Overview
ActiveCampaign uses email addresses as the unique identifier between contacts. Therefore, if an email matches, that contact’s information will be updated. If emails do not match, a new contact will be created. This is in case some contacts have the same name.
However, sometimes, your system could have duplicate contacts because a contact has two different emails, i.e. a personal email and work email.
How To Merge Contacts
Go to the contact you would like to merge INTO another contact. Then click the dropdown in the top right of your screen. Select "Merge".
After selecting merge, search or select the contact you would like to merge the contact INTO. The current contact will be "deleted" and their data will merge into the contact you select at this screen.
Finally, merge the contacts and resolve any conflicting fields. Select the values that should be kept.
Important Note: Fields in which are summations (i.e. # of inspections) will need to be added together. The system does not know to automatically add custom fields together.
How to Prevent Duplicate Contacts
To prevent duplicate contact creation, follow these best practices:
- Keep contact emails current in both systems – If a contact gets a new email, update it in your scheduling system right away, and make sure to update it in ActiveCampaign as well. Since ActiveCampaign uses email as the unique identifier, a changed email will create a new contact rather than update the existing one, so keeping both systems in sync is the best way to avoid duplicates.
- Merge contacts in your CRM – If duplicates exist, merge them within ActiveCampaign to maintain a single, accurate record.