Bulk Delete from CSV

Sometimes, you may need to delete records from your CRM—contacts, companies, deals, or custom objects—from a CSV.

These might be contacts that have had hard-bounced emails, have opted out of your mailing list, were mistakenly added to your CRM, companies that have shuttered their doors, or for other reasons.

With Insycle, you can quickly match CSV records to records in your CRM and delete them.

How It Works

With Insycle, matching records from a CSV to records in your CRM and deleting them in bulk is simple using the Magical Import module.

Insycle allows you to choose identity fields that are then used to connect records in your CSV to records in your CRM. Then, you can delete the data in bulk.

Summary

You just upload your CSV, choose the Identity field(s) for matching, and then delete them in Step 2. With Insycle, you can declutter your database in a few simple steps.

You can save all settings using Templates. With Templates, future bulk record deletions will not need to be reconfigured, saving you time on all future deletion tasks.

Step 1: Map CSV Columns to CRM Fields

When you open the Magical Import module, the first thing that you will need to do is select the CSV file containing the record data that you would like to match to CRM records for deletion.

Uploading a CSV file to Insycle does not make any changes to your data right away. First, you have several options on how to prepare the data, including matching it to records in your database and deleting them.

After uploading your CSV, Insycle analyzes your file and compares the columns in the file to fields in your CRM database. Insycle will detect fields that match and automatically map them for you.

Records that are not automatically mapped will display an error and may need to be mapped manually—particularly if you are using that field as an Identity field for matching your CSV records to your CRM records. If unmapped, the fields will not be available for use as an Identity field.

If a record has errors in it, the red exclamation point notification will be shown on the left side of the record. When you hover over the red exclamation mark, an explanation of the error will be displayed.

Records that have errors in them will not be included in the bulk delete process.

Step 2: Match CSV to CRM Records, then Delete

Next, we tell Insycle what to do with the CSV data, which is to match it to existing CRM records, then delete the records from your CRM.

Click on the Delete tab in Step 2. It is the fourth tab from the left.

Then, we select the Identity Field(s). Insycle uses Identity Fields to compare your CSV to your Intercom data. Identity fields must be "unique identifiers." These are data points that could only belong to a single contact—such as email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, or ID numbers.

Note About Multiple Identity Fields

You can select more than one identity field, however Insycle will check all of the fields to match. If one single field does not match, the corresponding matching CRM record will not be identified and will not be deleted.

Note About Overly Broad Identity Fields

For example, using a field that is not uniquely identifying. Doing this means that Insycle is likely to identify the wrong record in your CRM as a match, and will not be able to identify a record to pull data from. For instance, there are probably many people with the first name 'John' in your CRM, but you want to make sure that you are pulling data from the correct record for John. This is why it is important that we use uniquely identifying fields.

In our example, we are using the "Email" field, which is a common Identity Field used for matching.

With your Identity Field chosen, you can then select the "Delete X Contacts" button.

Before the deletion takes place, you'll be prompted to confirm.

After the deletion operation runs, you'll be provided with a report, detailing how many records were successfully deleted and how many failed. Failed deletions were likely not matched to existing CRM records.

You can download the full report by clicking on the Run ID. A CSV file will download. You can also always view changes made in the Magical Import module by visiting the Activity Tracker in the main navigation menu.

Templates

With your import set up and running smoothly, you can then save your settings as a template. With a template, all of your settings are saved — field mapping, functions, modes, etc.

Then, any time that you import data using the same .CSV structure and select the template, these settings will be automatically loaded and you will have minimal work for future imports.

To create and save a new template, you click the “+” symbol on the right-hand side of the template banner.

After creating the template, you must save the template by clicking the save icon on the far right-hand side of the same menu.

Audit Trail and History

The Activity Tracker lets you review all changes made through Insycle. At any time you can download a CSV report of the operation and records affected, including during imports.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I undo a mass deletion operation?

No, not fully. Insycle's Activity Tracker will provide a CSV of the deleted records, which can then be re-imported into your CRM if you would like.

But, the information in this CSV is incomplete. Information like activities, list inclusion, and other advanced data will not be included in this CSV.

If you use Insycle to mass delete records, at best you can re-import the records with partial data.

Is there a limit on the number of records I can delete?

No, you can delete as many records as required. However, Insycle will only be able to delete records that it is able to match using your chosen identity fields.

Additional Resources

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