Should enrichment overwrite fields a rep entered by hand?

Usually not. A hand-entered value came from a conversation, which is the best source there is. The common rule is to fill blanks automatically, write provider values for already-populated fields into separate fields, and let a human resolve the difference.

Does CRM enrichment create new records?

No. Enrichment updates records that already exist. Adding new companies or contacts is a separate step — list building — and keeping the two distinct is what stops a refresh job from quietly inflating the database.

What is CRM enrichment?

CRM enrichment keeps the records inside a CRM complete and current by appending missing fields and refreshing stale ones, usually on a schedule or on a trigger. CRM enrichment works on records that already exist in the system rather than importing new ones.

Why it matters

Routing rules, scoring models, campaign audiences and reporting all read the CRM. A blank industry field does not merely look untidy — it silently routes an account to the wrong owner or drops it out of a campaign, and nobody sees the reason.

How CRM enrichment works

Choose the trigger: on record creation, on a schedule, or when a record enters a particular stage.
Match the record to a reference dataset on a stable key — normally the company domain or a verified email.
Apply a write rule that decides what may be overwritten. Most teams fill blanks only and write everything else to a separate field.
Log what was written, from which source and when, so the change can be audited later.
Re-run on the schedule, because a value that was correct at creation does not stay correct.

Enrichment triggers and their trade-offs

CRM enrichment triggers, what each is for and the trade-off each carries
Trigger	What it is for	Trade-off
On creation	New inbound and imported records	Enriches once, then decays with the record
On stage change	Records entering an active sequence or deal stage	Fresh where it matters; leaves the rest stale
Scheduled refresh	The whole database	Keeps everything current; the largest volume
On demand	A single record a rep is about to work	Precise, but depends on someone remembering

What to look for

A write rule you control. An integration that overwrites by default will overwrite the one field you knew was right.
Field-level dates. Without them there is no way to tell a fresh value from a four-year-old one.
What happens when nothing matches. A blank is honest; a guess is not.
Whether the integration respects the CRM's own API limits, so a scheduled refresh does not stall everything else running against it.

Related terms

Data enrichment — Enrichment for a file or for the records already sitting in your CRM.