If you’re tasked with making sense of user behavior and sales data, you know the pain: product analytics live in one silo, CRM data in another, and connecting them usually means spreadsheets or wishful thinking. This guide is for folks in growth, ops, or product who want real GTM (go-to-market) insights—without false promises or endless “data integration” projects.
Here’s how to connect Heap with Salesforce so you can actually answer tough questions like “Which user behaviors predict pipeline?”—and what pitfalls to watch out for.
Why connect Heap and Salesforce in the first place?
Let’s be blunt: Most product analytics tools (Heap included) are great at showing you what users do, but terrible at tying that to revenue. Meanwhile, Salesforce is the source of truth for deals and accounts, but doesn’t know squat about in-app behavior.
When you connect the dots, you can:
- Attribute real revenue to product usage (not just pageviews)
- Figure out which actions drive conversions, expansions, or churn
- Give sales actual product context—for real, not just in theory
But—and this is important—most integrations are clunky, fragile, or only half-baked. So let’s focus on what actually works.
Step 1: Get clear about what you want to know
Before you even touch settings, be specific about your questions. Integrations don’t magically generate insights. Some examples:
- Do free trial users who invite teammates convert to paying customers more often?
- Does using Feature X correlate with bigger deal size?
- Which product behaviors show up most often in closed-lost opportunities?
Write these down. If you can’t phrase it as a real question, you’re not ready to integrate. Otherwise, you’ll just sync a pile of data no one uses.
Step 2: Audit your data on both sides
Don’t skip this. Garbage in, garbage out. Here’s what to check:
In Heap:
- Are you tracking people or just anonymous events? If most of your data is anonymous, it won’t tie to Salesforce.
- Do you have a reliable user identifier (email, user ID, etc.)?
- Are key product actions already tracked as events?
In Salesforce:
- Where do you store the user’s email or product user ID? (Contact? Lead? Custom object?)
- Is your CRM data clean, or are fields all over the place?
- Are you using custom fields to track product usage already?
Pro tip: Pull a sample list of records from both systems and see if you can match them by hand. If you can’t, automation won’t save you.
Step 3: Plan your mapping and data flow
This is where most teams overthink things and get stuck. Keep it simple at first. Decide:
- Direction: Are you pushing product data into Salesforce, CRM data into Heap, or both?
- For GTM insights, you usually want Heap → Salesforce.
- Matching key: Use email or a unique user ID that exists in both systems. Don’t try to get clever—email is usually safest.
- Fields to sync: Start with just a handful—think “Did user do X?” or “Number of logins last 30 days,” not every single event.
What to ignore: Don’t try to sync every field or event. You’ll create a maintenance nightmare and bog down your CRM. Focus on what maps to your key questions from Step 1.
Step 4: Choose your integration method
Heap doesn’t offer a native Salesforce integration (as of early 2024). Here are your options, with pros and cons:
1. Use a third-party connector (e.g., Tray.io, Workato, Zapier)
- Pros: No code, lots of options, decent for prototyping.
- Cons: Can get expensive fast, reliability varies, and you still have to maintain the mapping logic.
2. Build your own with APIs
- Pros: Full control, no per-record fees.
- Cons: Requires engineering time, ongoing maintenance, and API quirks.
3. Export/import via CSV
- Pros: Dead simple, no extra cost.
- Cons: Not real-time, manual, and error-prone if you do it often.
Honest take: If you just want to test things out or answer a few questions, start with CSV export/import. For anything ongoing, use a connector or invest in the API route if you’ve got the resources.
Step 5: Implement and test with a small dataset
Don’t sync your entire database on the first try. Start with a few users or events. Here’s how:
- Set up the integration to push only 1-2 product events or metrics to Salesforce, mapped to a custom field on Contact or Account.
- Test it with a handful of records you can trace end-to-end.
- Check for data mismatches, sync errors, or duplicates.
Pro tip: Involve someone from sales or CS early. Get their feedback on the fields—they’ll spot weirdness you might miss.
Step 6: Build reports and dashboards that answer real questions
Data in Salesforce is useless if no one looks at it. Create basic reports that tie product usage to GTM outcomes, like:
- Conversion rates for users who complete key actions vs. those who don’t
- Account health scores based on in-app activity
- Pipeline impact of product engagement
Start ugly—it’s fine. You can always clean up later. But if your integration doesn’t help answer a real GTM question, it’s not worth the effort.
Step 7: Iterate and automate (but don’t over-engineer)
Once you’ve proven value with a handful of fields and reports, automate what’s working. Schedule regular syncs, add more fields if you need them, and document the setup so future-you isn’t cursing present-you.
What to skip: Don’t build elaborate dashboards or automate edge cases until you’re confident the basics are solid. It’s easy to get lost in the weeds and lose sight of your real goals.
Real-world pitfalls (and how to avoid them)
- Identity resolution is messy. If users sign up with multiple emails or aliases, you’ll hit mismatches. Clean this up early or accept some fuzziness.
- Salesforce admins hate clutter. Don’t flood them with dozens of fields or objects. Ask what’s useful, and prune the rest.
- Data drift is real. Over time, fields get renamed, IDs change, and your sync breaks. Document everything and check up on it every few months.
- Don’t expect “insights” automatically. The integration is just plumbing. You’ll still need to analyze and interpret the data.
Keep it simple. Iterate.
Connecting Heap with Salesforce can unlock some genuinely useful GTM insights, but only if you keep things focused and practical. Start with real questions, sync only what matters, and don’t chase shiny dashboards before you’ve nailed the basics. Iterate as you go, and don’t be afraid to throw out what’s not working. Simple, ugly, and useful beats “fully integrated” but ignored every time.