We don't have many competitors. That is, there aren't too many other companies out there specializing in data deduplication.However, we still do compete. I once heard a smart entrepreneur say
"Your competition is the process your market uses outside of software". We don't compete with other companies or focus much on what they do. We do however have to compete against the rather old, outdated processes our customers use before using Dedupely.Let's cover a few data deduplication alternatives and why I'm convinced Dedupely is the best:
1. Google Sheets & CSVs (Export-Clean-Import)
You can remove duplicates with Google Sheets. This takes a bit of doing, but you can eventually end up with a cleaner CSV to import back into your CRM.
Pros
- Totally free.
- 100% power over match calculations.
Cons
- May or may not be easy to merge multiple duplicates into one line, rather just removes the other duplicates.
- You lose references to Notes, Tasks, Deals, Companies, etc. when importing back in.
- Exporting and importing again takes a lot of extra time and work and often messes with your data.
2. Coders
Getting a coder to write deduplication scripts is one alternative I've seen a few companies use.Access to powerful programming languages is abundant in this day and age. Hiring coders from
Fiverr or
UpWork can be fairly easy and inexpensive. You can even do this yourself if you are a tech-savvy person.
Pros
- Get more control over your unique situation
- Tweak and change things over time
- Direct access to the API to avoid CSV imports/exports
Cons
- Anything close to big data (more than a few thousand contacts) begins to require more computational power. You might need to invest in a better computer or server stack.
- You need to get the coder to update things on a continual basis when you want to tweak how the deduplication scan works.
- Building a deduplication script is not always simple, and paying a programmer can cost you > $20 an hour (especially programmers who know how to write powerful algorithms).
3. VAs (You outsource data deduping to)
Using a VA (Virtual Assistant) to manually dedupe is probably the most common alternative. Our first customer (back in 2014) did this before he switched to Dedupely.
Pros
- Relatively cheap depending on your duplicates situation.
- You don't have to do it yourself.
Cons
- Moral killer for the VA (I can safely say, no one likes spending hours deduplication contacts)
- Can be costly depending how many duplicates you have and how often they enter your CRM
- Can be very very slow. It takes time for humans to hunt down duplicates.
4. Other Data Cleansing Companies & Consultants
Yes, there are other companies out there that specialize in data cleansing and deduplication. They are few and in-between but you will find a few if you look hard enough.I've noticed that most CRM deduplication companies only focus on the enterprise. Smaller cloud-CRMs are usually left in the dark. As such, pricing is much higher than smaller businesses or businesses, in general, can justify paying.
I've also noticed we are the only ones that cache your CRM data for faster results. Other software out there tends to only dedupe and scan via the API or CSVs, which can take months vs. taking a few hours.One more point. I've seen a few companies who integrate deduplication features in their software. But it's usually and afterthought and these companies don't specialize, so it's usually not very effective
(at least from what I've heard from customers who have used these products)So far, Dedupely is the only company solving this issue with a modern web model and giving access to the customer at a price that reflects the value.
5. DIY Manual Merges
The most mundane and hair-pulling method of deduplication is doing it yourself. This works great for small databases. But later, once you get integrated with forms, and other services, building a team, importing from other sources, this will drive you and your team absolutely nuts!Searching for duplicates is the worst part. It takes hours to detect duplicates, then later find the matching duplicates. Some CRMs will only allow you to match two duplicates at a time. So this can take way more time and effort than you really care to put into it. Not to mention, you can't say much about your productivity after you've spent 12 hours deduplicating your CRM instead of talking to customers or doing pretty much anything else in your business.Now imagine you have hundreds of duplicates. A very quick task in Dedupely. One that takes possibly a few hours by hand. Not only that, what if you're 3rd party integrations are causing duplicates on a daily basis? Do you really want to spend hours a week merging all that? Thousands of duplicates takes this eternal suffering to a whole new level. Now, you might as well just forget about it.Doing it yourself is a possible alternative to Dedupely if you don't have much data. We know that you probably don't need Dedupely in that case. Once you grow, and your data starts taking on a life of its own, we're here to help you handle that.
Why We Believe We're Numer One
Before you start, think about the total investment. Most of these methods will cost you anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars and 10-20 hours plus of your time. Dedupely
is made to save you time,
and only starts at $29/mo (and goes up to a few hundred depending on the amount of data in your CRM).
We estimate that you can save from 5x to 10x, in resources invested.This shameless plug is to show you why we are convinced about what we do.
Why we think our product is a 10x improvement over everything else out there. We're sold, and
we want your business.Our team constantly keeps focused on the customer. This is why we added hundreds of new improvements and around a dozen new small features in 2017. We're obsessed with serving our customer so our product is always a no-brainer.
If you do find a better alternative than Dedupely
, tell us!
