Bulk Convert Leads to Contacts in Salesforce

Before you can bulk convert leads to contacts in Salesforce, the leads must be linked to the correct accounts. This is because Salesforce looks for that relationship before converting the lead. If the link is not in place, Salesforce will not be able to identify the correct account record, and the conversion won't happen.

Follow the steps in the Lead to Account Matching In Salesforce article to link Salesforce leads to accounts in bulk.

See the Salesforce help article, Converting Leads for more details.

To bulk convert leads to contacts and accounts, you must first install the Insycle AppExchange app in your Salesforce organization. To make the conversions, Insycle uses Apex code. Without the app installed, Insycle cannot use Apex code.

Install the Insycle package from the AppExchange page.

In Insycle, navigate to Data Management > Bulk Operations.

Select your Salesforce database and the Leads record type in the top menu. Then explore the templates for an existing solution that may be close to what you need. 

Under Step 1, select the Fields you want to look at and Conditions you want the values to meet. With this filter, you're telling Insycle what records you would like to update.

In this example, the filter is looking for leads that have already been associated with accounts. However, you can leave the filter blank if you want to convert all available leads to contacts.

When you click Search, Insycle will list leads that match your filter in the Record Viewer at the bottom of the page.

When you are working with the Leads record type, the Convert tab appears under Step 2. This option is only available for converting leads to contacts.

Under Step 2, click the Convert tab.

Here, you can control the owner of the converted lead. A lead may have an owner, but depending on your organization's workflow, it may be more appropriate for the contact to be assigned the same owner as the account. 

Select the Rule that tells Insycle where to take the Contact Owner value from.

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 verify that the relationships are being created as expected before those changes are made in Salesforce.

First, under Step 3, click the Review button.

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

On the Notify tab, add any additional recipients who should receive the CSV (and make sure to 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. 

For each lead, Insycle converts the record to a contact, maintaining the link to the account. If in Step 2, you chose to use the owner from the account, that will appear in the Salesforce record, not in the CSV. In the Result column, a "Converted" value indicates the lead will be converted to a contact record when the update is applied to your CRM. 

Apply Changes to Salesforce

If everything in your CSV preview appears correct, return to Insycle and proceed with applying the changes to the live Salesforce data.

Under Step 3, 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.

After you've seen the results in Salesforce and 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. Then, you can bundle templates into Recipes and integrate them into Salesforce flows.

By automating with a template, you'll save time and ensure that your fields are automatically converted 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 3, click the Review button and select Update mode.

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

When you have a solid set of templates that reliably merge your records, you can put them together into a longer, ordered sequence as a Recipe. Then, you can schedule that Recipe to run on a consistent, set schedule. Your templates will run one after another in the order that you set.

You can also integrate Insycle Recipes with Salesforce flows.

When Insycle converts a Salesforce lead to a contact, it automatically checks if a contact with the same email is already associated with the same account as the lead. If such a contact exists, the lead will convert into that existing contact. However, if a contact with the same email exists but is not associated with the same account as the lead, then the lead will be converted into a new contact.

In Salesforce, when a lead is converted into an existing contact, the owner info from the lead cannot overwrite the contact owner. However, with Insycle, you have the ability to override the default Salesforce behavior. When converting leads into contacts, you can choose to copy the lead owner to the contact, even for existing contacts that already have an owner value.

Your company may encounter issues where a single person exists in Salesforce as both a lead and a contact. Unfortunately, looking for duplicates in the combined pool of leads and contacts can't be done using native Salesforce features. With Insycle's Merge Duplicates module, you can easily deduplicate across Salesforce leads and contacts by simply clicking a checkbox.

Once the records are consolidated, you can use the Bulk Operations module to convert the leads to contacts.

Learn more about resolving duplicates across Salesforce leads and contacts.

If you'd like to see additional fields in the Record Viewer, under Step 1, click the Layout tab, find the desired field in the right column, and drag it left to the Visible Fields column. Drag-and-drop fields to reorder them in the Visible Fields column.

These fields will also be included in any CSV exports from this module.

If the Result column in your CSV report shows "Failed," check the Message column. The message, "Lead is not linked to an Account using AccountId__c field," indicates the lead record is not linked to an account, which is a prerequisite for converting leads to contacts.

You'll need to go back and follow the steps in the Lead to Account Matching in Salesforce article to link Salesforce leads to accounts, then return to the Bulk Operations module and do the conversion steps again.

No, Insycle handles this for you, allowing you to bypass the complicated manual process. Insycle can convert leads to contacts and accounts in bulk.

When you convert a lead, Salesforce creates a new contact record and an associated opportunity record (if applicable). The original lead record, however, is not deleted. Instead, it is kept in the system with a status of "Converted" and linked to the newly created contact and opportunity records.

The converted lead record is hidden from most standard search results and list views by default. This behavior is intentional and designed to reduce clutter and prevent users from accidentally working with the old lead data instead of the new contact and opportunity records.

See Salesforce's Convert Qualified Leads article for details.

This discrepancy is likely due to Insycle's default filter settings. By default, Insycle automatically excludes converted leads from the standard view, helping 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. To view only converted leads, follow the same steps but select only 'True' for the Value.

Remember, Insycle syncs converted leads, so they remain in our system, even if they're not visible in the default view.

When converting Salesforce leads to contacts using Insycle, the conversion process runs through Salesforce’s native Apex code. This means Insycle handles the conversion the same way Salesforce does.

If there are data conflicts between lead and contact fields, Salesforce (and therefore Insycle) will only populate empty fields on the contact with data from the lead. Existing values on the contact or account will not be overwritten, except in the specific case of the Owner field, which can be configured in Step 2 of the conversion process.

For more details on how Salesforce manages field values during lead conversion, see Salesforce’s official documentation here: What happens when a Lead is converted