Salesforce mappings used to force a choice up front: create a new record, or update an existing one. Pick wrong and you got duplicate Contacts, or updates that went nowhere.
Custom Mapping now has a fourth action: Create or update a record using an External ID.
Choose a Salesforce field you already use to identify customers — account number, CRM ID, subscription reference — and every response is checked against it. Match updates the record. No match creates one.
Get the identifier onto a response three ways:
- Survey link —
?sf_External_Field_1__c=Get%20Started(sf_prefix + the Salesforce API name) - Survey question — pick it in the Match Value dropdown
- Salesforce email trigger — pass the field through and it rides along with the survey
Set it up under Integrations → Salesforce → Add Mapping. Only fields marked as External ID in Salesforce appear — mark yours Unique too, or a value matching multiple records won't sync. Matching is exact, case and spacing included.