How to Automate Salesforce Data Imports from Any System (Even Without an API)

Is your team stuck in a cycle of manual data entry? For many operations professionals, learning how to automate Salesforce data imports is the only way to remove the daily grind of downloading CSVs from one system just to upload them into Salesforce. It’s slow, tedious, and a recipe for data errors.

This was the exact problem facing Headstart Health, a company managing thousands of rows of patient and billing data from a third-party platform with no API.

They needed a way to get this critical data into Salesforce to drive their operations, but the manual process was causing delays and consuming valuable team hours.

Using Coefficient, they built a simple, no-code automation that now saves them over 20 hours every week.

Here’s how you can replicate their Salesforce data imports workflow.

The 5-Step Workflow to Automate Salesforce Data Imports

This playbook walks you through using Coefficient to create a bridge between any data source that can export a CSV and your Salesforce CRM, so you can nix the manual workflows and automate your Salesforce data imports.

Step 1: Export Your Data to Google Sheets
Start by exporting the report you need from your third-party system (e.g., billing platform, patient management software, etc.) as a CSV file. Open a new Google Sheet and import this data. This sheet will now serve as the intermediary for your automation.

Pro tip: If you 1) use Gmail and 2) the system you’re pulling data from allows you to schedule a CSV to be delivered to your email inbox, you can automate this piece with Coefficient’s Gmail connector.

Step 2: Launch Coefficient and Connect to Salesforce
Install the Coefficient add-on on Google Sheets or Excel. From spreadsheet, open Coefficient and click ‘Export Data’. Select Salesforce and follow the prompts to securely connect your account and setup your data pipeline.

Step 4: Map Your Spreadsheet Columns to Salesforce Fields
In the Coefficient interface, select the Salesforce object you want to update (e.g., Accounts, Contacts, or a custom object). Coefficient’s intuitive mapping tool allows you to match the columns in your Google Sheet to the corresponding fields in Salesforce. This tells Coefficient where to put the data.

Step 5: Set Your Automatic Refresh Schedule for your Salesforce data imports
This is where the magic happens. Instead of manually running imports, you can schedule your sheet to automatically sync with Salesforce. Head Start Health set their sync to run every morning at 9 AM, ensuring that by the time their team starts the day, all patient and billing data in Salesforce is 100% up-to-date.

Step 6: Let the Automation Run!
That’s it. Your data will now flow seamlessly from your Google Sheet into Salesforce on the schedule you set. No more manual downloads, no more copy-pasting, and no more wondering if your CRM data is accurate.

Key Benefits and Outcomes of Automating Salesforce Data Imports

• Eliminate Manual Work: Automate the entire Salesforce data imports process and save your team hours every week, just as Head Start Health saved 20+ hours.
• Improve Data Integrity: By removing manual data entry, you drastically reduce the risk of human error, leading to cleaner, more reliable data in your CRM.
• Empower Your Team: This workflow can be set up in minutes by anyone on your team—no engineering or IT support needed. It empowers non-technical users to solve their own data integration challenges.

Drive Faster Decisions: With live, accurate data flowing into Salesforce, your team can act faster, identify bottlenecks, and focus on high-impact activities instead of data wrangling.

Hear Headstart Health’s Story

Headstart Health was bogged down by manual processes, spending hours each week transferring billing and patient data into Salesforce. The reliance on spreadsheets slowed operations, introduced errors, and stretched patient onboarding timelines to nearly three months.

With Coefficient, the team kept their familiar spreadsheet workflows but eliminated the manual work. Data now syncs automatically with Salesforce, giving them cleaner, more accurate information and cutting onboarding times nearly in half — all while saving the team over 20 hours every week.

Read the full story.

Automate Salesforce Data Imports with Coefficient

Stop wasting hours on manual data workflows. Coefficient lets you sync data to Salesforce automatically, no engineering required. Try it free today and see how easy it is to save time, improve accuracy, and keep your team focused on what matters.