CRM deduplication
Finding and merging records in a CRM that describe the same person or company, so each real-world thing exists once.
What it is
Deduplication is the job of making sure one person or one company has one record. It covers finding the duplicates, deciding which values to keep, and merging the records so notes, emails, and list entries end up in one place.
Why duplicates appear
- Imports. The same spreadsheet loaded twice, or a migration that ran without matching rules.
- Integrations. A form, enrichment tool, or sync that creates a new record instead of updating an existing one.
- Messy identifiers. Personal and work emails for the same person, or several domains for one company.
- Manual entry. Two people adding the same contact on the same day.
How it works in Attio
Attio matches people on email address and companies on domain, which stops many duplicates at the door. It cannot catch the cases where those identifiers differ, such as a founder who emails from two addresses. Those need a matching rule and a merge, either by hand or through an automated workflow.
Why it matters
Duplicates split history across records. A partner opens one record, sees no recent contact, and sends an email that was already sent from the other one. Reports double count. Automations fire twice.
Clean up before a migration, not after. Duplicates are easier to merge in a spreadsheet than in a live CRM.
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