When importing data from a CSV file into Demandbase, understanding the system's data hierarchy and matching rules is crucial for successful integration. This guide outlines how Demandbase prioritizes data from various sources and the specific criteria it uses to match records.
To import data, see Import or Update Account, Opportunity, People, and Activity Data from a CSV File.
Data Priority by Source
For each field in a merged record (a record with multiple sources), Demandbase prioritizes the data sources in the following order:
- CRM data
- Marketing Automation System data
- CSV data
- Demandbase data
Record Matching
CSV data is matched against records in Demandbase using the following rules:
-
Accounts are matched against data from your CRM or Demandbase using the following prioritization:
- External account ID (if provided)
- Account domain + account name
- Opportunities are matched against accounts using the account domain, account name, or external account ID.
-
People are matched against accounts using the person’s email domain, account name, or external account ID. See Understanding Lead to Account Matching.
Important: Importing people records only makes the data available for advertising campaigns. To see individual activity at the person level, an integration with a CRM or Marketing Automation System is required. -
Activities are matched against accounts or people using the person ID.
Important:- If the person ID is related to an account, then the activity is matched against both the account and the person.
- If the person ID is not related to an account, then the activity is matched against only the person.
Account Fields
Required Account fields:
- Account Name
- Account Domain
Optional Account fields:
-
Owner (Email or Name)
Tip: Highly recommend including email address. Having account domain increases match rates. It also makes the owner eligible for Snapshot Subscriptions on the Auto-Create Account Lists settings page. See Configure Auto-Create Account Lists. - Phone Number
- Employees
- Annual Revenue
- Industry
-
External Account ID
Tip: Highly recommend including External Account ID. Using unique IDs prevents duplicate entries and increases match rates for future CSV uploads. - Custom Fields
People Fields
Required People fields:
-
Person ID
Tip: The person's email address can be used as the Person ID. However, the Email field must still be included in the CSV import file. - First Name
- Last Name
Optional People fields:
- Account Name
- Account Domain
- City
- Country
-
External Account ID
Tip: Highly recommend including External Account ID. Using unique IDs prevents duplicate entries and increases match rates for future CSV uploads. - Person Type
- Postal code
- Role
- Title
- State
- Custom fields
Opportunity Fields
Required Opportunity fields:
- Opportunity ID
- Opportunity Name
- Account Name
- Type
- Account Domain
- Created Date
- Owner Email
Optional Opportunity fields:
-
External Account ID
Tip: Highly recommend including External Account ID. Using unique IDs prevents duplicate entries and increases match rates for future CSV uploads. - Stage
- Probability
- Close Date
- Is Closed
- Is Won
- Amount
Activity Fields
You can import task, call, meeting, email, and custom activity types.
Tasks
Required Task Fields:
- TimeStamp
- Activity Date
- Owner
- External Person ID
- External Activity ID
Optional Task Fields:
- Title
- External Account Name
- Description
- External Account Domain
- Priority
- Status
- Type
Call
Required Call fields:
- Activity Date
- Caller
- TimeStamp
- Title
- External Person ID
- External Activity ID
Optional Call fields:
- Duration
- External Account Name
- Description
- External Account Domain
- Recording URL
- Callee
- Direction
Meetings
Required Meeting fields:
- Start Time
- Title
- Activity Date
- Owner Id
- End Time
- External Person ID
- External Activity ID
Optional Meeting fields:
- Location
- External Account Name
- External Account Domain
- Body
- External URL
- Outcome
Emails
Required Email fields:
- TimeStamp
- Subject
- Activity Date
- From Email
- External Person ID
- To Email
- External Activity ID
Optional Email fields:
- Open Sales Email
- Open Sales Email
- External Account Name
- Attachment IDs
- External Account Domain
- Sender First Name
- Click Sales Email
- Recipient Last Name
- Marketing Email Open
- Status
- Click Email
- Sender Last Name
- Body
- Recipient First Name
Custom
Important:
- To import custom activities via CSV, you must first create the corresponding activity types and fields. See Create Custom Activities.
- The data import size has a soft limit of 100MB (can be increased by contacting Demandbase Support) and a fixed hard limit of 1GB.
Required Custom Activity fields:
- Activity Date
- External Person ID
- External Activity ID
Optional Custom Activity fields:
You can import any custom activity field that is a string type.