Connect Your CRM

Connecting your CRM to Lead Extract allows you to seamlessly send identified visitors directly to your sales pipeline and check for existing contacts to avoid duplicates. This guide covers how to set up and manage integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, and other popular platforms.

⚠️ Important: Connection vs. Automation

Before we dive into setup, it's crucial to understand the difference between connecting your CRM and creating a CRM automation:

• Connecting your CRM (this guide) This establishes a passive connection that allows Lead Extract to check if visitors already exist in your CRM as contacts or leads. This prevents creating duplicate records. Connecting alone does NOT send any data to your CRM.

• Creating a CRM automation _ This is an active process_ where you set up rules to automatically send visitors to your CRM. You must create an automation separately after connecting. See our Complete Guide to Automations for details.

💡 Think of it this way: Connecting your CRM is like giving Lead Extract the keys to your CRM so it can check what's inside. Creating an automation is like telling Lead Extract to actually put things inside.

Supported CRM Platforms

Lead Extract currently supports direct integrations with the following CRM platforms:

• HubSpot CRM Full integration with contacts, companies, and deals

• Salesforce Supports leads, contacts, and accounts

• Pipedrive Integrates with persons and organizations

• Zoho CRM Connect to leads and contacts modules

• Other CRMs via API Use webhooks or Zapier for other platforms

How to Connect Your CRM

The connection process is similar across all CRM platforms. Here's the general workflow:

Step 1: Access CRM Integration Settings

1. Log in to your Lead Extract dashboard

2. Click Settings in the main navigation menu

3. Select Integrations from the left sidebar

4. Choose CRM Integrations from the list

Step 2: Select Your CRM Platform

You'll see a list of available CRM platforms. Click the Connect button next to your CRM:

• For HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive: You'll be redirected to an OAuth authorization page

• For Zoho CRM: You'll need to enter your API credentials

Step 3: Authorize Lead Extract

Depending on your CRM platform, you'll need to grant Lead Extract specific permissions:

For OAuth-Based CRMs (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive):

1. Log in to your CRM account on the authorization page

2. Review the permissions Lead Extract is requesting (typically read/write access to contacts, leads, and companies)

3. Click Allow or Authorize to grant access

4. You'll be redirected back to Lead Extract with a success message

For API-Based CRMs (Zoho):

1. Log in to your Zoho CRM account

2. Navigate to Setup > Developer Space > APIs > API Names

3. Generate a new API key if you don't have one

4. Copy the API key and paste it into Lead Extract

5. Select your Zoho data center region (US, EU, IN, AU, etc.)

6. Click Test Connection to verify

Step 4: Configure Field Mapping (Optional)

After connecting, you can customize how Lead Extract data maps to your CRM fields:

1. Click Field Mapping next to your connected CRM

2. Review the default field mappings (e.g., Lead Extract "Full Name" → CRM "Contact Name")

3. Customize mappings if your CRM uses different field names or custom fields

4. Map additional Lead Extract fields like "Pages Visited", "Traffic Source", or "Lead Score" to custom fields in your CRM

5. Save your mapping configuration

💡 Tip: If you have custom fields in your CRM for tracking lead source or engagement data, map Lead Extract fields to them to enrich your CRM records with behavioral data.

CRM-Specific Connection Guides

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot is one of the most popular CRMs and offers a seamless integration with Lead Extract:

1. In Lead Extract, go to Settings > Integrations > CRM Integrations

2. Click Connect next to HubSpot

3. Log in to your HubSpot account (if not already logged in)

4. Review the permissions (Lead Extract needs access to contacts, companies, and timeline events)

5. Click Grant Access

6. You'll be redirected back to Lead Extract with a success message

HubSpot integration features:

• Automatically check for existing contacts before creating duplicates

• Create contacts and associated companies in one action

• Add website activity as timeline events on contact records

• Update existing contacts with new visit data

Salesforce

Salesforce connection requires admin permissions in your Salesforce account:

1. In Lead Extract, go to Settings > Integrations > CRM Integrations

2. Click Connect next to Salesforce

3. Choose your Salesforce environment (Production or Sandbox)

4. Log in to Salesforce as an admin user

5. Review and approve the requested permissions

6. Complete the authorization and return to Lead Extract

Salesforce integration features:

• Create leads or contacts based on your preference

• Associate with existing accounts or create new ones

• Map to custom fields and record types

• Trigger Salesforce workflows and assignment rules

Pipedrive

Pipedrive offers a straightforward integration:

1. In Lead Extract, go to Settings > Integrations > CRM Integrations

2. Click Connect next to Pipedrive

3. Log in to your Pipedrive account

4. Authorize Lead Extract to access your Pipedrive data

5. Choose which pipeline to add deals to (if creating deals automatically)

Pipedrive integration features:

• Create persons and organizations automatically

• Optionally create deals in a specific pipeline stage

• Add notes with website activity to person records

What Happens After Connection?

Once your CRM is connected, Lead Extract can:

• Check for existing contacts/leads When a visitor is identified, Lead Extract will search your CRM by email address to see if they already exist

• Display CRM status in your dashboard You'll see indicators showing whether a visitor already exists in your CRM

• Prevent duplicate creation When you create an automation, Lead Extract can skip visitors who already exist in your CRM

⚠️ Important: Connecting your CRM does NOT automatically send visitors to your CRM. You must create an automation separately.

Next Step: Create a CRM Automation

Now that your CRM is connected, you can create an automation to automatically send visitors to your CRM:

1. Go to Automations from the main menu

2. Click Create New Automation

3. Select your CRM as the destination

4. Configure filters (e.g., only send leads scoring 70+)

5. Choose whether to send automatically or manually

6. Enable the "Skip existing contacts" option to avoid duplicates

7. Save and activate your automation

For detailed instructions on creating automations, see our Complete Guide to Automations.

Managing Your CRM Connection

Testing Your Connection

After connecting, it's a good idea to test the integration:

1. Go to Settings > Integrations > CRM Integrations

2. Click Test Connection next to your connected CRM

3. Lead Extract will verify that it can read and write to your CRM

4. You'll see a success message or error details if something's wrong

Reconnecting After Token Expiration

CRM authorization tokens can expire, especially if you change your CRM password or revoke permissions. If this happens:

• You'll see a warning banner in Lead Extract indicating the connection is broken

• Automations will fail to send data to your CRM

• To fix: Click Reconnect and go through the authorization process again

Disconnecting Your CRM

If you need to disconnect your CRM:

1. Go to Settings > Integrations > CRM Integrations

2. Click Disconnect next to your CRM

3. Confirm the disconnection

⚠️ Warning: Disconnecting will immediately stop all automations that send data to that CRM. Any active automations will fail until you reconnect.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Issue: "Connection Failed" Error

Possible causes and solutions:

• You don't have admin permissions in your CRM → Ask your CRM admin to authorize the connection

• Your organization blocks third-party API access → Check with your IT team to whitelist Lead Extract

• Incorrect API credentials (for API-based connections) → Double-check the API key and region

Issue: Automations Not Sending to CRM

• Check that your CRM connection is active (look for green checkmark in Settings)

• Verify the automation is enabled and not paused

• Review the automation logs to see specific error messages

• If using "skip existing contacts", ensure the visitor doesn't already exist in your CRM

Issue: Duplicate Contacts Being Created

• Make sure you've enabled "Skip existing contacts" in your automation settings

• Check that the email field is being properly matched (some CRMs have multiple email fields)

• Verify your CRM's duplicate detection rules aren't interfering

Issue: Missing or Incorrect Data in CRM

• Review your field mapping settings to ensure correct data is being sent to the right fields

• Check that required fields in your CRM are being populated

• Ensure custom fields exist in your CRM before mapping to them

If you encounter other issues, contact our support team with details about your CRM platform and the specific error messages you're seeing.

Best Practices for CRM Integration

• Start with a test automation Create a manual automation first to test the connection before enabling automatic sending

• Use lead scoring to filter Only send high-scoring leads (e.g., 70+) to your CRM to avoid cluttering with low-quality leads

• Enable duplicate checking Always use "Skip existing contacts" to prevent creating duplicates

• Map custom fields Take advantage of field mapping to enrich CRM records with behavioral data like pages visited and traffic source

• Monitor automation logs Regularly check automation logs to catch and fix any errors early