To begin marketing to your Salesforce database from Act-On, you will need to import your Leads and Contacts as marketing lists.

Prerequisites

• An active connection to your Salesforce account
• CRM Administration, set up and ran at least once

How to Import a Marketing List from Salesforce

1. Click on Contacts > Marketing Lists.
2. Click the Import button in the upper right corner of the page.
3. Click the radio button next to All Salesforce Leads. Your Act-On list name will auto populate but can be modified manually in the "New List Name" field. Once you've named your list, click Next.
4. In the next screen select the fields you wish to import as Columns in your Act-On list and click Finish.
   • Note: After your initial field selection you can always import additional fields. To do so, click the dropdown menu next to your Salesforce list and select Import/Export > Salesforce Sync Setup > Add List Columns.
5. Verify that your new list has been created in Marketing Lists > Default Folder. Once the import is complete, repeat the same steps for All Salesforce Contacts.

You may also import Campaigns and Reports from Salesforce using this same process. See below for more information.

Importing Salesforce Reports

• In order for your Salesforce Reports to be imported successfully into Act-On, they must:
  • Include the Lead ID or Contact ID columns
  • Include First Name, Last Name, Company/Account, and Email Address
  • Contain at least one record
• To use the Salesforce owner to personalize the emails, you must create an 18-Digit Owner ID Field in Salesforce and include it in the report.
• Due to limitations with Salesforce Lightning, the Salesforce-connected user must be in Classic mode in order to import a Report.
• If the connected user is in Lightning mode, you may receive an error signalling missing the Lead or Contact ID although your report does include these columns:
  • "You may be receiving this error if your Report does not include the Lead/Contact ID field which is required for a successful import into Act-On. If the field is already included in your report and the problem persists please contact Act-On Support."

Importing Salesforce Campaigns

• Use only the default Campaign fields.
  • Campaign custom fields will not sync with Act-On, even though they are visible within the Act-On interface. (To integrate these, please contact your account manager about a paid Professional Services engagement.)

How to Synchronize List Data with Salesforce

Once you've imported your CRM data into Act-On as lists, you may need to schedule these to synchronize on a recurring basis (or you may do so manually as needed). Before scheduling a recurring sync, however, you must configure settings for how the data will be managed.

Salesforce.com Sync Setup

1. Click on Contacts > Marketing Lists.
2. Hover over your list and click the drop down arrow > Import/Export > Salesforce.com Sync Setup (for a Salesforce report, select Re-import from Salesforce.)

There are multiple options for synchronizing data between Salesforce and Act-On. These options are described below.

CRM Sync Options

• Push to Salesforce:
  • Add new Act-On records to Salesforce 
  • Update existing records in Salesforce (Determine which fields will be updated)
• Pull from Salesforce:
  • Add new records to the Act-On list from Salesforce
  • Update existing records in Act-On (Determine which fields you want to update in Act-On)
  • Remove records from this list that are not found on this list in Salesforce. (Removes records from Act-On if they've been deleted in Salesforce and it will remove the Lead if the Lead has been converted into a Contact).
• Set a recurring schedule or Run Now for Act-On and Salesforce data sync:
  • Click the Schedule button to set up
  • Select the frequency in which you would like to sync Act-On and Salesforce data – daily, weekly monthly, turn off
  • Enter the run time in hours (as often as every four hours)
  • Enter the start time you would like the job to run
    • Click Run Now if you would like the data sync to take place immediately
    • Click Save

* For Salesforce Campaigns, the Campaign Status field will always be pushed if the Update existing records option is enabled, regardless of the options selected in Pull-Update Fields.

List Sync Scheduling

After configuring the push and pull settings for your list, you are ready to set this on a schedule.

• Accounts are limited to 10 scheduled list syncs. To increase this limit, speak to your Account Manager.
• The shortest possible interval between syncs for a single list is 4 hours.
• Only one sync can occur at a time. Therefore, it is recommended that you stagger your sync schedule. Example schedule:
  • 7:45AM - CRM Administration
  • 8:00AM - All Salesforce Leads
  • 8:15AM - All Salesforce Contacts
  • ...with each sync set on the same interval/period.

How to Schedule a List Sync

1. Navigate to the dropdown menu for the list you want to synchronize and select Import/Export > Salesforce.com Sync Setup.
2. Click the Schedule button. Choose the desired frequency, intervals and start times.
3. Click Save at the top of the window.

Once your push/pull options and scheduling preferences have been set, click Save at the bottom of the window. To discard all changes, click Cancel.

Best Practices for Salesforce Lists

• Implement Master Lists for Leads and Contacts and schedule these for recurring synchronization.
• This ensures that your contact data is up to date and your Act-On instance runs efficiently by minimizing the number of regularly recurring syncs. 
• Maintain your CRM as the database of record rather than using Act-On for that purpose.
• This practice has implications for how you will set up your data synchronization, which are described in this article. 

FAQs and Troubleshooting

Can I push/pull Custom Fields?

For a custom field to be imported from Salesforce correctly, it must contain basic alphanumeric data and the connected Salesforce user must have read access.

While most custom fields are available for syncing, there are some limitations. Custom Fields that will not sync:

• Custom Campaign fields.
• Fields such as an External Lookup Relationship that perform a calculation in Salesforce.
  • Your Salesforce administrator may be able to help you convert lookup fields into a new text field that will sync as intended.

For more information and specific instructions on setting up custom fields for use with Act-On and Salesforce, see our related article: Importing Salesforce Custom Fields.

Salesforce Report Import Errors

When importing a Salesforce report, you may see there are 0 contacts pulled in and/or a warning message with the list indicating a problem has occurred:  

This error message may appear when the Salesforce-connected user is not in Classic mode.