Many organizations utilize Google Sheets equally an of import data source, and for some pocket-size businesses, it even acts as the chief CRM (contact relationship management system).

That said, although Google Sheets can be used to manage and sync contact information, ofttimes it's not the best solution for the job. That'due south why this guide is here to assist yous decide how to best use Google Sheets and how to choose improve contact management solutions.

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Advantages of Google Sheets

For starters, at that place are two articulate advantages of Google Sheets:

  • It's quick, piece of cake, and cloud-based.
  • It'due south platonic for quick lists of contacts that don't need to exist stored with your main database.

Starting time up, Google Sheets is a tool that many minor businesses already know and dearest. It's straightforward, cloud-based, and easy to access on any device.

When dealing with contact data, Google Sheets is a adept solution when you demand a unproblematic, one-off list of contacts that doesn't need to exist organized with your primary contact data.

A spreadsheet likewise offers great flexibility for storing contact data. Yous are totally gratuitous to choose the construction that will store your contact information. Columns, rows, formulas... it'south all up to yous.

Whether information technology's existing contact data or newly obtained contacts, chances are you find yourself processing that data in a Google Canvass sometimes. But that doesn't mean it's the best solution to store all of your contact data.

When You Shouldn't Use Google Sheets

Here are a few utilize cases where you might want to consider an alternative to Google Sheets:

  • When you're handling important contact data that needs to exist kept up-to-date and reliable
  • When this contact data makes up your main contact database
  • If you desire to sync information with your other apps

The flexibility of a spreadsheet becomes its greatest weakness when you lot consider Google Sheets to act as your chief contact database and to sync the contacts in it with other apps. That's because Google Sheets, unlike apps like CRMs or marketing automation apps, doesn't have a preset contacts object.

Mailchimp has subscribers. HubSpot has contacts. Salesforce has leads. Xero has customers. Whichever the app, it'southward a contact record that comes with predictable fields such as names, emails, and phone numbers.

So, when it'southward fourth dimension to sync information betwixt your apps, a contact syncing tool maps out how contacts are stored in each app it supports, which is what makes syncing ane app to another possible.

Google Sheets does not come with such a clear and predictable layout. In fact, it's quite the opposite. One sheet may have clearly titled columns of "first name," "last name," and "email." Some other sheet may have completely dissimilar labels, or not come with any labels at all. This means that your contacts are not really stored as contact objects, so it's non built for 2-way contact syncing with your other apps.

Managing contact data with a Google Canvass also has the same issues equally syncing data with CSV imports and exports: it's error-prone and messy, you waste a lot of time on manual work, and your data isn't updated automatically or in existent-time.

How to Sync Contact Data With Google Sheets

We always recommend getting your contacts into a CRM, fifty-fifty if it'south a super simple CRM designed for pocket-sized businesses.

However, if y'all absolutely do need to sync contact data with a Google Sheet, you lot have two main options:

Basic Import and Export

The nigh bones way to movement your contact information between apps is with an import and consign. Many apps enable this to move data in and out of the app; usually in a CSV format that you can hands export from Google Sheets with your app's required template.

However, manually importing and exporting CSVs can go really tedious and time-consuming. Homo mistake is as well probable, which can quickly ruin your overall data integrity. In addition, CSV imports and exports can't really emulate a real-time sync — you're always but transferring a temporary snapshot of your contacts from one app into some other.

You're usually much meliorate off creating a true data sync between your apps that doesn't require any transmission updates but is washed automatically without y'all having to do anything beyond setting up the sync.

Use Zapier for a One-Way Data Push

While it's better to have a true ii-mode data sync that reflects the latest contact data in each app, Zapier is great at one-off, one-way data sync selection.

For most contact management scenarios, two-way sync is a better fit. This is considering data is always changing, and you want reliable and up-to-appointment data in your apps — which Zapier isn't really designed for.

Notwithstanding, Zapier is a adept fit for trigger-action automation, including to and from Google Sheets. For example, you could add together Typeform responses as rows on Google Sheets, or create HubSpot contacts for new Google Sheets rows. This isn't really contact management — it'southward more about putting your contact data to boosted and imaginative uses.

Zapier for syncing data to and from Google Sheets

Zapier is a skillful option for one-way data automation, but call back that you can't sync changes dorsum to the original app, and then it'due south non a perfect solution for reliable contact management.

Alternatives to Google Sheets

It'south piece of cake to make the switch from managing your contacts in a Google Sheet to a CRM. All popular systems make it unproblematic to import a CSV, and from that indicate on, it'due south straightforward to manage contact data in the CRM and sync data 2 ways with your other apps.

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Originally published Oct 1, 2021 eleven:26:fifty AM, updated Oct 01 2021