How Karin Tamir Fixed HubSpot Duplicate Chaos from Complex Integrations (with Koalify)

When your CRM connects to multiple platforms, things can get messy — fast.
For one fintech client of HubSpot consultant Karin Tamir, “messy” meant thousands of duplicate contacts and deals caused by an integration between their internal credit platform and HubSpot.

In this episode of How I Fixed Your Data, Karin shares how she turned that chaos into clean, reliable data using Koalify 🐨, automating what used to be hours of daily manual cleanup.

🎥 Watch the full episode with Karin Tamir:

The Industry Problem: Platform Integrations Gone Wild

Karin’s client is a fintech company offering businesses an alternative credit line outside the banking system. Their onboarding process involved both HubSpot forms and an external authentication platform.

Here’s where things broke down:

• Many users started in HubSpot with a form that didn’t include an email.

• Later, when they authenticated on the platform, they did provide an email.

• HubSpot treated them as new contacts.

• The result? Thousands of duplicate contacts, duplicate deals, and broken reporting.

“Their CMO used to start every morning by opening a HubSpot dashboard full of duplicates,” Karin explains.
“She spent hours manually merging them, because HubSpot couldn’t identify duplicates without emails.”

The Hidden Cost of Duplicate Data

The impact went far beyond clutter:

• Sales and operations confusion: Multiple deals for the same person distorted performance tracking.

• Inaccurate reporting: Regulatory reporting was off — a major risk in fintech.

• Lost time: The marketing team was manually cleaning data instead of generating leads.

And while HubSpot’s native deduplication tools caught some issues, they couldn’t handle the custom integration logic this company used.

The Fix — Smart Deduplication with Koalify

Karin designed a tailored cleanup strategy using Koalify, HubSpot’s most flexible deduplication app.

Step 1: Identify duplicates by mobile number

Since many users didn’t have emails at signup, mobile numbers became the most reliable unique identifier.

“For them, the mobile number was the identity,” Karin said. “It’s what customers use to authenticate so that’s what we based the deduplication on.”

Step 2: Recreate manual logic with Koalify rules

Karin worked with the client to replicate their manual decision-making process directly in Koalify’s rules engine:

Primary rules included:

• If contact originated from an internal HubSpot form → mark as primary

• If contact used an internal company email → mark as primary

• If both matched → check for common personal domains (e.g., Gmail, Hotmail, iCloud)

• Merge only if logic matched their defined patterns

This mirrored exactly how the team had been manually verifying duplicates — but at scale.

Step 3: Automate merges via workflows

Once confident in the logic, Karin connected Koalify to HubSpot workflows.
Every time a duplicate was detected by mobile number, HubSpot automatically merged it into the correct record.

“We started small, just one rule at first, and then automated the rest,” she said.
“Now what took hours every day happens instantly.”

The Results — Clean Data, Happy Team

Within six weeks, the transformation was clear:

• 1,500+ duplicates merged automatically

• Manual cleanup time reduced by 100%

• Accurate deals per customer restored

• Improved data for regulatory reporting

• Daily data health checks automated

“Koalify was a lifesaver,” Karin said.
“Once they saw it worked, they trusted it, and now every new client I work with gets Koalify installed from day one.”

Lessons Learned

Karin’s biggest takeaways from the project:

1. Phone can be a powerful unique identifier — especially when emails are missing.

2. Start small and build trust — prove the rules work before automating everything.

3. Map your manual process first — replicate human judgment in automation.

4. Be cautious with merge rules — one wrong condition can cause chaos.

5. Data quality drives business trust — clean data isn’t just nice to have; it’s a compliance necessity.

“Every company with HubSpot integrations needs Koalify,” Karin concludes.
“It saves time, prevents human error, and gives clients confidence in their data.”