How to export leads from Techtarget to your CRM without losing data

So you’ve got leads piling up in Techtarget, and now you need them in your CRM—without making a mess or losing data. Maybe it’s Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, or something weird your ops team swears by. Either way, you want a reliable process that doesn’t eat your day or dump a bunch of half-baked records into your system.

This guide is for sales, marketing, and ops folks who want the straight path from Techtarget lead to CRM deal, minus the busywork and surprises.

Why Exporting Techtarget Leads Is Trickier Than It Looks

Before you start, here’s the honest bit: exporting leads isn’t just hitting “Download” and uploading to your CRM. Techtarget’s data can be rich, but it’s often formatted for their system, not yours. If you skip the prep, you’ll end up with:

  • Duplicates and weird formatting
  • Lost fields (like intent scores or activity history)
  • Angry sales reps wondering where their leads went

If you want clean data and happy teammates, follow these steps.

Step 1: Get Clear on What Data You Actually Need

Don’t just export everything because you can. Figure out what matters for your sales process:

  • Must-have fields: Name, company, email, phone, job title.
  • Nice-to-haves: Techtarget intent score, content downloaded, activity dates.
  • Ignore: Anything your CRM doesn’t use (custom fields, unused tags).

Pro tip: Ask your sales or marketing ops team what fields they actually look at. No one needs 40 columns of noise.

Step 2: Exporting Leads from Techtarget

Techtarget’s export process isn’t rocket science, but the details matter.

How to Export

  1. Log in to Techtarget.
  2. Go to your leads dashboard or report.
  3. Filter for the right date range, campaign, or segment. (Don’t grab a year’s worth if you only need this month.)
  4. Find the “Export” or “Download” button—usually CSV or Excel.
  5. Choose columns/fields to include if possible. Pick only what you need.
  6. Download the file.

Heads up: Techtarget sometimes changes their export layouts or field names. Double-check the exported file for surprises.

Step 3: Clean Up the Data

This is the step everyone wants to skip. Don’t.

What to Watch Out For

  • Weird formatting: Phone numbers with dashes, spaces, country codes, or all of the above.
  • Blank fields: Empty emails or missing names. Delete or fix these.
  • Duplicates: Same lead multiple times, usually if they downloaded more than one asset.
  • Special characters: Odd symbols in names or company fields can break your CRM’s import.

How to Fix It

  • Open the file in Excel or Google Sheets.
  • Use “Remove Duplicates” on email or another unique field.
  • Standardize fields (e.g., format phone numbers, trim whitespace).
  • Check for required CRM fields and fill them in if possible.
  • Delete columns you know you’ll ignore.
  • Save your cleaned file as a CSV.

Pro tip: Save your cleaned template. You’ll thank yourself next time.

Step 4: Map Techtarget Fields to Your CRM

Field mapping is where most data gets lost. Techtarget’s “Job Function” might not match your CRM’s “Role.” If you just import blindly, you’ll get garbage data.

How to Map Fields

  • Make a list of Techtarget fields vs. your CRM’s required fields.
  • For each field, decide:
  • Direct match: First Name → First Name
  • Needs tweaking: “Company Size” (as text) → “Number of Employees” (as number)
  • Ignore: Fields you don’t use
  • If your CRM allows, save this mapping for future imports.

Don’t trust “auto-map” features in CRM import tools. They misfire more often than not.

Step 5: Import to Your CRM

Each CRM is a little different, but the basics are the same.

General Process

  1. Go to your CRM’s import tool (usually under “Leads,” “Contacts,” or “Data Management”).
  2. Upload your cleaned CSV.
  3. Step through the field mapping. Double-check every field.
  4. Choose how to handle duplicates:
  5. Update existing records, or
  6. Skip duplicates, or
  7. Create new records only
  8. Run a small test import with 5–10 records.
  9. Check results. If everything looks good, import the full file.

Warning: If your CRM has required fields you didn’t fill (owner, status, etc.), the import will fail or create bad records. Fill those in ahead of time if you can.

Step 6: Double-Check for Data Loss or Weirdness

Don’t trust the import tool’s “Success!” message. Take a look for yourself:

  • Spot-check a few leads in the CRM. Are all the fields populated correctly?
  • Did any records get dropped? (Compare row counts: original vs. imported.)
  • Are intent scores or custom fields showing up where they should?
  • Any odd characters or broken formatting?

If you spot issues, fix your CSV and re-import, or manually adjust a handful of records. It’s better than letting junk data creep in.

Step 7: Automate (If You’re Doing This More Than Once)

If this is a one-time job, manual is fine. But if you’re doing this weekly or monthly, look into:

  • Native integrations: Techtarget claims to integrate with some CRMs, but these are hit-and-miss. They often need IT help to set up, and they don’t always map fields cleanly.
  • Zapier or similar tools: Good for simple data transfers, but limited if you need custom field mapping or deduplication.
  • Custom scripts or middleware: If your team has dev resources, a Python script or ETL tool can automate this and handle field mapping, data cleaning, and error checking.

Just don’t automate a messy process. Clean it up first, then automate.

What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore

  • Works: Manual export/import with a cleaned CSV. Reliable, but takes a little time.
  • Works (with caveats): Native integrations, but watch for field mapping issues and test thoroughly. Don’t assume it “just works.”
  • Doesn’t work: Skipping data cleaning and mapping. You’ll end up with bad data and unhappy users.
  • Ignore: Fancy “AI-powered” data enrichment tools for this step. They usually add noise, not signal.

Pro Tips for Not Losing Data (or Your Mind)

  • Always keep a backup of your original export and your cleaned CSV.
  • Document your field mappings and share them with your team.
  • Do small test imports before every big load.
  • If you’re not sure about a field, ask: “Will anyone use this in the next 3 months?” If not, skip it.
  • Review your process after a month. What’s working? What’s a pain? Iterate.

Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Overthink It

Exporting leads from Techtarget to your CRM doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Most of the pain comes from skipping the basics—cleaning your export, mapping fields, and double-checking the import. Keep your process simple, stay organized, and don’t be afraid to tweak things as you go. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s getting good leads to the right place without creating a data mess.