HubSpot Deduplication: How to Find, Manage, and Remove Duplicates in HubSpot

A clean CRM is the foundation of effective marketing, sales, and customer support. Yet for most teams, duplicate records are one of the hardest problems to fully eliminate. As your HubSpot portal grows through imports, integrations, forms, and manual entry, duplicates inevitably creep in.

The good news: achieving zero duplicates in HubSpot is possible with the right approach.

This guide explains how HubSpot deduplication works, how to deduplicate HubSpot safely, and how to manage duplicates in HubSpot long term, so you can remove duplicates today and prevent them from coming back tomorrow.

Why You Need to Deduplicate HubSpot

Duplicate records don’t just clutter your CRM, they actively break your processes.

• Duplicates have the potential to undermine your relationship with a customer or prospect.
  • Imagine a customer being treated as a prospect.
• Duplicates can be a source of frustration for your sales and services representatives.
  • Imagine two reps working with the same prospect, only discovering the duplication after weeks.
• HubSpot deduplication can be challenging for admins or RevOps teams.
  • Imagine an admin lacking the context of duplicate contacts and companies that need to be merged.

In short, poor HubSpot deduplication leads to lost trust, wasted effort, and unreliable reporting across marketing, sales, and service teams.

Quick answer: How do you manage duplicates in HubSpot?

Managing duplicates in HubSpot is a process, not a feature. A complete duplicate management process includes:

• Defining what makes contacts and companies unique
• Finding duplicates consistently
• Reviewing and merging records safely
• Preventing new duplicates from being created through forms, imports, and integrations

HubSpot provides built-in tools to remove duplicates for contacts and companies. For larger portals or more complex data models, workflow-based automation is typically required to deduplicate HubSpot at scale.

What is HubSpot deduplication?

HubSpot deduplication is the process of identifying and merging duplicate records so each person, company, and opportunity is represented once in your CRM. It's often confused with simple record merging, but effective deduplication also includes prevention, monitoring, and ongoing duplicate management.

This guide outlines a 6-step system to deduplicate HubSpot and manage duplicates long-term, so you can remove duplicates safely today and prevent them from coming back tomorrow.

1. Establishing Unique Contact and Company Criteria in HubSpot

Understanding what makes a contact or company unique is the foundation for any successful deduplication process.
Let’s evaluate what defines a unique contact and company in HubSpot for your organization.

Unique Contacts: Keeping It Simple

For contacts, the concept of uniqueness is usually straightforward. In HubSpot, a unique person should generally have only one contact record in your database. However, there are some exceptions where you might want to create multiple records or "duplicate contacts" for the same individual:

• Multiple Email Addresses: If you need to send marketing communications to multiple email addresses for the same person, you might create separate contact records for each email address.
• Integrations with Your E-commerce or SaaS Platform: When syncing your e-commerce or SaaS platform with HubSpot, some unique contacts might have multiple records due to how those platforms handle user data.

Unique Companies: Navigating the Complexity

Companies can be a bit more complex. HubSpot uses the Company Domain Name property to deduplicate companies. But there might be cases for which you want to create multiple records or "duplicate companies" for the same company Domain Name:

• Larger Organizations: For larger organizations, such as Amazon or Microsoft, you might want to track multiple records for different divisions or locations. Relying solely on the domain name might not capture the full picture.
• Unique Company Registration Numbers: Using official registration numbers can help ensure that each company is uniquely identified, even if they have multiple domain names.
• Integrations with Your E-commerce or SaaS Platform: Use internal finance or platform identifiers to maintain unique company records.
• Franchises: When selling to individual franchisees, it’s best to maintain a separate record for each location (based on street address and city), even if all locations share the same domain.

On the other hand, you might also want to have company records with multiple company domains:

• Multiple Countries: When a single company is active in multiple countries and has multiple domains (e.g. walmart.com & walmart.ca).
• Different Brands: When a single company has various brands but you are only selling to the parent company.

Clear definitions here are critical to safely merge companies in HubSpot later.

2. Set Rules to Find Duplicates in HubSpot 📜

Once you’ve defined what makes a unique contact or company, the next step is setting rules to find duplicates in HubSpot. 

Finding Duplicate Contacts in HubSpot

For contacts, identifying duplicates is usually straightforward. Here are some common examples:

• Email Address: Email addresses should be unique if possible and are typically the primary identifier for contacts.
• Mobile Phone Number: Phone numbers can also serve as a unique identifier, especially when emails aren’t available.
• First & Last Name: Names alone aren’t always enough. To improve accuracy, pair them with additional properties such as:
  • (Mobile) Phone Number: Combine the first and last name with the (mobile) phone number to identify duplicates.
  • Company Name: Add the associated company’s name.
  • LinkedIn URL: Which can act as a strong unique identifier
  • IP City: Which HubSpot automatically captures from form submissions
  • City / Street Address: Helpful when contacts are tied to a physical location.
  • Birth Date: When available, combining birth date with name improves accuracy.
    

• Unique Internal ID: If you are integrating with an e-commerce or SaaS platform, use the unique internal ID from those systems to identify duplicate contacts.

Finding Duplicate Companies in HubSpot

The rules for identifying duplicate companies can be more varied due to the complexity of organizational structures.
Here are some HubSpot properties to consider including in your rules.

• Company Domain Name: This is the primary identifier used by HubSpot to deduplicate companies.
• Company Name: While common, company names can sometimes be identical for different entities, so additional properties might be necessary.
• LinkedIn Company Page: Use the LinkedIn URL to differentiate between companies with similar names or multiple divisions.
• Street Address: Using the street address can help distinguish between different locations of the same company or different companies with similar names.
• Country: Including the country in your deduplication rules can help ensure that you are correctly identifying and merging records from different regions.
• Company Registration Numbers / VAT Numbers: Unique to each company and effective in identifying duplicates.
• Internal IDs: If you have integrated financial systems or other internal platforms, using their unique IDs can help maintain accurate company records.

3. Get an Overview of Your HubSpot Duplicates

Before you remove duplicates in HubSpot, it’s important to understand how widespread the issue is.

If you're not using Koalify, you can export your duplicates or all your records to gain insights. However, with Koalify, you can perform a free duplicate scan and utilize HubSpot views or reports to get a comprehensive picture of your duplicates.
Key reports to consider include:

• Source of Duplicates: Identify where your duplicates are coming from, such as manual entries, integrations, imports, or forms.
• Creation Timeframe: Determine when duplicates are being created to spot trends or spikes, which can help in identifying underlying issues.
• Record Ownership: Review who owns the duplicate records. This can help in delegating the deduplication process and holding team members accountable.
• Duplication Criteria: Understand how duplicates are identified based on the rules you've set, such as matching email addresses, phone numbers, or domain names.

Establish a Duplicate Benchmark

Create a baseline by tracking:

• Total duplicate count
• Duplicate rate by source or owner
• Reduction targets over time

This turns HubSpot duplicate management into a repeatable process rather than a one-off project.

4. Clean Inaccurate Data

With all the groundwork done in the previous steps, you might be eager to start the deduplication process.
However before you merge duplicates, clean bad data. Inaccurate values cause false positives and wasted effort.

Here are some common data inaccuracies you may encounter:

For Contacts:

• Incorrect First Name and/or Last Name: Placeholder names like "Test Test.”
• Wrong (Mobile) Phone Number: Generic or incorrect numbers like "+123456789".

For Companies:

• Incorrect Company Domains: Placeholder or invalid domains.
• Incorrect LinkedIn URLs: Placeholder or invalid URLs that are often added by HubSpot Insights.
• Wrong Phone Numbers: Generic or incorrect numbers like "+123456789".

These inaccuracies can cause potential duplicates to be incorrectly flagged and accidentally merged. Furthermore, they lead to wasted efforts for customer-facing colleagues who may attempt to call incorrect phone numbers or visit erroneous LinkedIn company pages. Manually updating this data consumes valuable time. To address these issues, we strongly recommend automating data cleaning using specific workflows for contacts & companies.

Cleaning data first ensures that when you deduplicate HubSpot, you are merging true duplicates. This step alone prevents most accidental merges when teams try to remove duplicates in HubSpot too quickly.

5. Start Your Initial Deduplication

Once your records are clean, begin your HubSpot deduplication process. This initial clean-up will address the duplicates that have accumulated over the past months. Use the reports you've created to formulate a plan of action:

How to remove duplicates in HubSpot safely

A safe process includes:

• Strict matching rules
• Clear ownership for review
• Bulk merges only for high-confidence duplicates
• Manual review for edge cases

Plan of Action

1. Decide Which HubSpot Objects to deduplicate first:

   • Begin with Contact merges if your marketing team is accidentally emailing the same person multiple times.

   • Prioritize Company deduplication or Deal merges if different sales reps are unknowingly working the same account or opportunity.

2. Start with recent duplicates:

   Begin with the most recent duplicates since these records are currently active and being worked on.

3. Prioritize clear-cut duplicates:

   Focus on duplicates identified by strict rules that you are certain about, ensuring you merge only the correct records.

Bulk Merge for High Volumes of Duplicates

If you're dealing with a large volume of duplicates, manually merging each record can be time-consuming and inefficient. In these cases, learn how to bulk merge HubSpot duplicates to accelerate the cleanup process at scale:

• Identify Strict Duplicate Rules: Define clear, strict rules to ensure only certain duplicates are merged. This helps avoid accidental merging of non-duplicates.
• Use Koalify Workflow Actions: Koalify provides efficient workflow actions for bulk merging. Set up workflows that apply strict rules to merge duplicates with high confidence.

Manual Merge for Lower Volumes

If you have a manageable number of duplicates, distribute the merging tasks among different record owners.
This allows for a more personalized review of each duplicate pair:

• Leverage Koalify's Duplicate Cards: These empower HubSpot users to review and merge approximately one record per minute or 60 per hour, making it a practical tool for manual merges.
• Distribute Among Record Owners: Assign specific duplicates to their respective record owners. This approach ensures that the person most familiar with the contact or company handles the merge.

Reach your first goal in this initial clean-up based on your benchmark. After this, establish ongoing deduplication practices.

6. Implement Ongoing Deduplication

Achieving zero duplicates is an ongoing process. To maintain a clean CRM:

Proactive Tactics

1. Custom Views and Reports: Create custom views or reports that highlight potential duplicates for quick review. Regularly monitor these reports to catch duplicates early.
2. Automated Workflows: Implement workflows to automatically merge certain duplicates based on strict rules. Automation helps maintain data cleanliness with minimal manual intervention.
3. Notifications for Record Owners: Set up notifications for record owners, ensuring they are promptly alerted to take necessary actions on potential duplicates. This keeps everyone accountable and responsive.

Conclusion: Keep Your HubSpot CRM Duplicate-Free

A clean CRM is a competitive advantage. By applying these six steps to deduplicate HubSpot, you’ll improve data accuracy, team efficiency, and customer experience.

1. Define Unique Contacts and Companies:
   • Identify what makes a contact or company unique in your HubSpot portal, using key identifiers like email addresses, phone numbers, and domain names.
2. Set Rules to Identify Duplicates:
   • Establish clear rules based on these identifiers to accurately flag duplicates and keep your data organized.
3. Get an Overview of Your Duplicates:
   • Conduct a duplicate scan to understand the extent of duplication. Use tools Koalify and HubSpot reports to gain insights into sources, creation times, and record ownership.
4. Eliminate Data Inaccuracies:
   • Clean your data before merging duplicates. Automated workflows can help correct issues like incorrect names, phone numbers, company domains, and LinkedIn URLs to ensure accurate duplicates.
5. Start the Initial Deduplication:
   • Begin merging duplicates by focusing on recent and clearly identified ones first. Use bulk merge actions for large numbers, and assign fewer duplicates to record owners for personalized review.
6. Ongoing Deduplication:
   • Achieving zero duplicates is an ongoing effort. Set up custom views and reports to monitor potential duplicates, automate merges, and notify record owners to maintain a clean database continuously.

Whether you're dealing with HubSpot duplicate contacts, companies, or custom records, the key is consistency. Use smart rules, automate when possible, and involve your team in keeping the database clean.

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have feedback or questions

Frequently Asked Questions about HubSpot Deduplication