The Ultimate Guide to the De-Duplication Tool

Contact Database, Duplicates, Contacts, Multiple Contacts

Updated over a week ago

Having duplicate contacts in your database is a pain, and manually finding and managing duplicate contacts is not only a difficult task but it's also really time-consuming. To solve this we have built a tool that uses AI to find duplicate contacts for you, a tool that makes merging contacts easy also.
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When your organization is adding to the database from multiple different sources there is always the potential for the same person to be entered twice or more into your database leading to confusion and poor contact management.
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The duplicates tool uses AI algorithms to identify potential duplicate contacts using factors such as name, gender, date of birth, and contact details. It will then present the possible duplicates to you for review so you merge two contacts together and not lose any data. When you can accept (merge) or reject (dismiss) a pair as duplicate contacts, you're providing feedback to the model to help improve the experience over time.


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How do I access the duplicates tool?

To access the duplicates, head to the Database page on the left-hand side of the dashboard. Select the ellipsis (aka three dots!) icon on the top right-hand side of the page and it will give you the following options:

You'll also receive a weekly email notification should we detect any potential duplicates in your database.

To access the duplicates page select "Manage Duplicates"

It will bring you to the following duplicates page:

From this page, you will be able to REVIEW and DISMISS each potential duplicate pair of contacts in your database.

The DISMISS option will unmark the contacts as potential duplicates and those contacts will no longer appear in the Duplicates list.


Clicking on the REVIEW icon will open a dialog similar to this:
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Once you have reviewed both contact records, you can select which contact record you want to keep by clicking on the record on the right or the left.
When you click MERGE this action will retain the selected contact record in your contacts database, and merge any data present in the non-selected into the selected contact record including interaction information. In cases where the same data point exists for both contacts, priority will be given to the selected contact and that data will be retained.

Please note that once you merge contacts, this action cannot be undone.

How do duplicate contacts occur in the first place?

There are many sources for adding contacts to your database within Ecanvasser
You may have uploaded a contact file. Alternatively, you may have imported a list of contacts from your Salesforce or NationBuilder account. Similarly, your team may be adding contacts while out in the field using one of the Ecanvasser mobile apps.
This may result in a number of contacts appearing more than once in your Ecanvasser database.

What are the triggers for flagging contacts as potential duplicates?

Here is the list of factors used to determine if a contact is a potential duplicate:

  • Two contacts with the same name

  • Two contacts with the same email address

  • Two contacts with the same mobile/cell phone number

What's excluded in the above factors:

  • Two contacts with the same name, email, or mobile/cell number but with different dates of birth

  • Two contacts with the same name, email, or mobile/cell number but with different contact ids

  • Two contacts with the same name, email, or mobile/cell number but with different gender

How is this valuable to you?

The duplicates tool is particularly valuable for organizations that are adding new contacts, donors, and volunteers into their database all the time or are merging datasets regularly. For Ecanvasser customers who are building a database of contacts from online forms, meeting people face-to-face at events, etc. this duplicates tool makes it really simple for you in maintaining database integrity and data privacy, as well as saving you a whole lot of time.

If you have any questions please contact support@ecanvasser.com or info@ecanvasser.com

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