Default Contact Creation and Updating Rules
During the integration setup, you were asked to select the Record Type from the dropdown - Lead or Contact. This determines where the attendee data will be saved in your Salesforce account AND where Accelevents will search for possible matching records before it saves the attendee data.
If you still need to integrate, follow the steps in this article to set up the Integration to Export Event Data from Accelevents Into Salesforce.
So, if you choose Contact and someone registers for the event, Accelevents will search all existing contacts in your Salesforce account to see if there is a record with the same email address as the new registrant. A new contact record will be created if no one has the same email address. If there is a match, that contact record will then be updated.
Since Accelevents only searches in Contacts and not in Leads, we call it "Linear Matching."
Here are the details of the creation and updating rules for each Record Type:
Rules For New Registrations in Accelevents
1.1 New Contact Creation Rules
A new contact is created if no contact has the same email address as the ticket holder.
A new contact is created if there is a lead with the same email address as the ticket holder.
All mapped fields will be included in the new contact record.
The new contact will be added as a campaign member.
A contact record will not be created for the ticket buyer.
1.2 New Lead Creation Rules
A new lead is created if no lead has the same email address as the ticket holder.
A new lead is created if there is a contact with the same email address as the ticket holder.
All mapped fields will be included in the new lead record.
The new lead will be added as a campaign member.
A lead record will not be created for the ticket buyer.
2. Updating Existing Contact or Lead Rules
An existing linear record is updated if the linear record has the same email address as the ticket holder.
The updated record will be added as a campaign member.
Fields that will be updated
The name will not be updated in the existing Salesforce record.
Other mapped order form fields will be updated (e.g., Job Title, Organization, custom fields)
The existing data in Salesforce will be replaced with the new data.
The Salesforce field will be blank if the attendee leaves the field blank during registration.
Mapped auto-generated fields will be updated (e.g., Order Id, Ticket Type, Ticket Id, Tracking Link, Barcode ID)
The existing data in Salesforce will be replaced with the new data.
The Salesforce field will be blank if the fields are unused during registration (e.g., tracking link, discount count, access code).
3. Registering attendees without email addresses
A contact or lead record will not be created if the attendee email address field is left blank during registration.
Rules For Updating Registrations in Accelevents
Note: If only BUYER data is collected, the information that would carry over to Salesforce is the data from the BUYER information. This will only update in Salesforce after the update button is clicked in the HOLDER information.
Changes in order form answers will replace the data in the Salesforce record.
If the name and email are changed in the order, the Salesforce record name and email will be replaced with the new information.
If the email is changed in the order, it will not create a new contact record for that new email.
The Salesforce field will also be blank if an order form field is left blank in the update.
It will update if the attendee makes the changes in My Registrations.
It will update if the update button is clicked for the ticket holder, even if no changes are made.
It will not update the auto-generated fields (if the attendee has multiple tickets)
Rules On Updating the Contact or Lead After Importing to Accelevents
The order in Accelevents will only be updated if you have set up a 2-way integration.
In summary, the default integration behavior is to update the record when a registrant has a matching criterion (email address) with a linear record. If there are no matching linear records, it will create a new lead or contact depending on the integration setup.
Overriding the Contact or Lead Creation Rules
Below are some settings you can enable to change some contact/lead creation rules. This can be done through the Configure Salesforce Mapping menu.
Go to Settings > Integrations in your event's admin console
Click Configure under Salesforce
Go to the Contact or Lead Creation section
By default, these toggles are turned off in this section. You can enable them if it applies to your integration goals.
Overriding Feature | What happens when the toggle is turned on? |
Create a new contact or lead for every ticket holder | When the toggle is turned on, a new contact or lead will be created regardless of whether it’s a duplicate registration or if a matching contact or lead exists.
Notes:
|
Create a new contact or lead for the ticket buyer | Turn this on to create a contact/lead record for the TICKET BUYER, regardless if an existing linear record has the same email address.
Note: the default rule is that a contact/lead record will only be created for TICKET HOLDERS, so turning this on will create a contact even if the ticket buyer is not a ticket holder.
Other Rules when this is enabled:
|
Create a new contact or lead when the existing ticket holder's email address is updated in the order | Turn this on to create a new contact/lead instead of updating the existing record when the ticket holder's email address is changed in the order.
We recommend turning this on so that if someone buys multiple tickets under 1 email address, new records will be created when the buyer updates the order with the attendees' email addresses and information. |
Cross Matching Records
The Cross Matching Records feature is an optional setting that overrides the default rules and behavior when contacts or leads are created or updated in Salesforce. Instead of just searching for linear matches, it searches both contacts and leads for matches, and you may also add more criteria for matching aside from the email address.
Create Contacts or Leads for Attendees Without Email Addresses
If you allow the attendee's email address to be left blank during registration, contact or lead records will not be created for these attendees. To ensure records without email addresses are created, follow the steps below:
In the configure menu, map the Ticket ID for the contact or lead
In the configure menu, map the Ticket ID for the campaign member
In the configure menu, enable the toggle to Create a new contact or lead when the ticket holder's email address is updated in the order
Notes:
If the attendee email is blank, it will create a Salesforce record.
If the attendee's last name and email are blank, it will create a Salesforce record with the attendee's first name and the buyer's last name.
If the attendee's first name and email are blank, it will not create a Salesforce record.
When updates are done to the order, the created Salesforce record will update too.
If the first name, last name, and email were left blank during registration, and the first name and last name are updated after registration, no new Salesforce record will be created; it will only trigger a creation when the email address is added. We're improving this behavior. Stay tuned for updates.