CRM adoption
How to check duplicate leads and contacts before merging
Check duplicate leads and contacts by comparing identity evidence, conflicting details and the relationships that must survive. A similar name, shared email address or repeated enquiry is a review signal, not permission to merge. Keep separate people separate and postpone the merge when identity cannot be established.
Copy the review record
- Candidate records: stable references and the reason they were flagged.
- Matching evidence: fields that agree and where those values came from.
- Conflicting evidence: different people, roles, contact methods or histories.
- Decision: merge, keep separate or ask for clarification.
- Surviving values: which record/field remains and why, without overwriting a known current value with an older one.
- Relationships: organisations, opportunities and notes that must retain correct ownership.
- Audit and recovery: reviewer, date, source copies and the supported reversal process.
Do not let a neat-looking record count become the objective. Preserving the right customer history is more important.
Two fictional cases with different outcomes
Shared office inbox: Lee and Morgan both use office@example.com at the same company. Their names and roles differ. Shared email alone does not establish one identity: keep separate unless stronger evidence changes that decision.
Changed work address: Ari has two records and confirms the new address belongs to the same person. Review the linked conversations and which address remains current. Identity confirmation supports review, but does not tell you automatically how every field should be combined.
Inspect the history before acting
Check whether notes describe different projects or different people. A merge can move sensitive context to the wrong record even when the headline fields look plausible.
Use a held-review state for uncertainty. Record “possible duplicate, shared inbox only” instead of forcing a match. Where appropriate, seek clarification through an authorised contact, without exposing another person’s information.
Verify the result and retain the decision
After a supported merge, inspect the surviving contact, relationships and notes. Check that the old reference behaves as documented and that a colleague can still find the history.
This is a manual review method, not a promise that your CRM has an automatic merge or undo feature. Confirm those capabilities before changing real records; if safe recovery is unavailable, resolve the uncertainty before a destructive operation.
Three decisions that should produce different outcomes
| Fictional evidence | Decision | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Same person, independently confirmed current contact details and matching history. | Review for merge. | Select surviving values and relationships; retain recovery evidence. |
| Two employees using reception@example.com. | Keep separate. | A shared address does not establish the same person. |
| Same name, changed employer and conflicting phone numbers. | Needs clarification. | Establish which details are current before changing history. |
Record who reviewed the candidate, the evidence used and the outcome. Review the actual merge and reversal support in your system; this checklist does not imply Client Craft automatically detects or merges duplicates.
Continue with: CRM Contact Import Mapping: A Worked Spreadsheet Example · Minimum CRM Data Dictionary for a Small Service Team.
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Use the example with your own facts, assign an owner and review the result before relying on it. These resources are available without creating an account.
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