Salesforce presents itself as one of the most powerful customer relationship management (CRM) tools that allows companies to manage various aspects of customer interaction. One of the critical features of Salesforce is its ability to import data from multiple sources. This is essential for initial setup, migration, or regular updates. However, managing large volumes of data in Salesforce can become overwhelming. The process requires you to make use of the right tools and techniques so that the entire data import process can be carried out in a smooth manner.
Without the right tools, accurately getting your data into Salesforce gets extremely difficult, especially when you are importing customer information, custom records, or sales data. This process becomes all the more challenging when you are handling complex data sets or are working with various file formats. In this situation, efficient data import can help save your team hours of manual work. It also reduces the risk of data errors.
So, here, in our blog, we are going to take you through the different ways in which you can import data into Salesforce. We will also tell you how you can make use of Salesforce Data Import to get maximum business output.
What Is Data Import in Salesforce?
Salesforce Data import refers to the process of importing large amounts of data from various sources into Salesforce. This process makes sure that Salesforce has the required data to perform various tasks. However, efficient data import is not just about saving time. It helps ensure accuracy, maintain data integrity, and also minimizes disruption to daily operations. Additionally, by making use of the right tools to schedule imports, you can free up resources. This allows business processes to be carried out smoothly without any hindrance.
Preparing Your Data Before Import:
Salesforce customers (97%) collect a wide range of data, but only about 24% are leveraging this data for actionable insights, highlighting a gap between data import and utilization.
Before you start with Salesforce data import, it is essential that you prepare your data thoroughly. Proper preparation helps prevent errors, allows smooth import, and also maintains data integrity. Importing unclean or disorganized data can cause mismatches, validation rule failures, and incomplete records. This can lead to long-term data issues.
Here are some of the steps to prepare data for import into Salesforce:
Cleaning and organizing your data:
Before importing, make sure that the data is free from errors, duplicates and inconsistencies. You should also validate the data that you are importing. Ensure that the data adheres to the field types in Salesforce. If the required Salesforce fields are missing in your data, make sure that you fill them.
Matching your data fields to Salesforce fields:
Before you go for data import in Salesforce, ensure that your data fields align with the fields in Salesforce. This helps avoid errors or missing information. During the import process, you must also review Salesforce’s original field structure to ensure field consistency.
Up to 25% of data import errors are typically attributed to missing or incorrectly mapped required fields.
Handling validation rules:
Validation rules in Salesforce help enforce business logic. They ensure that specific criteria are met before a record is saved on Salesforce. While beneficial, this can cause various issues during import, especially if your data doesn’t comply with the rules. So, you must validate the rules before importing data into Salesforce.
Related Read: Real-Time Data Sync and Automation with ERP-Salesforce Integration for Manufacturing Businesses
Tools Available for Importing Data into Salesforce:
Using Data Import Wizard:
Salesforce Data Import Wizard is a baseline data loading tool that is built into Salesforce. It is available in all editions and comes with an easy-to-use wizard to insert and update the records.
Pros:
- Available with all Salesforce editions with no additional costs.
- Cloud-based. Does not require any kind of additional installation.
- Has excellent usability.
Cons:
- Can import only up to 50,000 standard object records, cannot exceed 400 KB and is limited to 90 fields per record.
- Supports CSV format only. This can be duplicate-prone and time-consuming.
- Only one import job can run at a particular time.
Using Data Loader:
Salesforce Data Loader is a more advanced data loading tool available from Salesforce. It allows you to insert, update, delete, and export records as per your convenience.
Pros:
- Available at no additional cost.
- Can be used to update records that already exist.
- Can delete or export bulk records.
- Supports different objects.
Cons:
- The tool has to be installed directly on the computer.
- Can only import up to 5,000,000 standard objects.
- Only available for organisations that are using Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, Developer and database.com.
| Feature | Data Import Wizard | Data Loader |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Web-based (within Salesforce UI) | Desktop application or CLI tool |
| Record Limit | Up to 50,000 records | Millions of records (5 million+ recommended) |
| Supported Objects | Standard objects (Accounts, Contacts, Leads, etc.) and custom objects | All standard and custom objects |
| Operations | Insert, Update, Upsert | Insert, Update, Upsert, Delete, Hard Delete, Export |
| Scheduling | No scheduling capability | Can schedule batch jobs via command line |
| Ease of Use | User-friendly, wizard-based interface | Requires more technical knowledge |
| Duplicate Detection | Built-in duplicate matching rules | No built-in duplicate detection |
Common Errors in Salesforce Data Import and How to Fix Them:
Now, let us take a look at some of the common errors with Salesforce data import:
Validation rule exception:
This is quite tricky to figure out when you are trying to debug a data load in Salesforce. This is because the error doesn’t generate from Salesforce restriction but rather from a custom validation rule which has been created.
How to handle the error?
You can easily handle this error by validating the rules created. This will ensure that your data is consistent and up to the mark.
Required fields missing:
This means that Salesforce has rejected the insert/update because a particular field on the object is not populated.
How to handle the error?
To progress with the data load, make sure that for every record, the required field has a value populated.
Entity is deleted
When trying to Update / Delete a record, this error will occur when the entity has already been deleted in Salesforce.
How to handle the error?
If you are looking to Delete the record, then the job is already done for you. If you were looking to Update the record, then you would need to create it again by Inserting it, as the previously referenced record no longer exists.
Best Practices for Handling Salesforce Data Import Errors:
Here are some of the best practices for Salesforce import:
Deduplicate before importing:
Duplicate data can turn out to be a nightmare in Salesforce. User experience, reporting, and data quality can be hampered because of duplicates. So, while importing records into Salesforce, deduplicate the source data. This will help you save yourself a lot of trouble.
Check the processes:
Have you ever imported data into Salesforce and wondered why the records look so different from the source data? Well, this is because there is a process in Salesforce that is responsible for modifying or updating the data. If there are incorrect custom fields, take a look at where those fields are and then import data accordingly. You must also choose the right Salesforce import tools for the data import process.
Automate wherever possible:
If you are planning to import data into Salesforce daily, then you might want to automate the job. It will make your life a lot easier. The automation process will also guarantee consistent data in Salesforce. You must also ensure that the fields are mapped correctly to save further trouble.
Test in sandboxes:
To test new features before deployment, Salesforce has created sandboxes. So, why shouldn’t data imports be tested in Sandboxes as well? So, before importing your data into Salesforce, make sure to test your import with the Salesforce TestBox environment. This will ensure that the data import process is done correctly.
Using APPSeCONNECT’s Advanced Salesforce Integration Capabilities to Import Data:
Now you can easily transform your business operations with APPSeCONNECT’s Salesforce integration services. APPSeCONNECT’s low-code Salesforce integration tools help connect Salesforce CRM with e-commerce, ERP, and more. It helps automate data flow in real-time, thereby eliminating silos and speeding ROI.
Learn more about APPSeCONNECT’s Salesforce Integration!
APPSeCONNECT’s advanced capabilities also allow you to import data smoothly. This helps you to have a unified view of customer data. This further allows you to accelerate sales cycles. You can also ensure real-time sync of data across the various systems.
Parting Thoughts:
So, as you can see, importing data into Salesforce doesn’t always have to be a daunting task. With the right preparation and understanding of tools, you can easily streamline the data import process and make sure that your Salesforce is well-equipped with all the necessary data to support your daily operations. You can also make use of APPSeCONNECT’s advanced Salesforce data integration tools in order to ensure that your Salesforce is well integrated with the various systems in your business environment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, with the right tools and preparation, bulk imports are easily possible.
The biggest mistake is to skip the data cleanup phase. Always clean and validate your data before importing.
It typically takes 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the validation rule and the field complexity.
