Merging duplicate contacts into a single record allows you to keep your CRM clean and ensure you’re not communicating with the same contact multiple times.
When you merge duplicate contact records, Ontraport merges the information into the oldest record and deletes the newer record. The automation log in the contact’s records will show that fields were updated via the merge process.
- Go to Contacts → Settings → Find and Merge Duplicates and follow the instructions on the screen:
- Merge Duplicate Contacts (Step 1 of 3): Click Add and select which field you would like to search for duplicates by. Add multiple fields to narrow your search and click Next.
- Merge Duplicates (Step 2 of 3): Select the records you would like to merge and click Next (Checked).
- Duplicate Clean Up (Step 3 of 3): There are three columns on step 3. The columns for Contact A and B show you the information you can merge into your new record, and the middle column shows you what will be stored in your merged record.
- Click Combine All to add information into blank fields in the new merged contact record. Think of this as underwriting.
- Click Replace All to add all information into corresponding fields in the new merged contact record. Think of this as overwriting.
- Click Skip to skip to the next merge pair, and click Finish to merge your contacts.
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To make this process more manageable, Ontraport automatically merges certain information:
- Bulk Email Status: If you merge a contact who has a bulk email status of “Transactional Only,” the new merged contact will also be opted out.
- Automations: If your duplicate contacts are on the same automation map and in the same place, they will be merged on the map so they won’t get the same email twice. However if your duplicates are on different places on your automation map, they remain on the same elements as they were before the merge.
- Partner Programs: The merged contact can only be in one Partner Program, and you can select the Partner Program during step 3 of the process. If the contacts are in different partner programs, only the promo tools from the selected partner program are kept; if the contacts are in the same partner program, the promo tools for each record will continue to work.
- WordPress Membership: All memberships are copied and merged into the new merged contact. We do not merge memberships using different usernames into one membership.
- Open Orders, including subscriptions and payment plans, will be merged.
- Sales, payment, and transaction history will be merged.
- The credit card with the last successful transaction will be merged.
