Duplicate companies in Intercom can cause serious issues.
Contacts and conversations may end up associated with the duplicate company record, making them difficult to find, track, and analyze. Duplicate company records can also inhibit your support team from effectively segmenting and personalizing your communications.
Insycle helps you to merge duplicate Intercom companies, flexibly and powerfully.
How It Works
Insycle analyzes your database and identifies duplicates with flexible matching rules, using any field in your database, to help you identify and merge more duplicates.
Once Insycle identifies the duplicate records, you set rules for determining the master record that other duplicates will be merged into—such as the first record created, the record with the most email opens, or any other attribute that would be relevant. You can also set merging logic on a field-by-field basis.
You can merge duplicates in bulk, and Insycle provides a complete report of what was identified as a duplicate, what was merged, and what the outcome was in your master record.
Summary
In Step 1, you set the matching fields to identify duplicates. Once Insycle identifies the duplicate records, you then set rules for determining the master record that other duplicates will be merged into—such as the first record created. You can also set merging logic on a field-by-field basis.
With Insycle, you can run deduplication processes in bulk, then automate the process using templates to keep your Intercom database free from duplicate companies at all times.
Step 1: Find Duplicates
Navigate to the Merge Duplicates module and select the "Companies" record type from the top of the screen.
In Step 1, we select our template. In the dropdown, you'll find pre-built templates from Insycle. You can use these or build your own.
This template below matches duplicate Intercom companies using the exact match for the company name.
Click the "Find" button and Insycle will analyze your Intercom data to find duplicate companies using these rules.
Step 2: Review Duplicates
When Insycle identifies duplicates, they will appear in the Record Viewer in Step 2. Here, you'll see the company name (the field we are using to match duplicates) along with the number of duplicates in the database.
If you select the checkbox next to one of these duplicate groups, you'll be able to see the individual records that it contains.
Step 3: Choose Operation
In Step 3, we choose whether we want to merge in bulk or manually. For bulk merges, you can set a maximum number of duplicate records to be merged into a single record. This is a failsafe in case your rules are detecting records that are not actually duplicates.
Step 4: Master Selection
In step 4, you can choose settings for how your data will be merged into your master record.
You have two options for merging logic.
First, you can select your master record at the record level, using rules. For example, "Keep all data from the earliest created record in the duplicate group."
Priority Match vs. Absolute Match
On the right-hand side of Step 4, you will find the option to select Priority and Absolute Match.
- Priority Match. Go down the master selection rules in order, one by one. As soon as a record meets one of the criteria, it becomes the master record. A vast majority of duplicate templates should use Priority Match.
- Absolute Match. The master record must meet all of the listed rules in the "Record" tab in Step 4. If a record does not match every rule listed, no master record will be identified. Absolute match is less commonly used but can be useful in specific use cases.
Please Note
Choosing Absolute Match can often result in no master record being identified since the record has to match every rule listed.
The vast majority of the time, you should select Priority Match.
You can also set rules for field-by-field master selection. For example, you could choose to keep your "First Name" and "Last Name" fields from the earliest created record in the duplicate group, while keeping the "Owner" from the most recently updated record.
In the event that you do not set field-by-field merge logic for a specific field—when a field value is empty in the master record, Insycle picks a non-empty value from the most recently updated duplicate automatically. When in doubt about conflicting field values, include those fields in the CSV report by adding them to the Master Selection section and their values would show on the audit trail.
Step 5: Preview Or Update
Now, with our Filter and Master Record settings in place, we can run the Merge Duplicates module to update our selected records.
Click the Review button which will open up a pop, where you can choose between "Preview" mode which simulates the deduplication process for analysis purposes without modifying any data in the CRM, and "Update" mode which updates the data in the CRM.
It is a good idea to run in Preview Mode and ensure that your deduplication template is working as you would expect. Once you have confirmed that it is, then you can update the live data in your database. Click the "Next" button to go to the Notify screen, where you can select who will receive an email report. You can also add additional context here.
Finally, click the "Next" button to choose whether you will schedule this deduplication process to run automatically on a set schedule, or one-time.
Here, you can choose to schedule this operation to run hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. When scheduled, the Module will automatically run on your desired schedule and email the reports after it has run. You can view all scheduled automations on the “Automations” page on your dashboard.
The CSV report provides a complete look at your deduplication operation. In the "Result" column, the "Master (After)" for each duplicate group will show the data the final master record will contain.
With your Merge Duplicates module settings running smoothly, you can then save your settings as a template. With a template, all of your settings are saved including field mapping, functions, import modes, etc.
To create and save a new template, you click the “+” symbol on the right-hand side of the template banner.
After creating the template, you must save the template by clicking the save icon on the far right-hand side of the same menu.
Preview Changes Before They Go Live
With Insycle's Merge Duplicates module, you can preview the changes that you are making to your data before those changes are pushed to your live database. That way, you can check to ensure your deduplication template is working as expected.
Automation
You can schedule your Merge Duplicates templates for Pipedrive to run on an automated, set schedule.
To schedule them, click the Review button at the bottom of the module page. Then, you go through a three-step process to run the operation. In the third step, you can choose the "Automate" tab, and schedule your template.
You can also schedule deduplication automation using Recipes, which are a collection of templates run together. You can view all scheduled automations on the “Automations” page on your dashboard.
Learn More:
Frequently Asked Questions
I already have a list of Intercom company duplicates, can Insycle bulk merge them?
Yes. You can use a customized list of duplicates, as detailed in this help article, and use Insycle to deduplicate the list in bulk. Include ID numbers from your connected CRM in your CSV.
Why can I only process 50 duplicate groups at a time?
Insycle can process thousands of duplicate groups in one operation but shows 50 records on the module screen as a preview.
How do I ensure that I am not merging non-duplicate records together?
Currently, there are two ways to make sure that the records that you are merging are indeed duplicate records.
First, always run your deduplication templates in Preview Mode before running them in Update Mode. This produces a CSV that shows you how your records would have been merged. Then you can ensure that your Merge Duplicates template is working as expected and not merging non-duplicate records together.
Additionally, you can reduce risk when merging duplicates by narrowing your filter in step 1. Use Exact Match instead of Similar Match. Make sure that you are using true uniquely identifying fields—company name, website domain, and phone number are popular choices. The more tightly defined your filter is, the less likely you are to merge non-duplicate records.
How many duplicates can I merge into one master record?
You can merge as many duplicates as you would like into one single master record. This setting is available in Step 3 of the Merge Duplicates module.
This setting is here to ensure that if you set too broad of a filter, you do not accidentally merge many non-duplicate records together on accident. You can change the setting as needed to match the size of your duplicate groups. If you are going to set this number at a high level, it is a good idea to run in Preview Mode first to make sure your deduplication template is operating as you intend.
Does the amount of identified and merged records have any limits in the paid subscription?
All plans include unlimited usage, unlimited users, and unlimited operations, see the pricing page. Only during the free trial is the number of records updated, cleansed, or merged capped at 500 records.
Can I select which data is retained in my master record on a field-by-field basis?
Yes, Insycle allows you to select which fields are retained in the master record based on pre-determined rules. To learn more please see this help article.
I need to exclude some records from deduplication. Can I do that?
Yes. You can exclude records from deduplication by including a "Deduplication Exclude" field in your CSV, as detailed in this help article.
My team needs to review and approve the master, can I accommodate that with Insycle?
Yes. You can manually approve master records and mark them in a CSV, then use Insycle to bulk deduplicate down to those master records. Consult with this help article to learn more.
Alternatively, you can run the Merge Duplicates module in preview mode, then deliver the preview CSV that Insycle generates. This CSV shows exactly how the merge would take place but does not update your live data.
Additionally, you can choose the master manually by selecting the "Manual" tab in Step 4.
Do my matching fields have to match each other exactly?
No, Insycle does allow you to use similar matching to identify duplicates, along with other filters in Step 1. Please read more about that in this help article.
How can I find duplicates when one field is empty?
Insycle requires the values to match in the "Step 1: Find Duplicates" step, and if the value for the matching fields listed in Step 1 are blank, Insycle will not include those records in the deduplication.
The workaround to having an empty matching value is to remove that condition/field from Step 1 and add it in Step 4. Then, the field will be included in the report generated for you to review and identify when duplicates weren't merged due to a missing field.
For example, let's say in Step 1 you have the matching fields: First Name, Last Name, Phone Number. Sometimes, the Phone Number field may be empty.
Remove the Phone Number Field, and add the "Phone Number Exists" as the last rule in Step 4. Now, Insycle will only use First Name and Last Name to identify the duplicates, but the Phone Number field will be included in the report for those contacts. Then you can use a customized approach to deduplication to merge records that are missing the phone number effectively.
Audit Trail and History
The Activity Tracker lets you review all changes made through Insycle. At any time you can download a CSV report of the operation and records affected.
Additional Resources
Related Blog Articles
- Why Picking the Right Master Record is Critical in CRM Deduplication
- Hidden Duplicates: 11 Outside-of-the-Box Ways to Identify & Deduplicate Customer Data
- Dealing With Duplicates and the Impact They Have on Your Business
Related Help Articles
- Module Overview: Merge Duplicates
- Bulk Merge Duplicate People, Companies
- Customize Bulk Deduplication Using Exclusions and Pre-Defined Masters
Additional Resources