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Backfilling missing CRM fields with Default means enriching records that already exist in Salesforce or HubSpot and writing the values they lack, such as a job title or a company’s employee count, back to the CRM. Default does this with its enrichment waterfalls and the same CRM write steps it uses for new leads. Default has no single button that enriches every record in your CRM at once. You pick the records and the method below. Backfilling is part of CRM hygiene. The other part, preventing and finding duplicates, is covered in Duplicate CRM records.

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Ways to backfill CRM fields in Default

All 3 methods charge enrichment credits for each lookup that returns data. See What a backfill costs.

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Backfill with Tables

Tables is in beta. It is turned on per workspace. If you do not see Companies and People under Views in the sidebar, contact Default.
In Tables, a view can show records straight from a Salesforce or HubSpot object. You enrich the rows into new columns, review them, then write the values back to each row’s own CRM record.
1

Create a view from your CRM

Under Views in the sidebar, open People, or Companies for accounts and companies, and select Create new view. Name the view, open Data Source, and choose the Salesforce or HubSpot object, for example Contact. Select Create.
2

Filter to records with the field missing

Add a filter on the CRM field you want to fill, with the Is Empty operator, for example the contact’s title. The Actions button works only on a saved view, such as the one you just created.
3

Enrich the rows

Select Actions, then Enrich. Choose the Waterfall tab and your waterfall. Under Field mapping, map each provider field to New column. Under How many records?, choose All records, Selected, or A specific set.Check the Cost Breakdown, then select Run Action.
4

Review the new columns

Read the enriched values in the table before anything reaches your CRM.
5

Write the values to the CRM

Select Actions, then Update CRM record. Under Fields to update, choose a CRM field, then select Use value from a table column and pick the enriched column. Add more fields with Add field.Select Update, followed by the number of records, and confirm. Default writes to each row’s own Salesforce or HubSpot record.
Update CRM record overwrites the current value of each field it writes, and it cannot be undone. Filter the view to records where the field is empty first, so values your team entered stay as they are.
What to know about Update CRM record:
  • 100 records per run. For more, run it again on the next set of rows.
  • Empty cells are skipped. When a row’s enriched column is empty, Default leaves that CRM field alone. A row with nothing to write is marked failed with the reason, and the other rows continue.
  • Only on CRM views. The action appears on views created from a Salesforce or HubSpot object, because each row carries its CRM record ID.
  • Suggested fields. When the table’s enrichment columns are mapped to fields, the action fills in suggested CRM fields for you to review.
Sync to source fields is a different action. It writes enriched values into Default’s own person and company records, not into Salesforce or HubSpot.

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Keep fields filled with a workflow

A workflow with the CRM Record Updated trigger enriches a record when it changes and writes the missing values back. Once it is published, records fill in as your team and your systems touch them.
1

Add the trigger

Add the CRM Record Updated trigger. Set CRM and Record, for example Salesforce and Contact.
2

Limit it to records that need data

Add a Condition so only records that need data qualify. On Salesforce fields that can be empty, use is NULL, for example Title is NULL. For HubSpot, or to pick the records yourself, use a checkbox field as described in Pull older records in with a checkbox.
3

Enrich

Add Enrich Data with your waterfall. Set Email / Domain (optional) to the record’s email, or to the company’s domain for an account or company record.
4

Write the values back

Add Update Record with Record to update set to the record’s ID from the trigger. Under Fields, map each empty field to its enriched value.
5

Test, then publish

Test on 1 record, confirm the fields in your CRM, then select Publish and turn on the deployment switch so the status reads Live.
How this behaves:
  • Prevent write-back loops. The write-back changes the record, which fires CRM Record Updated again. Use a Condition that the write-back makes false, such as the field being empty, so the second run does not qualify. If you use Fields Updated, watch only fields that this workflow does not write, or its own update can start another run.
  • Misses never clear a field. When enrichment returns no value, Update Record skips that field.
  • Older records wait for a change. A record that nobody edits never starts the workflow.

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Pull older records in with a checkbox

To backfill records that nobody is editing, mark them in your CRM and let the workflow pick them up:
  1. Create a checkbox field in Salesforce or HubSpot, for example Enrich now.
  2. Set the trigger’s Condition to require that field to be checked.
  3. In Update Record, write the enriched values and set Enrich now back to unchecked, so the write-back does not start another run.
  4. In your CRM, check the field on a small batch of records, for example with a bulk edit.
Each checked record starts its own run and uses credits. Check the run logs for the first batch before you mark more records. For more on HubSpot triggers and write-back, see HubSpot enrichment.

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Backfill from your own system with the API trigger

When you can export the records, your own script can send them to a Default workflow one by one through the public API:
  1. Pick a form for the fields. The API trigger needs a Connected Form that defines the fields callers send. Each call also sends the lead’s email. Use an existing form, or build one in Forms with Create new, then New form.
  2. Build the workflow. Start it with the API trigger and your form. Add Enrich Data, then Match Record to find the CRM record by email, then Update Record on the Match branch.
  3. Create an API key. Open Settings, then API Keys, and create a key with the triggers:write permission.
  4. Send the records. Your script calls the trigger once per record. See Route and book through the API and Fire a trigger.
Each API key can make 30 requests per minute, which is about 1,800 records an hour. A request over the limit gets a 429 response with a Retry-After header that says how many seconds to wait.

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Only fill empty fields

A backfill should add missing values without replacing ones your team already has:
  • In Tables, filter the view with Is Empty on the CRM field before you run Update CRM record.
  • In a Salesforce workflow, use is NULL in the trigger Condition or in a Multi-Branch condition.
  • In any workflow, remember that Update Record overwrites a value that is already there, while it skips values the enrichment did not return.
To keep enriched data apart from values reps type, write it to separate CRM fields.

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What a backfill costs

A backfill uses the same enrichment credits as any other lookup:
  • Each provider in the waterfall that returns data for a record is charged. See How enrichment credits work.
  • Writing to Salesforce or HubSpot uses no credits.
Before a large run, check the Cost Breakdown in the Tables Enrich action, or test the workflow on a few records and read the credits in the run log. Related: Lead enrichment software from Default