Prerequisites
- A Salesforce or HubSpot CRM integration connected in Starbridge (Settings → Integrations)
- The Account object (Salesforce) or Company object (HubSpot), along with relevant fields, included in your CRM integration configuration
A note on scale
Account matching supports up to 250,000 accounts. If your CRM is larger than this, reach out to your CSA before getting started.Before you begin
Should you work with your CSA first?
If your CRM has significant data quality issues — lots of duplicates, inconsistent naming, missing state codes, or accounts you’ve been meaning to clean up — consider working with your CSA before running matching. They can help you think through your data so you get cleaner results on the first pass. If your CRM data is reasonably clean, go ahead and start below.A note on Starbridge IDs
If you’ve already completed account matching with your CSA and have Starbridge IDs populated on your CRM account objects, map that field first (CRM Starbridge ID field → Starbridge Buyer ID). Accounts with a Starbridge ID resolve instantly with certainty — no fuzzy matching or AI inference needed.Step 1: Map CRM account fields to Starbridge buyer fields
Navigate to Settings → Integrations, open your CRM integration, and go to the Account Matching tab. Map fields from your CRM Account object to Starbridge buyer fields. Starbridge uses these as inputs to the matching process. Required:- Buyer Name
- Buyer State Code (e.g.,
NY)
- Buyer Type (e.g., City, HigherEd)
- Buyer City
- Buyer URL / Domain
- Buyer Zip Code
- NCES ID
- IPEDS ID
- Census ID
- Starbridge Buyer ID (if already populated on your CRM account objects)
Note: Optional fields are additive inputs — Starbridge uses whatever fields are present to find the best match. An account missing a URL or IPEDS ID will still be matched; it just has less signal to work with. Adding more fields improves match quality but doesn’t prevent matching from running.
Tip: Unique identifiers like NCES ID, IPEDS ID, and Starbridge Buyer ID produce the most reliable matches. If you have them, map them.Once saved, you can edit mappings later. Editing mappings does not automatically re-run matching.
Recommended data prep
Before running matching, it’s worth ensuring your CRM data is in good shape:- Add state codes to all accounts — state is required for matching and accounts without it cannot be matched
- Add ZIP codes and URL domains where available
- Store NCES IDs as text, not numbers — they contain leading zeros that will be lost if stored as a numeric field
- Clarify system vs. campus for higher education accounts — note whether an account represents a university system or an individual campus
- Add Census GEOIDs for cities and counties if available
Step 2: Run account matching
Click Run Matching. The matching table will be unavailable while matching runs. When complete, each account will have one of four statuses:| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Matched | Starbridge found a Starbridge buyer for this account |
| No match | Matching completed but no buyer was found |
| Failed | Matching encountered an error — re-run these |
| Duplicate | Multiple CRM accounts matched to the same Starbridge buyer |
Step 3: Re-run failed accounts
Before reviewing anything else, filter for Failed accounts and re-run them. Failed accounts encountered an internal error during matching — not a data problem — so re-running usually resolves them. Select all failed accounts and click … More → Re-match. Once re-matching completes, the results will appear in the matched, no match, or duplicate categories and you can review them alongside everything else.Warning: Re-matching marks selected accounts as Unreviewed, including any you had already reviewed. You’ll need to review them again once matching completes.
Step 4: Review and approve matched accounts
Matched accounts fall into three categories based on how the match was made. Work through them in order — the first two are safe to bulk-approve after a quick check; the third requires individual attention.4a. Unique identifier matches — bulk-approve after a quick scroll
Filter for accounts where Match reasoning contains “Matched by”. These accounts were matched using a unique identifier (NCES ID, IPEDS ID, Starbridge Buyer ID, etc.) and are almost always correct.
- Scroll through the first ~50 results and spot-check them.
- If everything looks right (or there are only one or two issues), fix any incorrect matches individually, then bulk-approve the rest.
- If you’re seeing more than a few problems, reach out to your CSA before bulk-approving — something may be wrong with your identifier data.
4b. Normalized name + zip matches — bulk-approve after a quick scroll
Filter for accounts where Match reasoning is exactly “Single candidate matched by normalized name and zip”. These accounts were matched by an exact normalized name and ZIP code — still high confidence.
4c. All other matches — review individually
Everything that doesn’t fall into 4a or 4b was matched by AI inference. These carry more uncertainty and should not be bulk-approved without review. What to do:- Scroll through the first ~50 results.
- Fix incorrect matches individually — select the correct Starbridge buyer from the dropdown, or clear the match if no buyer is appropriate.
- If you find only a few errors, fix them and bulk-approve the rest.
- If you’re seeing more wrong matches than you can reasonably fix manually, don’t bulk-approve — reach out to your CSA and they’ll help you work through them.
Step 5: Review no-match accounts
Filter for No match accounts. For each, ask: should this account be matched to a Starbridge buyer at all?- Private sector companies, vendors, partners, and competitors typically should not be matched — Starbridge covers SLED institutions, not the private sector. Mark these as reviewed (no match is the correct result).
- SLED institutions that should be in Starbridge — assign them manually by selecting the correct buyer from the dropdown.
Step 6: Resolve duplicates
Filter for Duplicate accounts. Duplicates occur when multiple CRM accounts matched to the same Starbridge buyer — each one needs individual attention. Duplicate-status rows cannot be marked Reviewed directly. For each duplicate group, you have two options:- Override one or more accounts to a different Starbridge buyer (Starbridge will prevent you from selecting a buyer already matched to another account)
- Clear the match to set it to No match, then review the remaining account normally
Step 7: Apply reviewed matches
Once you’ve worked through the categories above, reviewed matches are ready to be applied to territories, CRM lookup columns, and CRM syncs. By default, matches are applied overnight. To push them immediately, click Apply reviewed matches now — this updates any downstream territories right away.
How Starbridge stays in sync
Starbridge re-syncs your CRM accounts nightly:- New accounts are automatically run through matching and given Unreviewed status. You’ll see a notification when new accounts are waiting for your review. Work through the same steps above to review them.
- Deleted accounts are removed from matching, and any territories that included the matched buyer are updated automatically.
- Updated accounts are not automatically re-matched. If an account’s data changes in your CRM, select it manually and click … More → Re-match.
Re-running matching
There are two common reasons to re-run matching after your initial run — and one required one:- Failed accounts — always re-run these. Failed accounts encountered an internal error, not a data problem, so re-running typically resolves them. (See Step 3 above.)
- You updated your field mappings — for example, you added NCES IDs and want Starbridge to use them to improve matches that previously relied on name and state alone.
- You filled in missing or corrected data in your CRM — for example, accounts were missing state codes and you’ve since populated them.
Warning: Re-matching marks selected accounts as Unreviewed, including any you had already reviewed. You’ll need to review them again once matching completes.