HubSpot Merge Duplicates Overview

Duplicate data in HubSpot CRM poses serious problems for companies of any size.

Duplicate records inhibit your marketing team from effectively segmenting and personalizing your communications. Sales teams step on each other's toes and lack vital context in conversations. Support teams miss important information, and analysis and reporting are skewed.

Insycle helps you to merge duplicate contacts, companies, deals, and custom objects—flexibly and powerfully with the Merge Duplicates module.

Use Cases

Sample Use Case: Deduplicate HubSpot Contacts, Companies, and Deals in Bulk

How It Works

Insycle analyzes your HubSpot data 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, 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

First, you set the flexible matching rules for identifying 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, record with the most email opens, or any other field that would be relevant for determining the right master record. 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 HubSpot CRM free from duplicates at all times.

To learn more, see Deduplicate HubSpot Contacts, Companies, and Deals in Bulk.

HubSpot Record Types Supported

Insycle supports the following HubSpot record types:

Contacts
Companies
Deals
Tickets
Custom Record Types

You can select the record type that you would like to import at the top of the Merge Duplicates module screen.

Deduplicate HubSpot Companies When Salesforce Sync is Active

Fixing duplicate HubSpot companies and Salesforce accounts while syncing has several nuanced issues that need to be accounted for. There are specific data issues that can break the sync and require you to merge records manually. You also need to determine the appropriate “master record” to use across both HubSpot and Salesforce.

Then you have to consider the merging process. If two records are merged on Salesforce, are they merged on HubSpot as well? What are the mechanics behind how that works? Often, your company's settings in each platform impact how the merge takes place, which can be confusing.

Insycle allows you to merge duplicate Hubspot companies and Salesforce accounts while keeping your sync intact, simply.

To learn more, see Deduplicate HubSpot Companies and Salesforce Accounts.

Deduplicate HubSpot and Salesforce Simultaneously

Deduplicating HubSpot and Salesforce, while the two platforms are syncing is difficult.

Both HubSpot and Salesforce have unique ways of handling duplicate records that need to be accounted for during the merging process. Failing to account for this could mean leaving many duplicate contacts floating in your system, unaccounted for, despite the fact they share a lot of data in other fields.

You also need to determine the appropriate “master record” to use. But that is often easier said than done.

Insycle allows you to deduplicate HubSpot and Salesforce at the same time while keeping your sync intact.

To learn more, see How to Merge Duplicates in HubSpot and Salesforce and Keep them Syncing.

HubSpot Merge Logic

Here is what happens when you bulk merge HubSpot duplicates in Insycle.

Contacts

Email: The email address from the master record becomes the primary, the duplicate email addresses are added as additional email addresses.
Activities (notes, emails, tasks, etc): Reassigned from the duplicates to the master.
Deals: Reassigned from the duplicates to the master.
Fields: Use Master Selection By Field to determine what data is retained in the master record on a field-by-field basis. By default, the most recently updated value becomes the present value, all other values are available in the history, see HubSpot's merge contacts help article).

Companies, Deals, Custom Objects

Contacts: Reassigned from the duplicates to the master.
Deals: Reassigned from the duplicates to the master.
Activities (notes, emails, tasks, etc): Reassigned from the duplicates to the master
Domains: Copied from the duplicates into the master and appended as secondary domains, to avoid future duplicates with the same domain.
Fields: Use Master Selection By Field to determine what data is retained in the master record on a field-by-field basis. By default, retained from the master. When a value is empty in the master it picks a non-empty value from the most recently updated duplicate.

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.

Customized Merge Logic

For situations where you need more granular customization for picking duplicate records to include - or exclude - from the deduplication process, or for picking the master record, and there are no common rules you can apply for all or some of the records, you can customize bulk deduplication using exclusions and pre-defined masters.

Separately, it is also possible to customize the merge logic behavior. For example, to instruct Insycle to copy values from field A to field B as part of the merge, or combine multiple fields into one. Customized merge logic requires an Enterprise plan. Please reach out via chat to discuss your specific requirements.

To learn more, see Customize Bulk Deduplication Using Exclusions and Pre-Defined Masters.

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 Mailchimp 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 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.

Can Insycle deduplicate HubSpot and Salesforce while synced?

Yes, Insycle is able to deduplicate while the sync remains active while fixing other common syncing issues. To learn more check out this blog article.

Can Insycle deduplicate HubSpot companies and Salesforce accounts while synced?

Yes, Insycle can deduplicate HubSpot companies and Salesforce accounts while synced. To learn more, check out this help article.

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—first name, last name, email, 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. 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 is capped at 500 records.

Can I select which data is retained in my master record in 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 merged records are being enrolled in a Workflow. Is this intended? How can I stop this?

Yes. When two contacts are merged in HubSpot, by default, workflows will not enroll merged contacts. However, merged contacts can enroll in the future if they meet the enrollment triggers again and re-enrollment is enabled.

In contact-based workflows, you can manage the enrollment of merged contacts, remove contacts that no longer meet enrollment criteria, and prevent enrollment of contacts in specific lists. To learn more, see HubSpot's workflow documentation.

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 choosing 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. 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.

Insycle is having trouble determining a master record. What could be causing this issue?

First, check Step 4 to ensure that you have "Priority Match" selected and not "Absolute Match."

With Priority Match, the rules are processed in order and your master record only has to match one rule. In Absolute Match, your master record would have to meet all of the criteria in the "Records" tab in Step 4.

The vast majority of the time it is best to be in Priority Match.

Audit Trail and History

The Activity Tracker lets you review all changes made to HubSpot data through Insycle. At any time you can download a CSV report of the operation and records affected.

Additional Resources

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Additional Resources