Lead to Account Matching In Salesforce

Leads are not linked with accounts in Salesforce by default. To establish and display this relationship on lead and account pages, you need to use a custom lookup field, then display the correct related lists.

Create a Custom Lead Field Called “Account Name”

This field is used to create the association within the database.

In Salesforce navigate to Setup > Object Manager > Lead > Fields & Relationships.

Click New and create a custom field with the following properties:

• Data Type: Lookup Relationship
• Related Object: Account
• Field Label: Account Name
• Field Name: AccountId
• Child Relationship Name: Leads
• Related List Label: Leads (account)
• API Name: AccountId__c (this should fill in automatically on the Custom Field Definition Detail page)

Add New Field to Lead Page Layout

In Salesforce, navigate to Setup > Object Manager > Lead > Page Layouts > Lead Layout.

Add the new Account Name field to the layout. 

The Account Name custom lookup field should now be available on lead objects and the association should display on lead profile pages.

With the custom Account Name lookup field set up, you can now create relationships between Salesforce leads and accounts.

Add Leads Related List to Accounts Page Layout

In Salesforce, navigate to Setup > Object Manager > Account > Page Layouts > Account Layout.

Add the new Leads Related List to the layout. 

The leads associations should now show up on the account profile pages.

In Insycle, navigate to the RevOps Acceleration > Associate app, select your Salesforce database, and the Leads record type in the top menu.

Explore the templates for an existing solution that may be close to what you need. The pre-built templates, Link Leads to Accounts using Company Name, or Link Leads to Accounts using Domain could give you a good start and be tailored to your needs.

Under Step 1, select the Fields you want to examine and the Conditions you want the values to meet to determine whether to include or exclude a record from this task. With this filter, you're telling Insycle what records you would like to update. You could leave the filter blank if you want to link all available leads to accounts.

When you click Search, Insycle will list matching records in the Record Viewer at the bottom of the page.

Under Step 2, define the rules for bulk matching the two record types during the linking process. In this example, we're linking leads to accounts. 

In the first row:

1. Action tells Insycle what to do to the records that surfaced in Step 1. You can Add or Remove a link between records. 

2. Association specifies the type of record you want to create the relationship with. In the example above, Leads will be linked TO Accounts.

3. Click the Accounts Filter to limit the pool of target account records to those that best fit this relationship.

4. Click the Selection button to define rules for picking the company if there are multiple matches found.

In the second row:

5. Select the Leads Field you want to try and match with the account record. In the example above, the Company value from the lead record will be used.

6. Select the Accounts Field with the value that should match the lead field. In this example, the Account Name from the account records will be analyzed for a match.

7. The Comparison Rule tells Insycle whether the values between the lead and account records must be an Exact Match or Similar Match. In most cases, you'd select Exact Match, but you can learn more about these Comparison Rules in the Advanced How-Tos below.

8. In the Ignored field, you can specify parts of a field value to ignore, such as specific text, whitespace, or characters. In the dropdown, check the box for the values you'd like to ignore. In the example, the Ignored rule tells Insycle to ignore Symbols that may appear in the Company or Account Name fields, such as the period at the end of "Inc." or "Co." This is often a necessary parameter for matching companies.

9. The Match Parts tells Insycle whether to match the entire field or just part of it. In the example, Insycle will only look at the First 2 Words of the Company and Account Name values. 

Preview Changes in a CSV Report

Now, with the filters and linking actions in place, you can preview the changes you are making to your data. That way, you can check to ensure the relationships are being created as expected before those changes are made in your live database.

First, under Step 4, click the Review button.

In the Bulk Associate popup, select Preview and click Next.

On the Notify tab, add any recipients who should receive the CSV (and hit Enter after each address). You can add colleagues and additional context here.

On the When tab, click the Run Now tab and select which records to apply the change to (in most cases, this will be All), then click the Run Now button.

Open the CSV file from your email in a spreadsheet application and review the columns. 

The CSV shows how Insycle tried to match each lead record that matched your filter from Step 1 with the record type you selected in Step 2. 

Each row in the CSV includes the Result of the association and a Message with details, the initial record info, the associated record info, and, if configured, the result of the copy operation. 

Insycle looks at the Company value and looks for a match in the Account Name field of account records. You can see these values side-by-side in the CSV.

An "Added" Result indicates a match was found, and the relationship will be added when the update is applied to Salesforce. 

If there is an issue, the Message field will give you details so you can troubleshoot

Apply Changes to Salesforce

If everything in your CSV preview looks correct, return to Insycle and apply the changes to the live Salesforce data.

Under Step 4, click the Review button, this time select Update mode. 

On the When tab, click Run Now and select which records to apply the change to (in most cases this will be All), then click the Run Now button.

Save Templates and Setup Automation to Maintain Formatting

After you've seen the results in Salesforce and you are satisfied with how the operation runs, you can save all of the configurations as a template and set up automation so this linking operation runs on a set schedule. 

By automating with a template, you'll save time and ensure that your fields are consistently linked on an ongoing basis.

Return to the Template menu at the top of the page and click Copy to save your configurations as a new version of whatever template you started with. Then click the pencil to edit your new template name.

Under Step 4, click the Review button, and select Update mode.

On the Notify tab, select the send option appropriate for your automation: Always send, Send when errors, or Do not email.

Add any additional recipients who should receive the CSV each time the automation runs. You can also provide additional context in the message subject or body.

On the When tab, select Automate, and configure the frequency you'd like the template to run. When finished, click Schedule.

You can specify more than one matching field when making associations in the Associate app. 

For example, maybe you want to compare a contact's Email Domain against an account's Website, along with any listed in the Additional Websites field. 

To do this, under Step 2, select the Advanced tab. There, you'll be able to add Related Match Fields to catch more associations. 

Instead of using the company and account name to match leads to accounts in Step 2, you could use the lead's email domain and the account's website. You'll need to tell Insycle to only look at the main part of the domain.

1. In the Ignored field, select Text (substrings) (www., https://), and Sub Domain (app.domain.com).
2. To edit the ignored text substrings, click the Terms button, then on the Ignored Text tab, enter any additional values to ignore.

In Step 2, the Comparison Rule defines what kind of likeness to look for when deciding if field values should be considered a match for linking.

It's a good idea to start with Exact Match for the straightforward matches, then use Similar Match to look for edge cases.

Exact Match looks for values that match exactly, with no differences from one record to the next. Any unique identifying fields should use Exact Match.

Similar Match looks for values that may be close but with a one-character difference (like a typo, extra character, or missing character) and broadens the search. This search behaves like when Google shows results for a slightly different term, or says “Did you mean...”

For example, if a Company Name of, “Acme” is found, it could include records with the Company Name values, “Akme," "acm," or "Acma,” as matches.

Similar Match uses looser criteria that cast a wider net for what can be considered matches. Make sure to carefully review the results to ensure the relationships being created are what you're expecting.

 If using ID fields to match, note that they will only work with Exact Match, not Similar Match.

If no matching record is found, you can choose to automatically create a new record based on what is in the source record.

Under Step 2 of the Associate app, check the Create new [record] when no matching is found box to enable, then select the field to use for naming the new record.

When using the Associate app, you can opt to be alerted when records aren’t matched. This may be helpful if you want to investigate and address any records where a relationship has not been created.

Under Step 2 check the Count unmatched Leads records as Failed box.

Then in the Step 4 popup on the Notify tab, you can select the email delivery option “Always send,” or “Send when errors.”

When checked, any record where there is no match to create the relationship will be counted as “Failed.” This will be reflected by a “with Failures” suffix on the report email subject line…

…and a "Failed" Result and "No matching record found (use 'Grid Edit' to troubleshoot)" Message in the CSV report.

When you save this associate configuration as a template and set up automation, the report emails will let you know when a relationship has not been created for a record so you can address it as needed.

A "Failed" Result with the Message "Multiple target matches (x)..." or "Multiple source matches..." occurs when multiple records meet your matching specifications. For example, if you were linking contacts to companies, and Insycle found ten company records with the name "Microsoft," it wouldn't know which Microsoft to establish the relationship with.

There are a few options for resolving this issue:

1. If there shouldn't be multiples of these records you should first go through the process of merging duplicates before trying to create these relationships.
2. If there are supposed to be multiple similar but distinct records, you can add another matching field in Step 2 to make the criteria more specific. A record would have to match both field values to be considered appropriate for making the relationship.
3. You can also use the filter in Step 2 to narrow the records to be associated.
   In the filter popup you could, for example, add the "Account name," field and set the Condition, "contains" "HQ." This tells Insycle to only consider companies for association if the Company Name value includes the term "HQ."
4. In cases where there are multiple account records that could match, you can add Selection rules to pick the appropriate record.
   
   You can create rules in the selection pop-up to select the most recently created record with an owner assigned.
   

An "Unmodified" Result with the Message "Unmodified, no matching record found (use 'Grid Edit' to troubleshoot)" result occurs when there aren’t any records that meet your matching specifications.

You can examine the data in the unmatched records and troubleshoot using the Grid Edit module. Look at different fields and values to identify why your associate setup didn’t work for the record. Then decide what match options could work or if some cleanup is needed.

Learn more about reviewing your data using the Grid Edit module.

When using the Associate app, you have the option under Step 2 to Count unmatched records as Failed. When checked, any record where there is no match to create the association will be counted as “Failed.” This will be reflected by a "Failed, no matching record found (use 'Grid Edit' to troubleshoot)" message in the Result column of the CSV report.

You can examine the data in the unmatched records and troubleshoot using the Grid Edit module. Look at different fields and values to identify why your associate setup didn’t work for the record. Then decide what match options could work or if some cleanup is needed.

Learn more about reviewing your data using the Grid Edit module.

If you run into issues with lead-to-account matching, you can look up the company name and account name values separately to determine what to use for a match. 

Doing the below steps in order allows you to compare how the values look before matching. That way, you can adjust the matching rules if they are not an exact match.

1. In the Grid Edit module, select the Leads record type and look for a specific Company value.
2. In the Grid Edit module, select the Accounts record type and look for the Account Name value that matches the Company value from the previous step.
3. In the Associate app, select the Leads record type and the pre-built template, Link Leads to Accounts using Company Name to link lead to account by name. Add a filter for the company name so that you can focus on these specific leads.

No, Insycle bypasses the typical conversion process of turning leads into contacts, accounts, and opportunities in the Salesforce system. With Insycle, you can directly associate leads to accounts.

There aren't any settings that need to be changed, but creating the custom lookup field in Salesforce is required for Insycle to make lead-to-account links.

This discrepancy is likely due to Insycle's default filter settings. By default, Insycle automatically excludes converted leads from the standard view to help you focus on active, unconverted leads.

To see all your leads, including converted ones, you can add an explicit filter with the following criteria:

• Field: Converted
• Condition: any of
• Value: Select both True and False

This will show both converted and unconverted leads. If you want to see only converted leads, follow the same steps but select only True for the Value.

Remember, Insycle does sync converted leads, so they are still in our system even if they're not visible in the default view.