Question from Reddit user:
I am running LinkedIn Lead gen forms as ads on LinkedIn. I have noticed that LinkedIn has a few extra leads that are not being reported/synced to Salesforce.
Example: When I download lead info from LinkedIn directly, there will be 10 leads with contact info.
When I look into Salesforce, there will only be 7.
Where should I look to see what is causing this data discrepancy? Thanks!
Answer from Nabil:
The short answer is:
Data discrepancies between LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms and Salesforce are common, often caused by issues with the integration’s lead-matching logic, real-time sync failures, or the specific settings of your LinkedIn-to-Salesforce connector.
To resolve this, you should first check the Salesforce side for any validation rules, required fields, or duplicate prevention settings that might be blocking the three missing leads from being created or updated.
Another primary area to investigate is the integration logs within your connection platform (which could be native, a third-party tool, or custom API) to see the exact error messages for the failed lead attempts, which will usually pinpoint the missing data, validation failure, or timeout that occurred.
The long answer is:
The discrepancy you’re seeing, where three out of ten leads are missing in Salesforce, is a classic integration issue.
The first step is to dive into the Salesforce Setup menu.
Check your Lead Object for any validation rules that might be silently failing and preventing the leads from saving.
For instance, if a field is required in Salesforce but not being passed from the LinkedIn form (or is being passed in an incorrect format), the lead is rejected.
Similarly, check your Duplicate Management settings.
Salesforce might be identifying the three missing leads as duplicates of existing records and either merging them (which you may not notice without checking the record history) or outright blocking them based on your chosen action.
A simple test is to manually try to create a lead in Salesforce using the exact data for one of the missing leads from your LinkedIn download; the error message you get will be illuminating.
Next, you must access the integration logs or sync status in whatever tool or process you are using to move data from LinkedIn to Salesforce.
Whether it is a native connector, Zapier, Mulesoft, or a custom integration, it will have a log that records the status of each attempted data transfer.
Look for the three failed entries and you will likely find errors like “FIELD_CUSTOM_VALIDATION_EXCEPTION”, “REQUIRED_FIELD_MISSING”, or “DUPLICATE_VALUE_ON_INSERT”.
Once you know the specific error, you can fix the field mapping or relax the Salesforce rule.
For a more robust, long-term solution that provides greater control and better tracking, you should consider implementing a server-side tracking infrastructure using the LinkedIn Conversions API alongside your existing Salesforce API integration.
By sending lead and conversion data directly from a server, you bypass many of the common client-side browser issues that can corrupt or block data.
The data flow would look something like this:
The lead submits the Lead Gen form on LinkedIn.
The lead data goes into LinkedIn and is also sent server-side to a data pipeline you control.
This pipeline could be managed by an intermediary service like Stape (using a server-side Google Tag Manager GTM container) or a custom setup on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or AWS.
This server-side environment is much more reliable for sending events like ‘Lead’ and ‘FormSubmission’ to the LinkedIn Conversions API for more accurate campaign optimization.
Crucially, the same reliable, controlled server environment can then also orchestrate a direct, customized call to the Salesforce API to create the lead record.
This setup gives you a centralized log and control point for all data being sent to both LinkedIn (for ad optimization) and Salesforce (for CRM).
Unlike a simple one-way sync, this architecture is less prone to timeouts and allows for sophisticated data cleanup and validation before the lead hits Salesforce, ensuring it meets all required fields and doesn’t trigger validation rule rejections.
This is an excellent solution because it guarantees data integrity by giving you full visibility and control over the data flow between the two systems, minimizing the ‘black box’ issues you’re currently experiencing.
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