How To Create a Contact List In SendGrid

You’ve got SendGrid set up. Now what?

Before you send a single email, you need a contact list. It’s literally the foundation of every campaign you’ll ever run. And if you get this part wrong — wrong segments, messy imports, disorganized lists — your campaigns will underperform before they even start.

Here’s the good news: building a contact list in SendGrid is straightforward once you know the steps.

According to HubSpot, segmented email campaigns drive a 760% increase in revenue compared to one-size-fits-all blasts. That stat alone tells you why getting your lists right matters.

This guide walks you through exactly how to create, import, and segment contact lists in SendGrid — step by step, no fluff.

How To Create a Contact List In SendGrid

What Is a Contact List in SendGrid?

A contact list in SendGrid is a group of email addresses (and their associated data) that you use to send targeted campaigns. Think of it as your audience bucket — you can have multiple lists for different groups, products, or stages in the buyer journey.

SendGrid lets you:

• Create manual lists by adding contacts one by one
• Import CSV files to bulk-upload contacts
• Use segments to dynamically filter contacts based on their data

📊 Stat to know: Marketers who use segmented campaigns see 14.31% higher open rates than those who don’t. (Mailchimp)

Step 1 — Log In and Head to Contacts

Go to sendgrid.com and log into your account.

Once you’re in, navigate to: Marketing → Contacts

This is your contact management hub. Everything lives here — your lists, segments, and individual contact records.

Step 2 — Create a New List

Click the “Add List or Segment” button in the top-right corner. A dropdown will appear — select “Create List.”

Give your list a clear, descriptive name. Don’t call it “List 1.” Name it something like “November Campaign — SaaS Founders” or “Cold Leads — Q1 Outreach.” You’ll thank yourself later.

Click “Create List” to confirm.

💡 Pro tip: Most email marketers maintain between 4–6 active lists at any time, organized by funnel stage or audience type. Keep your naming system consistent from day one.

Step 3 — Add Contacts Manually (Small Lists)

If you have a handful of contacts to add, you can do it manually:

1. Open your newly created list
2. Click “Add Contacts” → select “Manual Add”
3. Enter the email address and any custom fields (first name, company, etc.)
4. Click “Add”

Simple. But if you’re working with hundreds or thousands of contacts, skip ahead to the CSV import method below.

Step 4 — Import Contacts via CSV (Bulk Upload)

This is the method most people use. SendGrid makes bulk importing clean and fast.

Here’s how:

1. Go to Marketing → Contacts
2. Click “Add List or Segment” → “Upload CSV”
3. Select your CSV file — make sure it has a header row with column names like email, first_name, last_name, company
4. Map your CSV columns to SendGrid fields — this tells SendGrid what each column means
5. Assign the contacts to your list (or create a new one on the spot)
6. Click “Import”

SendGrid will process the file and send you a confirmation email when it’s done.

📊 Stat to know: 77% of email ROI comes from segmented, targeted, and triggered campaigns. (DMA) A clean import with proper field mapping is what makes all that possible.

CSV formatting tips:

• Always include the email column — it’s required
• Use consistent formatting (no extra spaces, no merged cells)
• Remove duplicate emails before importing
• Only import data you’ll actually use for personalization or segmentation

Step 5 — Map Custom Fields

During the import process (or when adding contacts manually), you’ll be asked to map fields.

SendGrid has built-in fields like Email, First Name, Last Name, and Phone Number.

For anything else — company size, job title, industry, lead source — you’ll need to create custom fields.

To create a custom field:

1. Go to Marketing → Contacts → Custom Fields
2. Click “Add Custom Field”
3. Name it and select a data type (Text, Number, or Date)
4. Save it

That field will now be available in all future imports and can be used for segmentation.

💡 The more data you capture upfront, the more targeted your campaigns can be. A contact tagged with “industry: SaaS” and “company size: 50–200” is 10x more useful than just an email address.

Step 6 — Use Segments to Slice Your List

This is where the real power kicks in.

Segments in SendGrid are dynamic — they update automatically based on rules you set. Unlike static lists, you don’t have to manually move contacts around.

To create a segment:

1. Go to Marketing → Contacts
2. Click “Add List or Segment” → “Create Segment”
3. Name your segment
4. Set your conditions (e.g., “First Name is not empty” + “Custom Field: Industry equals SaaS”)
5. Click “Save”

SendGrid will now automatically pull any contact matching those conditions into that segment.

Useful segment ideas:

• Contacts who haven’t opened your last 3 campaigns (re-engagement)
• Contacts from a specific industry or company size
• Leads added in the last 30 days
• Anyone who clicked a specific link in a previous campaign

📊 Stat to know: Personalized emails deliver 6x higher transaction rates than generic ones. (Experian) Segments make personalization at scale possible.

Step 7 — Verify Your List Before Sending

Before you launch any campaign, do a quick sanity check:

• Remove invalid emails — bounces hurt your sender reputation
• Check for duplicates — SendGrid deduplicates within a single list, but verify across multiple lists
• Preview your contacts — make sure data looks clean and correctly mapped
• Test your segment rules — click “Preview” in the segment builder to see who qualifies

📊 Stat to know: A bounce rate above 2% can damage your sender reputation and affect deliverability for all future sends. (Validity) Keep your list clean.

Step 8 — Connect Your List to a Campaign

Now your list is ready to go to work.

To connect it to a campaign:

1. Go to Marketing → Email → Single Sends (or Automations)
2. Create or open your campaign
3. In the Recipients step, select the list or segment you just built
4. Continue building your campaign as normal

That’s it. Your contacts are now queued up for your next send.

Quick Recap — SendGrid Contact List Checklist

Conclusion

Building a contact list in SendGrid isn’t complicated — but doing it right sets the tone for every campaign you’ll run from here.

A clean, well-segmented list means higher open rates, better deliverability, and more revenue from every send. The marketers getting results aren’t blasting everyone — they’re sending the right message to the right people, at the right time.

Start with the basics, keep your data clean, and use segments to get increasingly targeted over time.

And if email isn’t filling your pipeline the way you’d hoped — you’re not alone. Up to 85% of cold emails never get opened. (Backlinko) That’s why more teams are combining email with direct LinkedIn outreach to reach decision-makers where they’re actually paying attention.

If you want a fully built outbound system — targeting, messaging, campaign design, and scaling — book a strategy meeting with Salesso and we’ll show you exactly how we do it.