How it works
Deduplication has two parts: matching and merging.
Matching looks for records that probably refer to the same person, using identifiers such as:
- phone number (normalized to one format, for example +1 and ten digits)
- email address
- name plus company or address
Exact matches on a phone number or email are strong evidence. Matches on name alone are weak; two different people can be called Maria Lopez.
Merging combines the records: one becomes the primary, and conversations, notes, deals and field values from the others are attached to it. Conflicts, like two different addresses, need a rule or a person to decide.
Example
A tile and flooring store has the same customer three times:
- “Dan Okafor”, created from an SMS conversation, number (555) 201-4433
- “Daniel O.”, created from a WhatsApp message, number +1 555 201 4433
- “Dan Okafor”, imported from a quote spreadsheet with an email address
Once phone numbers are normalized, the first two match exactly. The third matches on name and has no phone number, so a person checks it, sees the quote was for the same address and merges it. Now one contact shows the SMS thread, the WhatsApp thread and the quote.
Why it matters for messaging teams
Messaging creates duplicates easily. The same customer may text from one app and WhatsApp from another, and the name each channel provides may be a nickname, an emoji or nothing at all. Duplicates mean split history: one teammate doesn’t see what another promised, and reports count one customer as two leads.
Common mistakes
- Not normalizing phone numbers before matching, so formatting differences hide real duplicates.
- Auto-merging on names alone.
- Deduplicating once during migration and never again.
- Losing data on merge. Check how a tool handles conflicting field values before running a bulk merge.
If you are moving from spreadsheets or another tool, clean and dedupe your CSV before you bring it in; the CRM migration checklist walks through it. inChat’s contact features are in development as part of launch scope.