Duplicates happen when the same customer enters through forms, imports, inbox, booking, commerce, or manual entry. Merge only after comparing identifiers and deciding which record should remain primary.

What this guide helps you do

• Find likely duplicate customer records.
• Choose the primary record before merging.
• Preserve important activity, notes, tasks, and relationship context.

Before you start

• Use email, phone, name, company, source, and recent activity to compare records.
• Check whether one record has payment, booking, form, or inbox history that should be preserved.
• Only merge records that represent the same real person or organization.

Do it manually

1. Open Customers and search for the suspected duplicate.
2. Select duplicate candidates or use Cleanup from the customer tools.
3. Open each record and compare contact fields, notes, timeline, owner, lists, and relationships.
4. Choose the primary record that should keep the main identity.
5. Preview the merge and review which values will win.
6. Apply the merge only after confirming the records represent the same customer.

Ask Faster AI

• Find likely duplicate people with the same email or phone and prepare a merge review list. Do not merge anything.
• Compare these two customer records and tell me which one should be primary based on activity and complete fields.
• Preview this duplicate merge and summarize what data would be kept or changed.

Review before saving or applying

• Never merge based on name alone.
• Confirm email, phone, company, and recent activity before applying.
• Check customer-facing consequences such as active journeys, invoices, bookings, or open tasks.
• Use preview and team approval for high-value or sensitive records.

Common issues and fixes

• If duplicate review is uncertain, leave both records and add a note.
• If the wrong primary is selected, cancel before applying and restart with the correct primary.
• If duplicates keep reappearing, review form, import, and inbox matching rules.

Example CRM setup article

For an example of cleaning duplicates during a staged CRM setup, read the CRM-with-AI afternoon walkthrough. Setting Up a CRM with AI in an Afternoon.

Safe customer context for AI

For why duplicate records make AI customer context unreliable and how scoped context depends on a clean system of record, read the customer context article. Giving AI Your Customer Context (Safely).

Connected workflows

• Map form submissions to customer records
• Create a segment from customer behavior
• Use customer activity for follow-up
• Review Money activity for a customer

Placeholder media

• Screenshot placeholder: add an annotated screenshot of find and merge duplicate records with customer names, emails, phone numbers, amounts, file names, and private notes blurred.
• Video placeholder: add a short walkthrough that starts in Customers, shows the manual path, then shows how to ask Faster AI and review the result before saving, sending, merging, or assigning work.

Related help

• Use saved customer views
• Understand Customer 360
• Import or add contacts