Cognism
Freshsales Contacts10 fieldsHow to import Cognism data into Freshsales
Cognism exports prospect lists as CSV files from Prospector. This template maps the export to Freshsales' standard contact fields: names, email, job title, company, and the person's location. Freshsales has separate Work Number and Mobile Number fields, a good match for Cognism's four phone columns: Mobile goes to Mobile Number and the Work Number field takes the first available work number from Direct, Office, or HQ. Phones are standardized, emails are lowercased, and country names are normalized. The company's registered office and HQ addresses are company-level data and belong on the Freshsales Sales Account record. Data Freshsales has no standard contact field for, like Seniority and the company firmographics, is listed in the Columns we don't use section.
Field-by-field mapping
This is the complete column mapping from Cognism to Freshsales. The left column is the header in your CSV export. The right column is the Freshsales field it should map to.
| Cognism column | Freshsales field | |
|---|---|---|
| First Name | First Namefirst_name | |
| Last Name | Last Name*last_name | |
| Job Title | Job Titlejob_title | |
| Email*email TransformLowercased and trimmed | ||
| Mobile | Mobile Numbermobile_number Cognism's Mobile column, including Diamond-verified mobile numbers, lands on Freshsales' dedicated Mobile Number field. TransformStandardized to international format (+1, +44, etc.) | |
| Direct → Office → HQ | Work Numberwork_number Freshsales' Work Number field takes the first available work number: Direct first, then Office, then HQ. Whichever is present wins; the rest are skipped. TransformStandardized to international format (+1, +44, etc.) | |
| Company Name | Company Namecompany_name | |
| City | Citycity Cognism's person-level City column maps to the contact's City field. The company's City and HQ City columns are not mapped here; they belong on the Freshsales Sales Account record. | |
| State | Statestate Cognism's person-level State column maps to the contact's State field. The company's State columns are not mapped here. | |
| Country | Countrycountry Cognism's person-level Country column maps to the contact's Country field. The company's Country columns are not mapped here. |
Required by Freshsales.
Columns we don't use
Your Cognism export includes 47 columns this template doesn't map. Each one below explains why, plus the workaround if you want the data in Freshsales.
- Seniority
Freshsales contacts have no native seniority field. The data is real and useful, Freshsales just has no standard place for it.
If you need it. Create a custom contact field in Freshsales called Seniority, then map it by hand.
- Department
Freshsales contacts have no native department field.
If you need it. Create a custom contact field in Freshsales called Department, then map it by hand.
- Industries
Freshsales contacts have no native Industry field. Industry is company-level data and belongs on the Freshsales Sales Account record.
If you need it. Enrich the matched Freshsales Sales Account record after import, or map it by hand to a custom contact field.
- Technologies
Freshsales contacts have no native field for a company's tech stack.
If you need it. Map it by hand to a custom contact field, or land it on the Sales Account record.
- Email Quality
Freshsales contacts have no native field for an email confidence flag. The Verified Email or Likely Email signal is useful for filtering, Freshsales just has no standard place for it.
If you need it. Map it by hand to a custom contact field if you want to filter on email quality in Freshsales.
- Education
Freshsales contacts have no native education field.
If you need it. Map it by hand to a custom contact field if you want it.
- List Name
Freshsales contacts have no native field for the source list a row came from.
If you need it. Map it by hand to a custom contact field if you want to record which Cognism list a contact came from.
- Diamond Record
Freshsales contacts have no native field for Cognism's Diamond-verified flag.
If you need it. Map it by hand to a custom contact field if you want to keep the flag.
- Profile ID
Freshsales contacts have no native field for an external ID. Freshsales matches contacts on email.
If you need it. Map it by hand to a custom contact field if you want Cognism's ID for re-import matching.
- sId
Cognism's internal composite ID has no downstream use in a CRM.
If you need it. None needed. This column is safe to ignore.
- Company Alias
Freshsales contacts have no native field for an alternate company trading name. It belongs on the Sales Account anyway, and is often the same as Company Name.
If you need it. Map it by hand to a custom field if you want it.
- Lead Source
Every Cognism row carries the literal value 'Cognism'. Freshsales contacts have no native lead source field on the standard layout.
If you need it. Create a custom contact field in Freshsales and set it by hand if you want the source recorded.
- Personal Linkedin URL
Freshsales contacts have no native LinkedIn field.
If you need it. Create a custom URL field on the Freshsales contact called LinkedIn, then map this column to it by hand.
- Website, Headcount, Financials, Company Type, Company Description, Company Founded Year, Company Linkedin URL
These are company-level data points. Freshsales stores firmographics on the Sales Account record, not the Contact.
If you need it. Enrich the matched Freshsales Sales Account record after import using Cognism's company data.
- Company Address Line, Company City, Company Post Code/ZIP, Company County/State, Company Country
These are the company's registered office address. The contact's address fields are filled from the person-level City, State, and Country columns instead, since those describe where the contact actually is. The company's registered office belongs on the Freshsales Sales Account record.
If you need it. Land the registered office address on the Freshsales Sales Account record in a separate pass. If you would rather use the company's office address on the contact, swap the mappings by hand in the column mapper.
- Company HQ Address Line, Company HQ City, Company HQ Post Code/ZIP, Company HQ County/State, Company HQ Country
These are the company's HQ address, a second company-level address. The contact's address fields are filled from the person-level columns. The HQ address belongs on the Freshsales Sales Account record.
If you need it. Land the HQ address on the Freshsales Sales Account record in a separate pass if you need it.
- SIC, ISIC, NAICS
Freshsales contacts have no native fields for industry classification codes. They are company-level data.
If you need it. Land the codes on the Freshsales Sales Account record, or map them by hand to custom contact fields.
- Hiring Title, URL, Location, and Date columns (1 through 5)
Freshsales contacts have no native fields for hiring-signal data. These columns capture roles the contact's company is hiring for, a real buying signal, but Freshsales has no standard place for them.
If you need it. Map them by hand to custom contact fields if you track hiring activity as a buying signal.
- Job Change - Previous Company, Previous Title, New Company, New Title, Date
Freshsales contacts have no native fields for job-change data. A recent job change is a useful champion signal, Freshsales just has no standard place for it.
If you need it. Map them by hand to custom contact fields if you track job changes.
- Location Move - From Country, From State, To Country, To State, Date
Freshsales contacts have no native fields for location-move data. The signal is useful for territory planning, Freshsales just has no standard place for it.
If you need it. Map them by hand to custom contact fields if you use them for territory planning.
Formatting and cleanup
Cognism exports rarely match the format Freshsales expects. Fix these before you import.
- 1.Lowercases and trims email addresses
- 2.Standardizes phone numbers to international format (+1, +44, etc.)
- 3.Sends Mobile to Freshsales' Mobile Number field and fills Work Number with the first available work number (Direct, then Office, then HQ)
- 4.Maps the person-level City, State, and Country to the contact's address fields
- 5.Title-cases name fields, including Cognism's ALL-CAPS job titles
- 6.Normalizes country names to a standard form
- 7.Trims whitespace and removes blank rows
Or skip the manual work
Operelio runs this cleanup and mapping for you. Upload your Cognism export and download a clean, import-ready file for Freshsales.
Cognism to Freshsales FAQ
How do I export contacts from Cognism?
In Cognism Prospector, build your search, save the contacts to a list, then click Download CSV from the list view. Upload that CSV to Operelio.
How does the template handle Cognism's four phone columns?
Freshsales has separate Work Number and Mobile Number fields. Mobile, including Cognism's Diamond-verified mobiles, goes to Mobile Number. The Work Number field takes the first available work number, checking Direct first, then Office, then HQ. All numbers are standardized to international format before import.
Does this template handle Cognism's Diamond Data mobiles?
Yes. Diamond-verified mobiles arrive in Cognism's Mobile column and land on Freshsales' dedicated Mobile Number field, so the verified mobile sits where your reps expect it.
Why aren't Seniority, Department, and the other Cognism signals mapped?
Freshsales contacts have no standard fields for Seniority, Department, Technologies, Email Quality, and similar Cognism signals. The data is real and useful, Freshsales just has no native place for it. Those columns are listed in the Columns we don't use section. If you want them in Freshsales, create a custom contact field and map the column to it by hand.
Where do company-level fields like Industry and Revenue go?
They live on the Freshsales Sales Account record in Freshsales' data model, not on the Contact. After import, enrich the matched Sales Account using Cognism's company data, either manually or with a separate Operelio job that targets the Sales Account record.
Which address does the template use?
Freshsales contacts have one address block, and this template fills the City, State, and Country from Cognism's person-level City, State, and Country columns. Those describe where the contact actually is. Cognism also ships two company-level addresses (the registered office and the HQ); both are listed in the Columns we don't use section because they belong on the Freshsales Sales Account record, not the contact.
Will this create duplicates?
Freshsales deduplicates contacts on email by default. Rows with matching emails update the existing contact, and new emails create new contacts.
