CRM migration
How to prepare a list for a CRM import
To prepare a list for a CRM import: clean and dedupe it, map your columns to the target's
import fields, and check required fields, data types, and allowed picklist values before you
import. For CRMs that need accounts before contacts, import the accounts file first. Sift does
all of this in your browser, so the data never leaves your device.
Prepare your list in Sift →
The checklist that prevents failed imports
- Clean the values, trim whitespace, standardize casing, repair emails, normalize phones, countries, postcodes, and dates.
- Dedupe, one record per person or company, so the import doesn't create duplicates.
- Map to the target, line your columns up with the CRM's import fields.
- Check required fields, nothing mandatory left blank.
- Check types and picklists, dates, numbers, and dropdown values match what the CRM accepts.
- Accounts before contacts, for Dynamics and Salesforce, create parent accounts first, then contacts link to them.
How Sift does it
Drop the CRM's import template (its headers, ideally with a few sample rows) and Sift auto-maps
your columns and runs a readiness pre-flight: it reports blockers (a required field empty or
unmapped) and warnings (a wrong type, or a value outside the allowed set) so you fix them
before importing, not after. Then export a clean file, plus a deduped accounts file if you
need to import parents first.
Why this matters: most CRM data problems are cheapest to fix before the import. Catching a bad
value in Sift takes seconds; fixing it after it is spread across thousands of CRM records does
not.
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