Verify your CRM Sync connection in a test environment

Last updated: 4 months ago

As a CRM or Sales Navigator admin, it’s recommended that you verify your CRM Sync connection in a test environment to ensure everything works as expected before deploying it to your team.

Important to know

CRM Sync is a Sales Navigator Advanced Plus feature. The steps in this article should be completed by a CRM admin and Sales Navigator admin. If the CRM admin and Sales Navigator admin aren't the same person, it’s recommended they complete these steps together.

Why testing CRM Sync matters

Verifying CRM Sync in a test environment helps you avoid disruptions in your live CRM and ensures your team can use Sales Navigator features confidently, as it helps:

  • Prevent errors in production - Testing can catch mismatched records, missing data, or incorrect writebacks before they impact real opportunities.
  • Validate feature behavior - Features like record matching, activity writeback, and auto-save depend on the correct setup. Testing confirms that they work as intended.
  • Ensure admin alignment - CRM and Sales Navigator admins often manage different systems. Testing together avoids configuration gaps.
  • Protect data integrity - A test environment lets you experiment without risking live customer data.

Test your CRM Sync connection

Prerequisites

  • Confirm you’re in the test environment - you’ll see a banner at the top of Sales Navigator.
  • In the test environment, ensure you have access to the CRM user accounts that manage sales opportunities, as some features might behave differently depending on the progress or stage of a sales opportunity.
  • Complete the steps to connect to the sandbox and add users.

Complete the following steps to test the CRM Sync connection:

  1. Verify CRM record matching
  2. Test activity writeback
  3. Test contact creation
  4. Check auto-save
  5. Validate search filters
  6. Test data validation

Step One: Verify CRM record matching

Lead and account records in Sales Navigator will match with account, contact, and lead records in your CRM. A matched Sales Navigator lead or account is indicated in Sales Navigator by a CRM badge displayed next to their name. 

To test record matching, complete the following steps:

  • Verify initial CRM match:

    1. View a lead within Sales Navigator that is a contact within your CRM.
    2. Click the CRM badge in the top left of the profile topcard.
    3. Verify the record opens in your CRM.

  • Create a manual match within CRM:

    1. Sign in to your CRM and find the lead or contact profile page.
    2. Within the Sales Navigator embedded profile, you'll see possible matches.
      1. If you don't see possible matches, but a full profile instead, click Not the Right Person. 
    3. Click Match to create the match.

Repeat the steps for a matched account to ensure that sync is working as expected.

Step two: Test activity writeback

Activity writeback enables Sales Navigator users to log InMails, messages, phone calls (initiated from the Sales Navigator mobile app), notes, and Smart Link views back to the CRM.

To test activity writeback, complete the following steps:

  • Activity writeback with a matched lead:

    1. In Sales Navigator, navigate to a lead who is matched in CRM.
    2. Click Message to send a message to that lead.
    3. Click Copy to CRM to enable writeback.
    4. Verify the message is written back to the corresponding CRM record’s Tasks section. 

  • Activity writeback with an unmatched lead:

    1. In Sales Navigator, navigate to a lead who is matched in CRM.
    2. Click Message to send a message to that lead.
    3. Click Copy to CRM enable writeback.
    4. Verify the message was written back to your CRM’s Unresolved Activities Report or System View as an open activity. 
    5. Associate and save the open activity with the correct record in CRM. 
    6. Verify the activity shows to the CRM record’s activities history. 

  • Repeat the above steps for the following activities:

    1. Logging a call on the Sales Navigator mobile app.
    2. Adding a note.
      1. Notes require ownership and don't write back on unmatched contacts.
    3. Sending an InMail.
    4. User viewing a Smart Link. 

Step Three: Test contact creation

Contact Creation provides the ability for a user to create a contact record in HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Oracle Sales, or Salesforce from a Sales Navigator lead page or lead list.

To test contact creation, complete the following steps:

  • Create a contact:

    1. Locate a lead in Sales Navigator you'd like to add to your CRM.
    2. From an unsaved lead’s page or the lead list, click  More and select Add to CRM from the dropdown that appears.
    3. From a saved lead’s page, click Copy to CRM on the lead page.

  • Verify the contact within CRM: 

    1. Navigate to the lead’s page in Sales Navigator.
    2. Verify there is a CRM badge on the lead profile.
    3. Click the CRM badge.  
    4. Verify the record was created in your CRM and the lead source matches your selection.

Step four: Check auto-save

Enabling auto-save ensures the user’s relevant CRM leads, contacts, and opportunities are saved as Sales Navigator leads and accounts. Saved leads are leads that will produce alerts within a user's homepage. Wait 24 hours after the test connection to allow for auto-saves to sync with Sales Navigator.

To test auto-save, complete the following steps:

  • Verify the system-generated lists from CRM:

    1. Navigate to Leads lists in Sales Navigator. 
    2. Select System-Generated: My CRM Leads and Contacts.  
    3. Verify the leads displaying match the options for auto-save the admin selected. 
    4. Repeat these steps for System-Generated: My CRM Accounts.

  • Verify subsequent auto-saves: 

    1. In your CRM, create a new opportunity for a matched account. 
    2. In your CRM, add a matched contact to the opportunity. 
    3. Verify the account and lead are added to the respective Sales Navigator lists the next day, as processing will occur in 24 hours.

Step five: Validate search filters

Users can apply advanced search filters to view leads and accounts both inside and outside of their CRM. Wait 24 hours after the test connection to allow for the sync from your CRM to Sales Navigator to be completed.

To test, complete the following steps:

  1. Conduct a lead search.

  2. Select Lead filters within the filters section.

  3. From the Workflow section, select People in CRM to apply the filter.

  4. Verify the filters are applied and show correct results.

  5. Repeat steps 2-5 for account search.

Step six: Test data validation

Data Validation verifies the contacts and accounts in your CRM with the respective LinkedIn member and company profiles. 

Important to know

Sales Navigator Advanced Plus customers using HubSpot or Oracle Sales use the Next Generation CRM Data Validation feature. Customers using Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 use the original Data Validation feature.

With the original Data Validation feature, when the CRM account record associated with the CRM contact record doesn’t match a current company associated with the LinkedIn Member profile, a Not at Company is automatically populated on that record in your CRM. 

LinkedIn will attempt to validate every CRM contact record that fits any of the three following cases:

  • Owned by a syncing Sales Navigator user.
  • Related with an opportunity owned by a syncing Sales Navigator user.
  • Related with an account owned by a syncing Sales Navigator user.

Important to know

Due to timeout limitations, expect a partial run with a small subset of contacts flagged accordingly.

To test the original Data Validation feature, complete the following steps:

  1. Enable Data Validation within Sales Navigator Admin Settings and configure the fields within your CRM. Learn more.

  2. Confirm the following Reports or System Views are accessible in your CRM:

    Dynamics 365 Sales

    • All Opportunities at Risk – Contact Left
    • My Opportunities at Risk – Contact Left
    • All Contacts Not at Company
    • My Contacts Not at Company

    Salesforce

    • SN: Contacts No Longer at All Open Opps
    • SN: Contacts No Longer at My Open Opps
    • SN: All Past Customers at New Companies
    • SN: My Past Customers at New Companies
    • SN: All Contacts Not at Company
    • SN: My Contacts Not at Company

    Here's a tip

    If these reports aren't showing, ensure you have installed the most recent version of the Sales Navigator app for your CRM.

  3. Navigate to a Contact record in your CRM that matches one of the following criteria: 

    • Contact is owned by a syncing Sales Navigator user.
    • Contact is related with an opportunity owned by a syncing Sales Navigator user.
    • Contact is related with an account owned by a syncing Sales Navigator user.

  4. The custom Not at Company field will be hidden by default. To test this feature, it is recommended to add the field onto an admin page layout or form so it is visible.

    • Confirm the contact record shows the Not at Company field (is hidden by default).
    • Manually change the contact record’s Not at Company field to be true.
    • Confirm the contact shows on the applicable system view or report listed above.

  5. Optional: 

    • Wait 24-48 hours after the test connection to allow for all the records to process and Data Validation flags to appear.
    • Navigate to the System Views or Reports within your CRM to check if there are results.
    • If there are results, Data Validation was successful.

If there are no results, review the following steps: 

  1. Data Validation works off criteria of ownership. If the contact does not fulfill any of the criteria outlined in step 3, the contact will not return a Not at Company flag.
  2. Data Validation relies on correct matching from your CRM to Sales Navigator. A lead is matched in Sales Navigator to a contact in your CRM when you see a CRM badge on the lead’s profile. Learn more about matching logic here.
  3. Large reports might take a while to load, try setting another parameter on the report to shorten the report.

Results

Once you have finished testing your CRM Sync connection:

  • CRM badges appear correctly on matched profiles.
  • Activities write back to your CRM.
  • Contacts can be created from Sales Navigator.
  • Auto-save lists populate accurately.
  • Filters show synced contacts and accounts.
  • Data Validation flags appear in CRM reports.

Related tasks

Learn more