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Salesforce: Automatic Customer Data Import

Benji Bizzell
Updated

Overview

The article provides a detailed guide on how to integrate Salesforce data into the AdvocateHub for enhanced segmentation and targeted content delivery. It outlines the process of creating and adding custom profile fields, mapping Salesforce fields to custom profiles, and setting up automatic data synchronization with a nightly update feature. Additionally, it offers an optional feature for automatic advocate invitations through Salesforce and instructions for monitoring the import process.

 

Information

 

The Automatic Customer Data Import is our fancy name for how you can sync information from Salesforce into the AdvocateHub. This information can then be used for segmentation inside of your AdvocateHub.

You can pull this Salesforce information for any advocates who exist in your Salesforce as contacts, and it will stay updated with a nightly sync.

There are 4 parts to this process:

  1. Creating Custom Profile Fields
  2. Mapping Salesforce Fields to your Custom Profile Fields
  3. Adding our Query to update specific Salesforce contacts
  4. Import Sync Cadence

Creating Custom Profile Fields

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To begin, you must create a Custom Profile Field which will represent the Salesforce field you want to pull information from. These will be displayed as a "Custom Profile Field" field in an advocates profile (visible to administrators only). You'll then be able to target things in the hub based on this information.

To add Custom Profile Fields, follow these steps (see screenshot below):

  1. Go to Settings > System > Profile Fields .
  2. Click Add Profile Field .
  3. Name the Custom Profile Field (does not have to be the same as the SFDC field you'll match it to).
  4. Click Save .

Detailed instructions on how to create Custom Profile Fields can be found here Profile Fields .

 

Mapping Salesforce Fields to your Custom Profile

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  1. Go to Gear icon > Integrations > Salesforce Card (Manage) > Settings tab > Automatic Customer Data Import.

  2. Click on + Add Mapping .
  3. In the left drop-down menu, choose one of the new Custom Profile Fields you made.
    1. Continuing with the previous example, we'll select: Contact - Industry
  4. In the right drop-down menu, choose the appropriate Salesforce field that will sync to this AdvocateHub Custom Profile Field.
    1. In our own Salesforce instance, we track industry on the Account, so we will select: Account - Industry
  5. Create any additional mappings for Custom Profile Fields you've created and would like to segment by, and then Save.
  6. (Optional) If you would like to add additional custom fields, you may watch this Salesforce tutorial .

Notes :

  1. There are two types of sync: One-time Import and Continous Pull Import.

    One-time import: The following fields will only be synced with Influitive Contacts during the initial import to prevent changes made by members from being overwritten. Name, Email, Title, Company and Language fields are considered Standard fields and they will only be imported once at the initial contact import. This applies to Nominees, Joined Advocate and Not Joined Advocates types of Hub contacts.
  2. The Hub member's Language field option can be mapped to a Salesforce Field containing the Language. Once this language data is imported, it can be recorded in the Hub member's profile and display the translated content according to the language selected. Currently, we support the following languages . Unsupported languages will not be imported to the Hub and you will receive this notification on the Salesforce Integration Status Logs Tab. Example of Language values that will be pushed: English, Japanese, French.
  3. If the profile fields are set to public (Show on profile) where the Hub members can edit this field at any time, you will not be able to map this field because it may overwrite any changes made by the Hub members on their profile.

Adding a Query to Trigger the Data Sync

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1. Paste the following query to the text box:
AdvocateHub__Date_Added_To_AdvocateHub__c != null
This default query looks for a date in the "Date Added to AdvocateHub" field on your Salesforce contacts. This field will only exist if you've installed our App Exchange package, so if not, you will need a different query here. When you invite someone to the hub, Influitive will automatically populate this box with a date. Then, based on this query, Salesforce will sync that contact's info into their Advocate account counterpart.

2. (Optional) If you want to automatically invite advocates through Salesforce, tick the optional checkbox. This box is used to invite new advocates into the hub based on the query above it. If you keep the query as is and tick this box, you can manually add a date to Salesforce contacts's Date Added to AdvocateHub as a way to automatically invite them to the hub.

The other way you can use this checkbox is by creating another field on Salesforce contacts as a way to invite many Salesforce contacts at once. Here's one example of one way you could use this:

  1. You can create a custom field in Salesforce called "Invited to AdvocateHub" and make it a checkbox field.
  2. You enter a query that looks something like this into step 1: "Contact.Invited_to_AdvocateHub__c = True" (this would mean the import works only for SFDC contacts who have previously been invited to the Hub).
  3. You update Salesforce contacts you want to invite by adding a check-mark to this new Salesforce field.
  4. Click Save.

Notes:

  1. We recommend selecting adding the new AdvocateHub contacts as Advocates instead of Nominees.
  2. If the Salesforce contact does not have an account created in the AdvocateHub yet and the Salesforce contact fulfills the custom SOQL import query, they will be added to the AdvocateHub's Invite List with Source = Salesforce the next time the Automatic Customer Data Import run.

    If the Invite Advocate Automatically on import is checked, the AdvocateHub contact who has just been imported will be sent an invitation email to join the Hub, The Invitation email content sent is determined in your Settings > Email > Invitation > Initial Invitation and will be sent from the Default email sender set in your Settings > Email > General > Email Sender.

  3. If the Salesforce contact already exists in the AdvocateHub as an account and the Salesforce contact still fulfills the custom SOQL import query, the custom profile fields mapped will be updated at every import according to the Salesforce contact field.
  4. If the Salesforce Contact record does not have an email address then they will NOT be imported. If you have duplicate Contact records with the same email address in Salesforce, only the first one will be imported.
  5. Once the custom profile field is mapped to the Salesforce Automatic Customer Data Import, it will overwrite any of the existing values added manually (either by csv import or Hub member manual update). You will not be able to edit or select this field for challenge response mapping once it's mapped to the Automatic Customer Data Import.

Import Sync Cadence

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How often does the Automatic Customer Data Import gets triggered?

Currently, the import is triggered every one hour. The completion of the import depends on the amount of data to import to the Hub. For customers with large amounts of data, timing will be dependent on the length of time the sync takes. For example, a four hour sync will run every four hours.

You can check if the Automatic Customer Data Import has been completed by checking the Status under the Automatic Customer Data Import toggle. It should show you whether it's Running, Disabled, Failed or Completed as well as the date timestamp of the last successful import.

For failed import, please see Common Import Error messages below.

Notes :

  1. The Import uses Bulk API calls to maintains low API calls to Salesforce. This is so that we will not hit the daily API call allowance.
  2. Clicking the " Run Import Now " button will trigger an import on demand, however, it will take time for the import to run depending on the amount of data to import so you will not see an immediate successful import until the import queue is completed.

Notes :

  1. When you first set up the integration, the 'Automatic Customer Data Import' feature will be turned off, and the On/Off switch will not be visible.

  2. When you have at least one field mapping and save, the switch will show up and you can flip it to turn this feature on or off.

  3. Leaving the SOQL query field empty will not prevent the integration from syncing the advocate's data.
  4. We don't recommend using a SOQL query to exclude all advocates, as some of the user's data will be cached, and when you need to import them again, their data will not be synced unless the integration cache has been cleared. Therefore, it's recommended to turn flip the switch off instead.

 

FAQ

How do I create Custom Profile Fields for Salesforce data import?

To create Custom Profile Fields, follow the detailed instructions provided in the Profile Fields support article, which will guide you through the steps to represent the Salesforce fields you want to import.

What is the frequency of the Automatic Customer Data Import from Salesforce?

The Automatic Customer Data Import is triggered every hour, but the actual frequency will depend on the time it takes to complete the import, which varies with the volume of data.

How can I monitor the status of the data import process?

To monitor the import process, check the Status under the Automatic Customer Data Import toggle in the AdvocateHub, which will indicate if the import is Running, Disabled, Failed, or Completed, along with the timestamp of the last successful import.

Can I invite new advocates to the hub automatically through Salesforce?

Yes, by selecting the optional checkbox for automatic invitations in Salesforce, you can invite new advocates to the hub based on a specified query. You can manually set a date in the "Date Added to AdvocateHub" field or create a new field in Salesforce contacts to invite multiple contacts.

What should I do if the Automatic Customer Data Import fails?

If the import fails, refer to the section on Common Import Error messages in the article for troubleshooting steps.

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