A Glossary of Key Terms: Data Export & Import Concepts for Keap Users

Navigating the complexities of data management within your Keap CRM is crucial for any HR or recruiting professional aiming for efficiency, compliance, and strategic decision-making. Whether you’re integrating new systems, migrating data, or simply maintaining a healthy database, understanding the core concepts of data export and import is paramount. This glossary provides clear, actionable definitions tailored to help you leverage your Keap data effectively, ensuring smooth operations and empowering your team to focus on what matters most: people.

Data Export

Data export is the process of extracting information from your Keap CRM or any other system into a file format that can be stored, analyzed, or transferred to another application. For HR and recruiting, this might involve pulling candidate lists, client contact details, or performance metrics. Properly exporting data allows for offline analysis, compliance audits, or preparing for system migrations. It’s a foundational step in data hygiene and ensuring you have accessible backups, helping your team maintain control over vital information without being solely reliant on the live CRM interface for every need.

Data Import

Data import is the process of bringing external data into your Keap CRM. This is often used when integrating data from new lead sources, merging databases, or updating existing records en masse. For recruiters, this could mean importing new candidate resumes, contact lists from a career fair, or updated employee details. A successful data import requires careful preparation to match fields correctly and avoid data duplication or corruption. When executed thoughtfully, data import can significantly streamline data entry and ensure your CRM remains a comprehensive, up-to-date single source of truth for all your HR and recruiting activities.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, and Keap is a popular example. In an HR and recruiting context, a CRM is a powerful software system used to manage and analyze candidate, client, and employee interactions and data throughout the entire lifecycle. It helps track communications, applications, interviews, onboarding processes, and ongoing talent management. For Keap users, the CRM functionality centralizes all relevant information, allowing recruiting teams to nurture relationships, automate follow-ups, and ensure no candidate or client falls through the cracks, leading to more organized and effective talent acquisition strategies.

API (Application Programming Interface)

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate and exchange data with each other. For Keap users in HR and recruiting, APIs are essential for advanced integrations, such as connecting Keap with an applicant tracking system (ATS), a payroll system, or a custom candidate portal. Instead of manual data entry or bulk exports/imports, an API enables real-time, automated data flow between systems, reducing errors, saving significant time, and creating a more seamless workflow across your entire tech stack. This is fundamental for building sophisticated automation.

Webhook

A webhook is an automated message sent from one application to another when a specific event occurs. Think of it as a “push notification” between apps. In the context of Keap, a webhook might fire when a new contact is added, an application status changes, or a specific tag is applied. For HR and recruiting, webhooks are invaluable for triggering instant actions in other systems—like sending a welcome email via an external marketing tool when a candidate is tagged “onboarded,” or creating a task in a project management tool. They enable real-time, event-driven automation, ensuring immediate responses and streamlined cross-platform workflows without constant polling.

CSV (Comma Separated Values)

CSV is a common file format used for storing tabular data, such as spreadsheets or databases. Each line in a CSV file represents a data record, and each field within that record is separated by a comma (or sometimes another delimiter). For Keap users, CSV files are the most frequently used format for bulk data export and import operations. Whether you’re importing a list of new leads from a conference or exporting client data for a report, understanding how to correctly structure and manage CSV files is essential to prevent data corruption and ensure a smooth, error-free transfer of information into and out of Keap.

Data Migration

Data migration is the process of transferring data between different storage types, formats, or computer systems. In the HR and recruiting world, this often occurs when an organization switches from one CRM or ATS to another, or when integrating a newly acquired company’s data. A successful data migration requires meticulous planning, data cleansing, transformation, and validation to ensure accuracy and integrity. For Keap users, this could mean migrating historical candidate data from a legacy system. While complex, proper data migration is critical for maintaining business continuity and ensuring all valuable historical information is retained and accessible in the new environment.

Data Cleansing (or Data Scrubbing)

Data cleansing is the process of detecting and correcting (or removing) corrupt or inaccurate records from a database or data set. For HR and recruiting professionals using Keap, this involves identifying and fixing duplicate contacts, outdated information, inconsistent formatting (e.g., varying phone number formats), or irrelevant data. Regular data cleansing improves the quality and reliability of your Keap data, leading to more accurate reporting, better segmentation for outreach, and reduced errors in automated workflows. It’s a vital practice for maintaining a healthy and efficient CRM, ensuring that your team is always working with the most reliable information.

Data Validation

Data validation is the process of ensuring that data adheres to specific rules or criteria before it is accepted into a system or database. In Keap, this might involve setting up rules to ensure that email addresses are in a valid format, phone numbers contain only digits, or required fields like “first name” are never left blank. For HR and recruiting, data validation prevents the entry of incorrect or incomplete information, which could otherwise lead to failed communications, inaccurate reporting, or compliance issues. Implementing robust data validation safeguards the integrity of your Keap database from the point of entry, ensuring reliability and usability.

Data Integrity

Data integrity refers to the overall accuracy, completeness, and consistency of data throughout its entire lifecycle. In Keap, maintaining data integrity means ensuring that your candidate and client records are reliable and trustworthy. This is achieved through practices like data validation, proper data entry protocols, regular cleansing, and secure storage. For HR and recruiting teams, high data integrity is critical for making informed decisions, running accurate reports, complying with regulations, and trusting that automated processes will operate on correct information. It underpins the effectiveness of all your Keap-driven operations.

GDPR/CCPA Compliance

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) are key data privacy regulations that dictate how organizations must collect, process, and store personal data. For HR and recruiting professionals using Keap, this means ensuring compliance when handling candidate and employee information, especially regarding data export, import, and retention. Understanding these regulations is crucial for obtaining proper consent, providing data access requests, and ensuring data is handled securely. Keap’s features, when configured correctly, can support compliance by helping manage consent fields and enabling secure data handling, mitigating legal risks for your organization.

Automation

Automation in the context of Keap for HR and recruiting refers to the use of technology to perform tasks or workflows automatically, reducing manual effort. This could include automated email sequences for job applicants, scheduling interview reminders, updating candidate statuses based on specific actions, or syncing data between Keap and other HR systems. Automation streamlines repetitive processes, minimizes human error, and frees up valuable time for recruiting teams to focus on high-value activities like candidate engagement and strategic planning. Keap’s powerful automation features are designed to create efficient, scalable recruiting operations.

Integration

Integration is the process of connecting different software applications or systems to allow them to work together and share data seamlessly. For Keap users in HR and recruiting, integration often involves linking Keap with an ATS, a background check service, a communication platform, or a payroll system. Effective integrations eliminate data silos, reduce manual data entry, and create a unified workflow across your entire tech stack. This ensures that information flows freely between departments and tools, providing a holistic view of candidates and clients and greatly enhancing operational efficiency and data consistency.

Single Source of Truth (SSOT)

A Single Source of Truth (SSOT) is a concept in information systems design that describes a data storage principle where all data is consolidated into one master record, ensuring that everyone in an organization refers to the same, consistent information. In an HR and recruiting context with Keap, achieving SSOT means that your Keap database serves as the definitive, most current repository for all candidate, client, and employee contact information, communication history, and relevant statuses. This eliminates discrepancies, prevents errors, and ensures that all teams operate from accurate, unified data, leading to more coordinated efforts and better decision-making.

Keap Tags

Keap Tags are labels applied to contacts within your Keap CRM to categorize them, trigger automations, or segment lists for targeted communication. For HR and recruiting professionals, tags are incredibly versatile. You might use tags to identify candidate skills (“Java Developer”), application stages (“Interview Scheduled”), lead sources (“LinkedIn”), or client types (“Staffing Agency”). Tags are a fundamental tool for organizing your contacts, personalizing outreach, and building sophisticated automations that respond dynamically to a contact’s profile or journey. Effective use of tags transforms Keap into a highly dynamic and responsive talent management system.

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: The Essential Guide to Keap Data Protection for HR & Recruiting: Beyond Manual Recovery