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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.”
Importing Excel contacts into Salesforce often creates duplicate records because the native import process treats all data as new contacts. This happens even when contacts already exist in your database, cluttering your list views with redundant entries.
Here’s how to import your Excel contact list while properly matching existing records and avoiding duplicates entirely.
Import Excel contacts without duplicates using Coefficient
Coefficient solves this problem by enabling bidirectional data synchronization between Excel and Salesforce with advanced matching capabilities. Instead of blindly creating new records, it intelligently identifies existing contacts and updates them with new information from your Excel file.
How to make it work
Step 1. Import your existing Salesforce contacts into Excel.
Use Coefficient to pull all current contacts from Salesforce using the “From Objects & Fields” method. Select the Contact object and include key matching fields like Email, Name, Phone, and Company. This creates a live-synced spreadsheet with your current contact database.
Step 2. Add your Excel contact list and identify matches.
Import your new contact list into the same spreadsheet. Use Excel formulas like VLOOKUP or INDEX/MATCH to compare the new data against existing contacts. Create a status column to flag each contact as “Existing,” “New,” or “Update Required.”
Step 3. Configure the upsert process.
Set up Coefficient’s scheduled export feature with the UPSERT action. Map Email as the External ID field for matching – this tells Salesforce to update existing contacts when email addresses match and create new records only when no match is found.
Step 4. Execute the import with field mapping.
Configure proper field mapping to ensure data lands in the correct Salesforce fields. The upsert process will automatically update existing contacts with new information from Excel while creating genuinely new contacts without duplicating existing ones.
Clean contact data without the guesswork
This approach eliminates duplicate creation by matching contacts before import rather than after. You get clean list views with updated existing contacts and only truly new additions. Try Coefficient to streamline your contact import process.
