If you’ve ever tried to keep your CRM data clean, you know it’s a pain. Duplicate contacts, old info hanging around, and updates lost in the shuffle. This guide is for anyone who’s tired of chasing down bad data and wants a no-nonsense way to connect Scrubby with their CRM—for good.
We’ll skip the shiny sales talk and get right into how to set up syncing that actually works, what to watch out for, and a few things you don’t need to stress over.
1. What Is Scrubby and Why Bother Integrating?
First, a quick reality check: Scrubby promises to keep your CRM data up to date—deduplicating, cleaning, and even flagging junk. It works with most major CRMs, but it’s not magic. The tool’s only as good as your setup and how you use it.
If you’re:
- Drowning in messy contact lists
- Sick of copy-pasting between tools
- Tired of the “whoops, wrong email” dance
…then connecting Scrubby to your CRM is worth it. But don’t expect it to fix sloppy processes or make all your problems vanish overnight.
2. Prep Work: Get Your House in Order
Before you even touch Scrubby, do yourself a favor and check these boxes:
- Know your CRM’s quirks. Every CRM—Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Pipedrive—has its own gotchas for API limits, custom fields, and permissions. If you don’t know yours, ask your admin or check the docs.
- Clean up your biggest messes. If your CRM is a landfill, Scrubby can help, but don’t expect it to guess what you want to keep or toss. Do a quick pass to merge obvious duplicates and delete junk records.
- Check your plan limits. Some CRMs and Scrubby plans cap how much data you can sync or how often. Running out of syncs mid-month is a headache you can avoid.
Pro tip: Make a backup. Seriously. Export your CRM data before you start. If something goes sideways, you’ll thank yourself.
3. Step-by-Step: How to Connect Scrubby to Your CRM
Ready? Here’s the plain-English walkthrough.
Step 1: Create a Scrubby Account
- Sign up for Scrubby (free trial or paid; they don’t care for this step).
- Log in and head to the dashboard.
Step 2: Choose Your CRM
- In Scrubby, look for “Integrations” or “Connect CRM.”
- Pick your CRM from the list. If it’s not there, stop here—no amount of hacking will help.
Step 3: Authorize the Connection
- Click “Connect” or “Authorize.” This usually pops up your CRM’s login page.
- Log in with your CRM admin account—NOT a random user. You want full access or you’ll run into sync errors later.
- Grant permissions. Scrubby isn’t spying; it just needs to read and write data.
Step 4: Configure Your Sync Settings
You’ll get a set of options. Here’s what matters:
- Which records to sync? (Leads, contacts, accounts, etc.)
- How often? (Hourly, daily, manual. More isn’t always better—think about your CRM’s API limits.)
- Conflict rules. (If Scrubby and your CRM disagree, which wins? Choose wisely.)
- Custom fields. (Map these carefully. If you wing it, you’ll end up with weird gaps or overwritten info.)
What to ignore: Most “advanced” options are just window dressing. Unless you have a super-custom CRM, the defaults usually work fine.
Step 5: Run a Test Sync
- Scrubby lets you do a dry run. Always take this option.
- Check the results in your CRM—look for test changes, not just the “Success!” message.
- If something’s off (fields aren’t mapped, records missing), go back and tweak your settings.
Step 6: Turn on Auto-Sync (Carefully)
- Once you’re happy, enable automatic syncing.
- Monitor the first couple of runs. Set a reminder to check for weirdness—missing data, duplicates, sync errors.
4. What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Watch Out For
What Works Well
- Deduplication: Scrubby’s algorithms are decent at catching obvious duplicates, especially on email and phone fields.
- Basic field mapping: If you keep things simple, mapping standard fields is straightforward.
- Scheduled syncs: Set it and forget it—mostly.
What Doesn’t (or Needs Caution)
- Custom fields: If your CRM is full of custom fields, expect to spend extra time on mapping. Scrubby can’t guess your naming conventions.
- Two-way sync headaches: If you update data in both Scrubby and your CRM, conflicts will happen. Decide early which is the “source of truth”—otherwise, you’ll play whack-a-mole with bad data.
- Merge logic: Scrubby isn’t psychic. If you have three “John Smiths” with different emails, it won’t know which one to keep unless you tell it.
Watch Out For:
- API limits: Some CRMs will throttle you if you sync too often. Pace yourself, especially at first.
- User permissions: If you use a non-admin login for the integration, you’ll hit invisible walls—missing records, failed syncs, etc.
- Field type mismatches: Text vs. picklist vs. date fields—syncing will fail if the types don’t line up.
5. Maintenance: Keeping Things Running Smoothly
Integration isn’t a “set it and forget it” deal. Here’s how to keep things from going sideways:
- Check sync logs weekly. Look for errors or skipped records. Don’t trust “no news is good news”—some issues are silent.
- Review field mappings quarterly. As your CRM evolves, so should your sync setup.
- Stay updated. If Scrubby or your CRM releases a major update, check integration compatibility. Sometimes things quietly break.
Pro tip: Don’t automate EVERYTHING. Some stuff needs a human eye—especially merges and deletions.
6. Common Pitfalls (And How to Dodge Them)
- Syncing everything, all the time. More isn’t better. Only sync what you need, as often as you need it.
- Ignoring errors. Scrubby will flag sync problems, but it won’t fix them for you. Read the error logs.
- Trusting defaults blindly. Default field mappings are a starting point, not gospel.
- Skipping the test sync. You’ll regret it. Always run a test before letting things loose on your live data.
7. Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Obsess
Getting Scrubby and your CRM playing nicely isn’t rocket science, but it does take a little care. Start with the basics, run a test, and don’t try to automate every edge case from day one. Data syncing is a moving target—expect to tweak things as you go.
The big win here is less time spent cleaning up messes and more time actually using your data. Keep it simple, pay attention to the logs, and you’ll get most of the benefits without the headaches. If something breaks? Fix it, learn, and move on. No need to make it harder than it has to be.