Dedupely Intelligence
TL;DR
- When a customer rebrands, its name, website and email domain can all change at once.
- New contacts arrive with the new domain, and the CRM creates a second company next to the old one.
- Domain and name matching both miss the pair, because neither value matches.
- Find them through what didn't change: phone, address, people or a customer ID.
- In Dedupely, you can match companies on any synced field and choose which name and domain survive the merge.
A customer announces a new name. A few weeks later, contacts start writing from a new domain, and new contacts are created under a new company record. Now the customer exists twice: the old company with years of history and deals, and the new one with this month's contacts.
Rebrands are one of the few cases where a duplicate has nothing obvious in common. This post covers how to find these pairs and what to keep when you merge them.
Why rebrand duplicates are hard to find
Most company matching uses the name or the website domain. A rebrand often changes both:
| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Company name | Brightline Analytics | Lumen Data |
| Website | brightline.io | lumendata.com |
| Contact emails | anna@brightline.io | anna@lumendata.com |
Neither a name match nor a domain match pairs these records. A rep who doesn't know about the rebrand sees two different companies.
Where the duplicate comes from
- Contacts with the new email domain get linked to a new company automatically, based on that domain.
- Forms and sign-ups under the new name create a new company.
- Reps create the new company by hand when a known contact writes from a new address.
- Enrichment tools update one record and not the other.
Find them through what didn't change
A rebrand changes the brand, not the business. Look for fields that stayed the same:
- Phone number: the main line often survives a rebrand.
- Address: same office, new sign.
- People: the same contacts, by name, now with new emails.
- IDs from other systems: a billing, ERP or tax ID doesn't change with the brand.
- Notes or the website: many companies keep "formerly Brightline" on their site for a while.
What to keep when you merge
| Field | Usually keep |
|---|---|
| Company name | The new name |
| Website and domain | The new domain |
| Old name and domain | In a "former name" field or a note, so searches still find it |
| Created date and history | From the older record |
| Owner | The current account owner |
Keeping the old name somewhere matters. People will still search for it for months.
Fix the contacts too
After the companies merge, the contacts are on one company, but some have the old email and some the new. If the same person exists twice, once with each email, they're a duplicate too. Match them on name within the merged company, and keep the new email as the main one.
How Dedupely helps with rebrands
In Dedupely, you can match companies on any synced field, such as phone, address or a custom ID field, so rebrand pairs show up even when the name and domain don't match. You can review the sets before merging and reject pairs that aren't the same business. The Primary Record setting decides which record survives, for example Oldest Record to keep the original history, and Merge Rules decide which name and domain win. For a single set, Custom Merge lets you type the right name by hand before merging.
Match on what stayed the same
A rebrand duplicate shares no name and no domain with its original. Match on phone, address, people or an outside ID instead, keep the new name and domain and the old history, and record the old name so people can still find the company.
Frequently asked questions
How do I handle a company that changed its name or domain in my CRM?
Update the existing company with the new name and domain, keep the old ones in a separate field, and merge any second company record created after the rebrand.
Why didn't my duplicate search find the rebranded company?
The name and the domain both changed, so a search on either field sees two different companies. Match on phone, address or an ID instead.
Which name should the merged company keep?
The new name, with the old one stored in a separate field or note.
Which record should survive the merge?
Usually the older one, so its history and created date stay in place.
What about contacts with old and new email addresses?
If the same person has two records, one with each email, merge them and keep the new email as the main one.
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