This article answers common questions about the Cognism Outreach integration.
Can I use Outreach alongside my CRM?
Yes. Outreach is commonly used alongside a CRM such as Salesforce or HubSpot.
In this setup:
- Your CRM manages customer records and sales opportunities.
- Outreach is used for outbound prospecting, email sequences, calls, and follow-up activities.
- Cognism can export records to both platforms as part of your prospecting workflow.
Who can configure the Outreach integration?
Only Cognism Administrators can:
- Enable the Outreach integration.
- Configure field mappings.
- Configure duplicate handling and export settings.
- Manage the organisation's Outreach integration.
Once configured, users can authenticate their own Outreach account and begin exporting records.
Can all users export to Outreach?
Yes.
Once the integration has been configured by an administrator, users can sign in to their own Outreach account and export records from both the Cognism Web Application and the Cognism Chrome Extension.
Can I export from the Chrome Extension?
Yes.
The Outreach integration supports exports from both:
- Cognism Web Application
- Cognism Chrome Extension
Both export methods use the same field mappings and integration settings.
What happens if the record already exists?
Before creating a new record, Cognism checks Outreach for an existing match.
If a matching Prospect or Account is found, Cognism updates the existing record according to your configured duplicate handling settings instead of creating a duplicate.
How are duplicate records prevented?
Cognism uses matching rules before exporting records.
Prospects
Prospects are matched using:
- Email address
Accounts
Accounts are matched using:
- Company domain (exact match)
These matching rules help reduce duplicate Prospects and Accounts in Outreach.
Can I customise which fields are exported?
Yes.
Administrators can configure Prospect and Account field mappings to determine which Cognism data is exported into Outreach.
Can I add Prospects directly to a Sequence?
Yes.
When exporting contacts, you can choose to add them directly to an Outreach Sequence.
To successfully add Prospects to a Sequence, ensure:
- Your Outreach mailbox is connected.
- You have permission to use Sequences.
- The selected Sequence is available to your user account.
Why wasn't my Prospect added to a Sequence?
The most common reason is that your Outreach mailbox is not connected.
Without a connected mailbox, Outreach cannot enrol Prospects into Sequences.
If your mailbox is connected and the issue persists, see Outreach Troubleshooting.
Why did my export fail with a validation error?
Validation errors typically occur when Outreach rejects one or more field values during export.
For example:
- A restricted picklist value is invalid.
- A mapped field contains a value that is not accepted by Outreach.
Review the error message to identify the affected field, then update the field mapping or the value before exporting again.
Can I export Prospects without an email address?
Yes, if your administrator has enabled Allow exports without an email address in the Outreach integration settings.
If this option is disabled, Prospects without an email address cannot be exported.
Can users choose which mailbox is used for Sequences?
Yes.
If your organisation has multiple mailboxes connected to Outreach, administrators can allow users to choose which mailbox is used when a Prospect is added to a Sequence during export.
Can I export a Prospect if an existing Account cannot be associated?
Yes, if your administrator has enabled this option in the Outreach integration settings.
This behaviour can be configured from the Prospect Settings section of the integration.
Can existing Accounts be updated during export?
Yes.
Administrators can choose whether Cognism updates existing Accounts when a matching company is found during export.
Why can't I update an existing Prospect or Account?
Your Outreach user may not have permission to edit records, or you may not be the owner of the existing record.
See Outreach Troubleshooting for more information on authorisation errors.