HubSpot Revenue Operations Blog

How to Merge Duplicates in HubSpot from the Gmail or Outlook Integration

Written by Jonas | December 1, 2024

If your team uses the HubSpot Chrome extension or Outlook 365 add-in, contacts and companies can be automatically created when the integration is enabled. This automation is a huge time-saver, but it’s important to have a strategy in place to effectively manage duplicates in HubSpot.

Here’s how deduplication works and how to keep your database clean:

How Duplicate Contacts Are Created via the Gmail or Outlook integrations

When you enable Gmail or Outlook integration, every email interaction can automatically create a contact. This makes capturing new relationships seamless and efficient. However, the integration deduplicates contacts based solely on their email addresses. Here’s what you need to know:

  • Matching Email Address: If an email address already exists in your system, no new contact will be created.
  • Different Email Address: If a person uses a different email address, even if they’re the same individual, a new contact will be created.

This means that individuals with multiple email addresses might appear as separate contacts. 

Chrome Extension Settings

Outlook Add-In Settings

How to Merge Duplicate Contacts from the Gmail or Outlook integration

When contacts are created, only the email address is captured by default. 
Missing information, like first and last names, can make it harder to spot duplicates.
To stay organized:

  • Require First and Last Names: These fields help you identify duplicates more easily with duplicate rules.
     


  • Create a Contact List of Gmail or Outlook duplicates: Use the following filters to create a view of Koalify duplicates via the Gmail Extension or Outlook add-in:

    Koalify Number of Duplicates is greater than 0 
    and
    Original Traffic Source Drill-Down 1 is equal to any of "Extension"




  • Enable Duplicate Cards:  When contact names are added, Koalify can instantly flag potential duplicates directly in the contact record using duplicate cards. With just three clicks, your team can review and merge duplicates quickly.




  • Set Duplicate Notifications for Contact Owners: When new contacts are automatically assigned via HubSpot’s email integrations, they are linked to the user who tracked the email. By enabling duplicate notifications, you can immediately alert the assigned user about newly created duplicates, ensuring prompt action to resolve them.


Pro Tip: The number of duplicates generated by integrations is typically small. For larger clean-ups, use bulk deduplication workflow actios to tidy up efficiently.

 

How Duplicate Companies Are Created via the Gmail or Outlook integration

For companies, the deduplication process relies on the email domain. Here's how it works:

  • Matching Email Domain: If the email domain matches an existing company, no new company will be created. For example, if an email from @companyname.com comes in, it will associate the contact with the existing company.
  • Different Email Domain: An email from a new domain triggers the creation of a new company. For instance, @differentcompany.com will automatically establish a separate company record.

This means that when an email is tracked with a new domain, a new company can be created in HubSpot.

How to Merge Duplicate Companies via the Gmail or Outlook integration

When new companies are created, HubSpot Insights automatically pulls data points like:

  • Company Name
  • LinkedIn and Facebook pages
  • Address (street, city, postal code)
  1. These fields make it easier to spot duplicates using Koalify's duplicate rules.
     


  2. Create a Company List of Gmail or Outlook duplicates: Use the following filters to create a view of Koalify duplicates from Gmail or Outlook:

    Koalify Number of Duplicates is greater than 0 
    and
    Original Traffic Source Drill-Down 1 is equal to any of extension 




  3. Enable Duplicate Cards: Koalify can instantly flag potential duplicates directly in the company record using duplicate cards. Review and merge duplicates effortlessly in just a few clicks.


Pro Tip: For extensive clean-ups, leverage bulk deduplication workflows actions to streamline the process.

I hope this helps you easily manage duplicates in HubSpot from the Gmail and Outlook integrations. Happy deduping!