6 Tips To Find and Merge More Duplicates

Every template in the Merge Duplicates module relies on matching fields to find duplicate records in your database. 

Matching fields are data fields that can be used to uniquely identify contacts or companies in your CRM. For example, a contact record that shares the same first name, last name, and phone number as another record has a high probability of being a duplicate. For companies, things like company names and website addresses are good examples of uniquely identifying fields. 

Create multiple templates, using different combinations of matching fields to catch more duplicates. Then, you can bundle all those fields into a Recipe and run them together.

Commonly Used Matching Fields:

• First and Last Name
• Company Name
• Email
• Domain
• Phone Number
• Address
• External System IDs

Sometimes, you might want to match duplicates using data in two separate fields. For example, you might want to compare your Phone Number field to a Mobile Phone Number field to identify duplicates. 

Using the Related Fields feature, you can use two different fields (that contain similar data) as matching fields to catch more duplicates. 

You can setup Related Fields in the Advanced tab.

Common Examples of Related Field Matching

Using Similar Match instead of Exact Match can be a great way to identify duplicates that are similar, but slightly different. For instance, using Similar Match allows you to identify duplicates that might have typos or small differences in the field. 

For example, a first name of "Jef" and "Jeff" would still be identified as a match using similar matching. 

However, it is very important that you consider the field. You don't want to use Similar Matching on every field, because then you might merge non-duplicate records together. For example, you wouldn't want to use Similar Match on a Phone Number field, because people with similar (but different) phone numbers may be identified as a duplicate record. 

Insycle also allows you to ignore specific elements within your fields. That way, extraneous portions of the field can be ignored, allowing Insycle to only look at the relevant portions. 

For example, if you were matching duplicates using the Website URL field, you could instruct Insycle to ignore subdomains in order to catch more duplicates. 

Or, you could ignore "Common Terms," and then alter those "Common Terms" by clicking the Terms button. This is commonly used for ignoring terms like "Inc," "LLC," and "LTD," in company names. 

Insycle has multiple ways to ignore specific aspects of fields. 

Ignorable Field Traits:

• Symbols
• Digits
• Letters
• Whitespace
• Common Terms
• Text (Substrings)
• Top-Level Domain
• Sub Domain

Setting Match Parts in your Merge Duplicates templates allow you to hone in on specific portions of a field. 

For example, you can instruct Insycle to only look at specific areas of a field:

• First X Words
• First X Characters
• Last X Words
• Last X Characters

This can be an ideal way to look at portions of a field.

Insycle Recipes allow you to organize multiple Insycle templates into a multi-step data maintenance process for automation, training, and organization.

Recipes are a collection of templates, ordered into numbered steps, which can then be executed in succession. You can add pre-built or custom templates to a Recipe.

Recipes can also be automated, running on a set schedule such as monthly, weekly, or daily. Then, you ensure that your duplicates are being identified and merged on an ongoing basis, hands free.