Salesforce Integration Guide

Zendesk Administrator

September 24, 2024 13:01

Administrative Permission Required

Administrative permission is required to access the ZiftONE Settings. For more information, contact your supplier's point of contact.

Overview

While ZiftONE can be deployed independently, integrating it with your existing infrastructure can enhance the impact and value of the total solution. To streamline integration, ZiftONE has pre-built connectors to many third-party CRMs.

ZiftONE supports integration with all editions of Salesforce: Group, Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited.

In this article, we walk you through the full setup process for integrating your Salesforce CRM with ZiftONE.

Before You Begin

You need access to Salesforce System Administrator or a user with permissions to edit user roles and object permissions for accounts, contacts, leads, opportunities, price books, and products.

Important

As of February 1, 2022, Salesforce is requiring non-API users to enable multi-factor authentication (MFA). We recommend creating and using a SalesForce API user to ensure there are no interruptions in your Salesforce integration. To learn more, visit the Salesforce Knowledge Base.
Your profile should be configured with API Enabled. If you are pulling contact lists as reports, ensure that Modify All Data is also checked on the profile.
Before you begin setting up your Salesforce CRM integration, you should be familiar with the topics covered in these articles.
You should have the ability to test your ZiftONE-Salesforce integration before officially integrating with your live account.
Scroll down to the How to Test the ZiftONE-Salesforce Integration section below to learn more.

Integration Steps

Click + to expand each section.

Step 1: Configure Salesforce to Accept Leads from ZiftONE

To send leads or contacts from ZiftONE to Salesforce, set the lead source field in Salesforce to ZiftONE.

Login to Salesforce. Administrative access is required.
Click the on the top right-hand corner and select Setup.
In the left-hand sidebar, click to expand the Objects and Fields section.
Click on Object Manager.
Select either Lead or Contact. This example uses Lead.
- See ZiftONE > Settings > CRM Settings > Salesforce CRM > Edit Settings > General Settings > Record Leads in CRM as for how your system is set up.
- When importing Leads, select Lead > Fields & Relationships.
- When importing Contacts, select Customize > Contacts > Fields.
Click on the Lead Source field.
In the Account/Lead Source Picklist Values section at the bottom, click New.
Enter the value "ZiftONE".
Click Save.

Step 2: Retrieve API Security Token from Salesforce

When completing the ZiftONE CRM Settings in step 3, you will verify your Salesforce credentials with a security token provided by Salesforce. To obtain your Salesforce security token, follow these steps:

Log in to Salesforce.
Click on your Profile icon on the top right-hand corner. Select Settings underneath the account name.
On the left, choose Personal > Reset My Security Token.
Click the Reset Security Token button.
You will receive the security token through email. Use the token to set up the CRM Connection Settings in Step 3.

Step 3: Configure Salesforce CRM Settings in ZiftONE

To configure CRM Settings in ZiftONE, follow these steps:

In ZiftONE, navigate to Settings > CRM Settings.
Click Edit Settings next to Salesforce.
Complete all settings for each of these categories: General Settings, CRM Connection Settings, Usage Profile Settings, and Advanced General Options.

Salesforce General Settings

Select a supplier from the drop-down list. If your partner portal is only subscribed to one supplier, it will already be selected for you.
Choose whether to record new leads in the CRM as LEAD or as CONTACT.

What you set here influences your settings in Advanced Marketing Automation Options and Advanced Lead Distribution Options under the Salesforce Usage Profile Settings.

Salesforce CRM Connection Settings

Provide your Salesforce username.
Provide your Salesforce password.
Provide the security token you obtained in Step 2: Retrieve API Security Token from Salesforce.

Here, click Save and Test CRM Connection to verify your Salesforce login information and security key.

Salesforce Usage Profile Settings

Under Usage Profile, check the Marketing Automation checkbox to synchronize leads between ZiftONE and your CRM, based on a minimum lead-score threshold that you determine. You can also have opportunities generated in your CRM with leads sent back to the supplier.

To configure your marketing automation profile settings, scroll down and click the Advanced Marketing Automation Options dropdown. Provide the following information:
- Contacts
  - Check Pull Contacts to pull contact lists created in your CRM into ZiftONE as a contact list.
- Leads
  - Check Synchronize Marketing Automation Leads and events will always be synced and the lead status will always be pulled.
  - Set a minimum lead score threshold. Leads generated through ZiftONE marketing activities that are sent into your CRM must exceed this threshold before they will be created and updated in your CRM. We suggest you start at ZiftONE's default score of 50.
  - Decide if you want ZiftONE to perform lead field updates in your CRM. For example, if a lead submits a form with a phone number different from the number you have for that lead in your CRM, this setting allows ZiftONE to automatically update the phone number in your CRM.
- Opportunities
  - Check Opportunities with a contact that matches a lead within ZiftONE to pull opportunities from your CRM that have a contact that matches a lead by email address that was generated from ZiftONE Marketing Automation.
Under Usage Profile, check the Lead Distribution checkbox to receive leads from your supplier directly in your CRM and report back to the supplier on the status of those leads and related opportunities. Through this profile, ZiftONE pushes leads from the supplier directly into your CRM. The settings you select permit ZiftONE to pull back updates on those leads and any opportunities.

To configure your lead distribution profile settings, scroll down and click Advanced Lead Distribution Options dropdown. Provide the following information:
- Contacts
  - This option shows if CONTACT is selected under Record Leads in CRM as under General Settings.
  - Check Send Zift123 Leads as Contacts to CRM. This option will enable leads that are distributed from your supplier to be synchronized with your CRM on a daily basis. New leads will always be created and include all information along with all marketing events.
  - Decide which Contact Send Data Level you’d like to set for your CRM settings. As lead information is updated in your CRM, it is provided to your supplier, including events and activities, lead status, and other profile and custom field information.
- Leads
  - This option shows if LEAD is selected under Record Leads in CRM as under General Settings.
  - Check Synchronize Supplier Leads. This option will enable leads that are distributed from your supplier to be synchronized with your CRM on a daily basis. New leads will always be created and include all information along with all marketing events.
  - Decide if you want ZiftONE to perform Lead Field Updates in your CRM. As lead information is updated in your CRM, it is provided to your supplier, including events and activities, lead status, and other profile and custom field information.
- Opportunities
  - Select Opportunities with a contact matching a lead within ZiftONE to pull opportunities from your CRM that have a contact that matches a distributed lead by email address.

Salesforce Advanced General Options

Leads
- Lead Event Types
  - Select the lead event types to update in your CRM. We can update email open, email click, email unsubscribe, web plugin view, web plugin click, form submission, telequalification event, SMS delivered, SMS click, supplier event, and link conversion.
    
    Data from ZiftONE appears in the Notes and Activities fields in your CRM. We can pull the following data from your CRM: subject, activity type, activity status, priority and due date for each event.
- Lead Status Mapping
  - Mapping the CRM Lead Sales Status values of your CRM to the Lead Sales Status Values of ZiftONE properly syncs the leads between your CRM and ZiftONE. Learn more about lead status values mapping at Settings: How to Set up Advanced General Options for CRM.
Campaigns
- Create Campaigns in CRM
  - Enabling this sends campaign details from ZiftONE to your CRM. When campaigns are updated in ZiftONE from your supplier or from other sources, they are updated in your CRM based on the Campaign Send Data Level setting.
- Campaign Send Data Level
  - When this setting is enabled, campaign details sync from ZiftONE into your CRM. When campaigns are updated in ZiftONE from your supplier or from other sources, they will be updated in your CRM based on the Campaign Send Data Level setting option that you choose.

When all settings have been completed, click Save.

Step 4: Turn Salesforce Integration on in ZiftONE

Your Salesforce integration is active when you turn the integration on in ZiftONE.

Make sure you clicked Save after completing all settings in Step 3.

To turn on your Salesforce integration in ZiftONE, follow these steps:

In the Settings > CRM Settings view, find Salesforce in the list of CRMs.
Next to the name of the CRM, click the On toggle.

If Salesforce or ZiftONE experience connection errors, an error message will appear under the Salesforce information telling you what actions to take.

About Salesforce and ZiftONE Integration

Click + to expand each section.

How Do Salesforce and ZiftONE Work Together?

The Salesforce integration pulls data for leads, contacts, contact lists, opportunities, and campaigns. Salesforce, in turn, is notified of sales rep, partner, distribution status, and lead status.
The Salesforce CRM allows you to accept or reject leads directly within Salesforce.
Leads generated from your marketing campaigns will update nightly.
Distributed leads may sync with Salesforce whether or not they have been accepted in ZiftONE or within the notification email. Adjust your Lead Management Settings accordingly. Distributed leads will sync with the Salesforce CRM almost immediately after being distributed by the supplier.
If the Salesforce CRM is connected to ZiftONE, and lead distribution is selected with CRM settings, the default lead owners will still continue to receive lead notification emails.
Duplicates are prevented based on email address.
Custom fields can pull into the Notes section of Salesforce.

About ZiftONE Leads in Salesforce

Once Auto-pull leads/contacts from CRM is enabled, ZiftONE will begin importing all leads with an email address from Salesforce on a nightly basis.
All leads or contacts that are created in ZiftONE and sent directly to Salesforce will set the lead source field to ZiftONE.
Leads that pass through ZiftONE as an intermediate service will show whatever's set as the lead source configured for the upstream application.
Leads that exceed the lead-score threshold, typically set at 50, will be sent on a nightly basis to Salesforce.
Web click, web view, and email open activities will be created as contact or lead marketing events in ZiftONE on a nightly basis, depending on your integration settings in ZiftONE.
Leads will include all standard lead or contact fields such as name, address, title, email, phone number, and so on.
Custom fields from ZiftONE will be on the Notes section of Salesforce if you have taken the following steps in your partner portal account:
1. Navigate to Settings > CRM Settings.
2. Click Edit Settings under Salesforce.
3. Scroll down to the Advanced Lead Distribution Options dropdown.
4. Make sure the Send custom fields into the Notes field is checked.
Leads will be matched to existing Leads in Salesforce based on email address. Once a lead has been sent into Salesforce, none of the standard information will be updated or modified in any way; only new marketing activities will be added.

How to Test the ZiftONE-Salesforce Integration

Before connecting your live Salesforce account to ZiftONE, you can test your connection and make sure your set-up is as intended.

To test your ZiftONE-Salesforce integration, you must have a test version of your Salesforce account. The test account must:

Be set up with the same fields and objects as your live account
Have appropriate test data within it
Have API Enabled within the Profile or User in Salesforce

Then, you will complete the Integration Steps as outlined above. When following the Integration Steps, make sure you have this information ready for your test account:

Username
- IMPORTANT NOTE: When entering the username for your test account in ZiftONE under Step 3 above, make sure to put ‘test:’ in front of the username. E.g. ‘test:johndoe@company.com’
Password
URL location (typically, this is test.salesforce.com)
API Security Token

Once you have confirmed that your integration is working as intended, you will be ready to connect your live Salesforce account to ZiftONE. To do this:

Navigate back to Settings > CRM Settings
Under Salesforce, click Edit Settings
Follow the Integration Steps above

How to Display Leads Lists in Salesforce

On the homepage of your Salesforce account, click on the Leads tab.
On the Leads page, select the dropdown next to the header.
Select the view you’d like to see.

How to Sync a Contact List from Salesforce CRM

Contact lists may be created by syncing your CRM with ZiftONE. The syncing can save you time on data entry and improve lead follow-up time.

ZiftONE is able to sync a pre-segmented list of leads or contacts from Salesforce. Complete the following tasks to sync data between ZiftONE and Salesforce.

Login to Salesforce.
In the menu bar on the homepage, click Reports. If you don’t see it, click the More dropdown to find Reports.
Select Unfiled Public Reports if you are using Classic Salesforce. Select Public Reports if you are using Lightning Salesforce.
Select New Report. Depending on the Salesforce integration settings in your ZiftONE partner portal account, choose either Leads under the Leads folder or Contacts & Accounts from the Accounts & Contacts folder. Click Create.
From the Show list, choose All leads. ZiftONE only supports segmentation that starts from all leads.
From the Date Field, optionally choose a range of either Custom or All Time. If choosing Custom, enter the dates you’d like to view.
On the left-hand sidebar, build up your list of segmentation criteria by clicking Add Filter.
- ZiftONE supports filtering using the following fields for leads: Email, First Name, Last Name, Title, Company, Country, City, State, Phone, Mobile Phone, Postal Code, Annual Revenue, Industry, Lead Source, Status, Rating, Number of Employees, Created Date, Last Modified Date. ZiftONE supports filtering the following fields for contacts: Email, First Name, Last Name, Title, Country, City, State, Phone, Mobile Phone, Postal Code, Lead Source, Department, Home Phone, Other Phone, Birthdate, Last Modified Date, and Created Date.
You will be shown a list of the leads or contacts that match your criteria.
Click Save.
1. Give the report a name. This name will appear in ZiftONE when you create a contact list.
2. Choose the Folder Unfiled Public Reports if you are using Classic Salesforce. Choose the Folder Public Reports if you are using Lightning Salesforce. Only reports from that folder will be shown in ZiftONE.
Click Save.

Salesforce Integration FAQs

Q: What are the specific criteria when creating a contact report in Salesforce so that it gets created as a list in ZiftONE?

A: Here are the criteria:

The syncing process requires an email address for each contact.
The report must be created in the Classic Salesforce Unfiled Public Reports folder or the Lighting Salesforce Public Reports folder.
Create the report using Contact or Lead objects, not Account objects. Example: Use the country field in the Contact or Lead object and not from the Account object. If you use the Account object for Country, you may get a list but no contacts in the list.
Only standard fields will be pulled into ZiftONE with a list.
- Contact Examples: first name, last name, company, title, work phone, mobile phone, email, address1, address2, city, state, country, and unsubscribed.
- Lead Examples: Email, First Name, Last Name, Title, Company, Country, City, State, Phone, Mobile Phone, Postal Code, Annual Revenue, Industry, Lead Source, Status, Rating, Number of Employees, Created Date, Last Modified Date. ZiftONE supports filtering the following fields for contacts: Email, First Name, Last Name, Title, Country, City, State, Phone, Mobile Phone, Postal Code, Lead Source, Department, Home Phone, Other Phone, Birthdate, Last Modified Date, and Created Date
Multiple values will be supported in a field using a comma-delimited list. Example: MS, VA, TN is acceptable in the state field.
Lists will be updated from Salesforce to ZiftONE and ZiftONE to Salesforce based on email address. The integration will add, update, and remove data from the report.
If the contact is deleted or opted out of Salesforce, they will not be updated in ZiftONE. If the contact/lead is deleted or opted out of ZiftONE, they will no longer be updated in Salesforce.
If the contact/lead opts out of ZiftONE and is not in Salesforce, they will not be pulled to Salesforce.
Opt-out and bounce activities are reported in Salesforce as ZiftONE events.
The contact list will update on a nightly basis.

Q: What happens when you delete the report in Salesforce? Does ZiftONE delete the corresponding list?

A: If you delete the report in Salesforce or move from the Classic Salesforce Unfiled Public Reports folder or the Lighting Salesforce Public Reports folder, the report will be frozen in ZiftONE and will not change. You should archive a report that is in this state in ZiftONE.

Q: What happens when a list is archived in ZiftONE that was a synced list from Salesforce?

A: The list will not be pulled again.

Q: I have a contact that is in both ZiftONE and Salesforce. When the contact is deleted in Salesforce, is it also deleted in ZiftONE?

A: No, you will need to deactivate the contact in ZiftONE. Deactivating contacts is a one-by-one process in ZiftONE.

Q: If the contact opts out in ZiftONE, the contact will be on the suppression list. Will it be deleted from Salesforce?

A: No, the contact will not be deleted in Salesforce. You may choose to make a note about this contact in your Salesforce account.