Best practices for importing accounts, then contacts

[kp1]

Hello,

I am doing my first import of 311 records. The data is all clean and prepped.

From the videos and documentation I watched/read, it was suggested that it is best to first import accounts, and then export those accounts and re-import the corresponding contacts.

I'm just curious as to why I'd do it this way when I only have one contact per account?

One issue I can see is that the contact's email address would be associated with the actually account, I think.

Again, curious as to the "why" behind this.

Thanks!
kp

[myaccess]

Kp:

I'm sure you've probably received your answer by now, but just in case someone else is wondering, here is why.

If you Import the contact records first, it's going to create an account/company record as well, and then when you go to import the account/company records, it will create another record for that company, so you'll be doubled up...now imagine you have multiple contacts per account/company record - could get out of hand quickly.

So, when you import, you import your account/company records first, so when you import the contact records, each contact record will attach itself to the existing account/company record and if you have multiple contacts per account/company record, the system will create multiple contact records, but will use the same "single" account record.

I hope this helps anyone new to the system.