How to Dedupe Leads

Leads are often the first records to duplicate, because every form fill, list import and prospecting tool can create one. A duplicate lead gets routed to two reps, contacted twice and, in Salesforce, converted twice. In Dedupely, you dedupe leads like any other object: build a Duplicate Search for your Leads, set Merge Rules, test, then automate, so new duplicates are merged soon after they arrive. You can dedupe HubSpot Leads, Salesforce Leads and Pipedrive Leads.

Close CRM users: in Close, a Lead is a company, not a person. See How to Dedupe Companies and Accounts.

Where do duplicate leads come from?

Why dedupe leads early?

• Routing: each duplicate can be assigned to a different rep, so two people work the same prospect.
• Outreach: the prospect gets the same email or call twice.
• Conversion (Salesforce): Salesforce Duplicate Rules don't run when a lead is converted, unless Apex Lead Convert is on. Merging leads before conversion keeps you from creating two contacts for one person.
• Reporting: lead counts and conversion rates are inflated.

Which fields should you match leads on?

Dedupely matches leads on the fields that exist in your CRM's Leads object, and those differ by CRM:

• Salesforce: a lead holds the person's name, email, phone and company, so you can match leads like contacts.
• HubSpot and Pipedrive: a lead is linked to a contact or person, and their name and email live on that record. Match leads on the fields the Leads object has (open your Duplicate Search to see them), and dedupe the people themselves in Contacts (HubSpot) or People (Pipedrive). Archived Pipedrive leads can't be merged.

For Salesforce leads, use at least three fields:

Blank values never match, so a lead without a company drops out of a search that matches on Company. See Match Options.

Which lead should survive?

Set a Primary Record rule in Merge Rules:

• Oldest Record keeps the first time the lead came in, which helps your source and attribution reports.
• Last Updated Record keeps the lead your team is working on now.
• Most Field Data keeps the most complete lead, for example over a thin record from a prospecting tool.

Check the Merge Preview column for the owner and status before you merge. If the right owner should always win, add a field-level rule for the owner field.

How to keep duplicate leads from piling up

1. Test your search by hand. Merge 1–2 matches, check them in your CRM, then bulk merge 1–2 pages.
2. Turn on Auto Merge on your "same email" search, with the As soon as possible schedule, so new duplicates from forms are merged soon after they reach Dedupely. New records usually reach Dedupely within 1–5 minutes. See Auto Merge.
3. Turn on Auto Match on your looser searches, so a person reviews them. See Auto Match.
4. Dedupe lists before you import them. See Dedupe a List Before You Import It.

Example setup

A marketing team on Salesforce gets 3,000 new leads a month from forms, webinars and a prospecting tool.

1. Search 1: First Name: Exact · Last Name: Exact · Email: Exact. Auto Merge, As soon as possible.
2. Search 2: First Name: Similar Words (Any Order) with Match nicknames · Last Name: Exact · Company: Similar Words (Any Order), Ignored terms Inc., LLC, Ltd. Auto Match, notifying at 10 matches.
3. Merge Rules: Primary Record set to Oldest Record, so the original lead source is kept.
4. Before each webinar import: dedupe the registration list as a CSV.

Common mistakes

• Converting leads before deduping them. In Salesforce, duplicates are converted into duplicate contacts.
• One loose search on Auto Merge. Keep Auto Merge for the "same email" search, and review the rest.
• Ignoring the owner. The surviving lead keeps one owner. Check the Merge Preview, or add a field-level rule.
• Matching on name alone. Many people share a name. Add email, phone or company.

FAQs about deduping leads

• Which lead objects can Dedupely dedupe? HubSpot Leads, Salesforce Leads and Pipedrive Leads (not archived ones). In Close CRM, Leads are companies.
• Which fields can I match leads on? The fields that exist in your CRM's Leads object. In HubSpot and Pipedrive, the person's name and email live on the linked contact or person, so dedupe those too.
• Can Dedupely merge a lead into a contact? No. Dedupely matches and merges records within one object, like Leads with Leads.
• Does Dedupely convert leads? No. Conversion happens in your CRM.
• How quickly are new duplicate leads merged? With Auto Merge on the "As soon as possible" schedule, soon after they reach Dedupely, usually within minutes.
• Can I undo a lead merge? Yes, within 30 days for most lead merges, from Merge History, but not for HubSpot leads. For those, download your Merge History as a CSV and use it to restore the original values in your CRM. See Undo a Merge.