconnected numbers from contacts who’ve moved or passed. A quick validation pass before import prevents those records from entering your calling queue.
Duplicate check against existing database: Export your current Onyx contacts list and run a VLOOKUP or use a deduplication tool to find phone or email overlaps before import. This is especially important for database reactivation campaigns — you want to re-engage existing contacts through the reactivation workflow, not create duplicate records.
State licensing check: If you’re only licensed in certain states, filter your CSV to those states before import. Onyx doesn’t enforce licensing restrictions automatically — that’s your responsibility as the agent.
Date formatting: Date of Birth fields need consistent formatting. Either MM/DD/YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD works, but your entire column must use the same format. Mixed formats cause mapping errors.
During the import process, Onyx’s validation layer flags rows with missing required fields, invalid phone formats, or email addresses that fail basic syntax checks. You can review the error log, fix the source file, and re-import flagged rows without affecting contacts that already imported successfully.
Automation Triggers That Fire Post-Import
This is where Onyx earns its keep. The moment a lead successfully imports, Onyx’s speed-to-lead system engages — new contacts receive an initial outreach within seconds, not hours.
At the import confirmation screen, you choose which automation workflow fires for the imported batch. For insurance professionals, this is typically one of the Stack-specific nurture sequences:
Medicare leads enter a sequence that acknowledges their inquiry, asks qualifying questions about their current coverage and Medicare eligibility date, and books a review appointment if they respond.
Final Expense leads enter a sequence calibrated to that product’s shorter sales cycle — more direct, faster ask, appointment-focused.
Aged or cold leads route to the database reactivation workflow rather than the primary nurture sequence. This matters because you don’t want to send a fresh-lead greeting to a prospect who first came in eight months ago. The reactivation sequence re-introduces you in a way that’s appropriate for someone who’s heard from your office before.
Post-import, Onyx’s unified inbox captures all responses — SMS, email, Facebook Messenger, and voicemail — in one place. You don’t need to watch multiple channels. Every reply surfaces in the same interface, tagged to the correct contact record.
For agents using AI appointment booking at the Prime or Elite tier, imported leads enter AI-managed conversations immediately. The AI qualifies prospects and books appointments onto your calendar without you touching a single message. As a platform metric, Onyx has facilitated 2,000+ appointments booked through this AI system.
To understand how SMS automation works within these post-import sequences, the A2P SMS setup guide for insurance leads is required reading before you run your first bulk import campaign.
Connecting Lead Sources Through Integrations
For agents running consistent volume from the same sources, direct integration beats manual CSV uploads every time. Onyx’s 50+ integration library includes connections that make real-time lead routing possible.
Facebook Lead Ads: Connect your Facebook Business account inside Onyx’s integration settings. When a prospect fills out your Facebook Lead Ad form, their information flows directly into Onyx as a new contact — no CSV, no manual step, no delay. The automation fires within seconds of form submission.
Zapier: For lead sources that don’t have a native Onyx connection, Zapier bridges the gap. EverQuote, Nectar, and hundreds of other platforms push lead data to Zapier, which forwards it to Onyx via webhook. Set it up once, and every new lead from that source auto-imports.
Google Ads Lead Form Extensions: Route through Zapier or a direct webhook to land in Onyx instantly.
Manual API: For agencies with technical resources, Onyx (via GoHighLevel’s API) accepts direct API pushes from any lead management platform. This is the most reliable path for high-volume lead flow.
For a technical overview of API-based lead routing, this complete guide on API integration for lead distribution platforms covers the connection architecture in detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I import leads into Onyx CRM from a CSV file?
Navigate to Contacts → Import inside your Onyx dashboard. Upload your CSV file (UTF-8 encoded, with at minimum a name and phone number or email). Onyx presents a field mapping screen where you match your CSV column headers to Onyx contact fields. Set your duplicate handling preference, assign the batch to a pipeline, choose the automation workflow that fires post-import, and confirm. The system validates each row and produces an error report for any contacts that fail. Fix errors in your source file and re-import only the failed rows. Total time for a 100-lead import, once your field mapping template is saved, is typically under five minutes.
What happens to imported leads if they already exist in my CRM?
Onyx’s duplicate detection checks incoming contacts against existing records by phone number and email address. When a match is found, you have three options at import time: skip the duplicate entirely, update the existing contact record with new data from the import, or create a new contact regardless of the match. For database reactivation campaigns — where you’re re-uploading aged leads on purpose — choosing “update existing record” preserves the contact’s full history, previous tags, and any notes from prior conversations. Creating duplicates by accident is one of the most common pipeline integrity problems in insurance CRM setups, so reviewing this setting before each import matters.
Can I trigger different automations for different lead types in a single import?
Not within a single import batch — each import run assigns one workflow to all contacts in that batch. The standard practice is to segment your CSV by lead type before uploading. Medicare leads go into one import run, Final Expense leads into another, each assigned to their respective Stack workflow. If your vendor delivers a mixed list, add a “Product Interest” column to your CSV, segment by that column using Excel or Google Sheets, and upload each segment separately. The extra two minutes of prep work at import time prevents the much harder job of manually re-sorting contacts into the correct pipelines afterward.
Does Onyx enforce state licensing restrictions during import?
No. Onyx does not filter imported contacts against your state licensing profile. If you upload a lead list that includes contacts from states where you’re not licensed, those contacts will enter your pipeline and trigger your automation sequences. State licensing compliance during lead import is the agent’s responsibility. Best practice is to filter your CSV by state before uploading — in Excel, use a simple filter on the State column to exclude any states where you don’t hold an active license. This is especially relevant for Medicare agents, where state licensing and plan availability vary significantly.
How fast does Onyx contact imported leads after upload?
For leads that enter an active automation workflow at import, Onyx’s speed-to-lead system initiates outreach within seconds of the import completing. For SMS-based sequences, the first message goes out immediately. For email sequences, delivery time depends on your email sending configuration, but the workflow triggers instantly. This matters most for fresh internet leads where contact rates drop sharply after the first five minutes — LIMRA research has noted that early contact dramatically improves conversion rates in insurance sales (LIMRA). Aged leads entering a reactivation sequence have a built-in delay on first contact to make the outreach feel less automated.
Ready to Run Your First Import?
Importing leads into your CRM shouldn’t require a manual or an IT call. With the right file preparation, a saved field mapping template, and the correct workflow assigned at import time, a 500-lead CSV upload takes five minutes and immediately produces a working pipeline.
Onyx’s done-for-you onboarding gets new accounts live within 48 hours, including CRM configuration, pipeline setup, and first import support. Core starts at $99/month. Prime, which adds AI appointment booking and database reactivation, is $149/month. Elite AI, with inbound voice AI and a dedicated account manager, is $499/month plus a one-time $1,499 setup fee. Full pricing details at onyx-crm.com/pricing.
For more on how Onyx handles the full CRM workflow for insurance professionals, The Insurance Agent’s Guide to CRM Software is a good next read.
