Activity attribution is how Bigmind links communication activity (emails, calendar events, meetings) to the correct CRM records (Contacts, Leads, Accounts, and Deals). This is what powers “activity timelines” and keeps your deal context connected—without manual logging.
If you haven’t connected communication data yet, start with the Google Workspace integration.
Where to configure activity attribution
Organization owners can configure attribution in Settings → CRM → Activity attribution.
What Bigmind tries to attribute
- Emails: Imported from Google (Gmail / Google Workspace) and used to match senders/recipients to CRM records.
- Calendar events: Imported from Google Calendar / Google Workspace and used to match organizers/attendees to CRM records.
- Meetings: Meeting sessions captured in Bigmind can also be attributed based on the external participants.
Forward attribution vs retroactive attribution
Bigmind supports two “directions” of attribution so your CRM links stay correct even as data changes.
Forward attribution (new activity → existing CRM records)
When Bigmind imports new emails/calendar events (or captures new meeting sessions), it automatically applies your attribution rules to link that activity to the best matching Contacts/Leads/Accounts/Deals.
Retroactive attribution (when relationships change later)
Sometimes the CRM changes after the activity already exists. Retroactive attribution is how you “catch up”:
- Existing emails for newly created CRM records: If a Contact/Lead/Account is created later, you can re-run attribution so earlier activities can be linked.
- Existing activities linked to newly created Deals: When a Deal is created after email/meeting activity already exists for its Contacts, Bigmind can backfill those activities onto the Deal.
You can trigger retroactive processing from the attribution settings page via Re-attribute Activities:
- Incremental sync: process new/unprocessed items.
- Full re-attribution: re-process items from scratch using your current rules (useful after changing logic or CRM hygiene).
How matching works (high-level)
Attribution is a two-step process:
- Find candidates using identifiers like email address, phone number, or email domain.
- Narrow down using filters/recency rules so Bigmind can choose the best record when multiple candidates exist.
What you can configure
Bigmind lets you configure attribution separately for each CRM object type.
Activity → Contact
- Email address matching: match senders/recipients/participants to CRM Contacts by email.
- Phone number matching: match participants to CRM Contacts by phone.
- Contact filters: apply CRM filters to narrow down when multiple Contacts match.
- Recency field: when multiple Contacts still match, pick the most “recent” Contact based on a chosen CRM date field.
Activity → Lead
- Email address matching and phone number matching (same idea as Contacts).
- Lead filters to narrow down matches.
- Recency field to pick the best Lead when multiple remain.
Activity → Account
- Email domain lookup: use the external party’s email domain to find the correct Account domain/website match.
- Contact email matching (for Accounts): attribute to Accounts that have a Contact with the matched email, even if the Account domain doesn’t match.
- Account filters: narrow down candidate Accounts.
- Contact count: prefer Accounts with more CRM Contacts when there are multiple candidates.
- Recency field: prefer the most recently updated/relevant Account based on a chosen date field.
Activity → Deal
- Deal owner participation: attribute to a Deal when the Deal owner is a participant (optional vs mandatory).
- Deal contacts: attribute to a Deal when one of the Deal’s Contacts is a participant (optional vs mandatory).
- Deal filters: narrow down deals (e.g., pipeline/stage/region rules).
- Contact count: prefer deals with more CRM Contacts when multiple candidates exist.
- Recency logic: prefer the most relevant Deal based on a chosen date field / most recent entry.
Test before rolling out (simulation)
Each attribution section includes a Simulate button. Use it to test how your rules would attribute activity for a specific email address or phone number before you save changes.