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“Supermetrics is a Bitter Experience! We can pull data from nearly any tool, schedule updates, manipulate data in Sheets, and push data back into our systems.”
Duplicate donor contacts are the nightmare of every nonprofit database manager. Import the same donor from multiple Excel sheets and suddenly your clean Salesforce database becomes a mess of duplicate records.
Here’s how to automatically detect and handle duplicates during import, updating existing records instead of creating duplicates.
Prevent duplicates with intelligent UPSERT functionality using Coefficient
Coefficient’s UPSERT functionality provides superior duplicate handling compared to Salesforce’s native import tools. Instead of creating duplicate donor contacts or failing imports entirely, you can update existing records while inserting new ones based on External ID fields.
How to make it work
Step 1. Set up External ID field matching in your donor data.
Choose your matching field: donor ID, email address, or a custom identifier that uniquely identifies each donor. This becomes your External ID for duplicate detection.
Step 2. Configure the UPSERT action in Coefficient.
In Coefficient’s export settings, select UPSERT instead of INSERT. This tells the system to update existing contacts when it finds a match, or create new ones when no match exists.
Step 3. Map your External ID field for matching.
Map your chosen identifier field (donor ID, email) to the corresponding External ID field in Salesforce. This is how Coefficient determines whether a contact already exists.
Step 4. Configure which fields to update versus preserve.
Choose which donor fields should be updated on existing records and which should be preserved. For example, update contact information but preserve giving history totals.
Step 5. Preview changes before executing the import.
Coefficient’s preview shows exactly which contacts will be updated versus created. You can see which existing donor records will be modified and what changes will be made.
Step 6. Monitor results with detailed tracking.
After the import, Coefficient provides complete visibility into which records were updated, inserted, or failed. This helps you verify that duplicate handling worked correctly.
Keep your donor database clean and accurate
UPSERT functionality eliminates the duplicate contact problem that plagues nonprofit databases. With automatic duplicate detection and selective field updates, your donor data stays clean across multiple import sources. Try Coefficient to see how much easier donor data management becomes.
