How does Unify ingest existing Salesforce records?

Salesforce syncs with Unify every 15 minutes under normal conditions. However, there are some important factors that affect how records sync between the systems, specifically from Salesforce to Unify:

Sync Requirements

• Accounts in Salesforce: Must have valid website domains for successful syncing

  • Domains are used to deduplicate companies and link Salesforce accounts to Unify companies

  • Records with missing or invalid website URLs will not sync

• Contacts in Salesforce: Must have valid email addresses

  • Email addresses are used to deduplicate and link Salesforce contacts/leads to people in Unify

  • Contacts without email addresses will not sync

• When email conflicts exist between Salesforce and Unify‑enriched data, Unify normally displays the CRM email first. However, Unify‑enriched data may take priority in these specific cases:

  • Contacts included in Plays that use “Use Unify Waterfall to Find up‑to‑date Prospects & Data”

  • Contacts added or prospected via the Chrome extension

Sync Timing Considerations

• Normal sync occurs every 15 minutes

• Large data changes (hundreds of thousands of records) may temporarily extend sync time

  • System will return to 15-minute cadence once large sync completes

Data Sync Limitations

• Unify cannot overwrite existing data in Salesforce

  • Unify will only write back default values to empty fields.

  • Existing field values in Salesforce records will not be modified or updated by Unify.

  • If a user wants to update existing filled fields in Salesforce, automation is needed within Salesforce (e.g. flows or triggers).

  • Salesforce write-backs may fail if a record contains required custom fields. Unify cannot populate or bypass required custom fields. If these fields are required on the object, Salesforce will block the write-back unless the requirement is removed or replaced with a standard field.

  • Company-level fields write back to Accounts only, not to Leads

    • When Plays run on Contacts/Leads, only a subset of company-level data writes back to Leads

    • Company intent level and intent score are only supported on Accounts

    • For specific high-priority use cases, contact Unify support to evaluate whether custom company field mappings can be configured for Leads

  • Multi-select picklist fields are not supported

    • Mapping to multi-select picklist fields will cause sync failures

  • Most other standard Salesforce field types (text, number, date, single-select picklist) are supported via field mappings

Custom Field Sync Details

Custom Field Support and Usage

• Custom fields from Salesforce are supported

• Custom fields on Accounts, Contacts, and Leads are automatically pulled into Unify and can be used in sequences, messaging, and play filters

• All field types are supported except Campaign fields and multi-select picklists

• Custom fields appear as variables in the sequence builder for personalization

• Salesforce text fields may occasionally cause formatting issues

Custom Field Mapping Requirements

• Custom fields must have at least one populated record

  • Fields will not appear in Unify's mapping interface until at least one Salesforce record contains data in that field

  • After populating a field value, allow approximately 30 minutes for the field to become available for mapping

• Newly created Salesforce fields typically appear in Unify within 30 minutes

  • If fields don't appear after 30 minutes, try refreshing the page or doing a hard refresh

  • Ensure the integration user has proper permissions to access the new fields

  • Verify the field mapping has been saved in Unify settings

• Initial setup or mapping changes may temporarily delay sync beyond the normal 15-minute cadence

  • Sync will resume normal timing once the initial configuration completes

Updating Records in Unify

If you need to add or correct contact information in Unify (such as email addresses or LinkedIn profiles), you can use these methods:

• Enrich via browser extension or CSV upload: Use the Unify browser extension to enrich individual contacts, or upload a CSV file with the correct information. Enrichment will add or update the contact details in Unify.

• Manual creation via extension interface: If the browser extension cannot find a contact or returns incorrect information, hover to the bottom of the extension UI and enter the contact details directly.

• Update in your CRM: Add or update the contact information in Salesforce with the correct data. Unify will sync the changes during the next sync cycle (typically within 15 minutes).

• CSV upload requirements: Minimum required fields are first name and email. CSV uploads create a List in Unify rather than adding individual contacts.

• Manual enrollment: After the contact information is in Unify through either method above, you can manually add or enroll contacts from their People record.

Troubleshooting Salesforce Sync Issues

When Salesforce records aren't syncing to Unify as expected, these troubleshooting steps can help identify and resolve common issues:

Initial Connection Delays

• First-time Salesforce connections may take up to 24 hours to complete the initial sync, even though normal syncing occurs every 15 minutes thereafter.

Credential and Permission Issues

• Expired integration credentials: Integration credentials can expire and silently stop syncing. Go to Settings → Integrations → Salesforce and check for connection warnings. If prompted, select "Change User" to reconnect, then allow 15-30 minutes for a full sync.

• Salesforce permissions or validation rules: The Salesforce integration user may lack necessary permissions, or validation rules may be blocking record updates. Review the integration user's permissions and any validation rules that might prevent record creation or updates.

Write-Back Troubleshooting

• Duplicate record handling: When duplicate records exist in Salesforce (multiple Contacts/Leads with the same email), Unify will select one record as the source of truth and will only update that single record during write-backs.

• Diagnosing write-back failures: To identify why specific records failed to write back, check Settings → Salesforce Integration → Skipped Records and review the error details for the affected contacts or accounts.

Duplicate Detection Rules Blocking Account Creation

If your Salesforce instance has duplicate detection rules enabled (e.g., exact or fuzzy account name matching), those rules can prevent Unify from creating new Account records when a potential duplicate is detected. This stops the creation of the parent Account and consequently blocks related records (contacts, tasks, emails) from syncing.

1. Merge duplicate accounts in Salesforce – Consolidate the conflicting accounts manually.

2. Adjust duplicate detection rules – Modify or temporarily disable the rules that are blocking account creation.

3. Retry failed writes – Use the CRM Error Page to retry the previously failed sync attempts.

Note: Unify relies on your CRM or enrichment data for contact fields. Since Unify is not the system of record for CRM data, to change information like email addresses or LinkedIn URLs, update them in your CRM or use enrichment/CSV upload, and Unify will sync the changes.