Learn Merging Duplicate Records in Salesforce Through Simple Steps

Salesforce gives you a lot of solutions and services suited to specific business needs. This includes Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer service management, and Marketing Cloud for marketing automation.

Organizing your records is important for effective operations in Salesforce. This is why you need to remove the duplicates that make the database messy. You can be an expert in no time at managing salesforce even if you’re new to it. 

Let’s learn how to improve your organizational efficiency through this Salesforce merge duplicates guide.

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How to Do It Salesforce Merge Records?

Merging records in Salesforce is an important step for making sure that data integrity and correctness in your CRM system remain. Here’s how to merge records in Salesforce:

1) Identify Duplicate Records

The first step is to Identify duplicate records before merging in Salesforce. Use Salesforce’s Duplicate Management tools to discover duplicates automatically or manually using filters and search functions.

2) Select a Master Record

Now find the primary record or master record, -that will preserve all important information after the combining. When picking the master record, keep data completeness, accuracy, and freshness in mind.

3) Go to the Record Detail Page

To access the record detail page in Salesforce, first identify the master record. This is where you’ll start the merger process.

4) Start the Merge Process

To merge records, go to the “Actions” dropdown menu in Salesforce Classic or the “Related” section in Lightning Experience. Now, select the merging option to proceed.

5) Select Duplicate Records

Salesforce prompts you to reduce duplicate records into a master record and it allows you to merge 3 records at a time. Review the duplicate records carefully and select the ones you want to merge.

6) Review Information

Before confirming the merging, review the information on both the master and selected duplicate records. Make sure that the data is correct and consistent throughout all records.

7) Confirm Merge

After reviewing the facts, confirm the merger process. Salesforce will combine the data from the duplicate records into one master record. Confirm the merging to move on with the process.

8) Review Merge Results

Merge results should be reviewed after completion to guarantee accurate retention of pertinent information. Check for any inconsistencies or missing data that may necessitate additional investigation.

9) Clean Up Related Records

After merging records, examine and update any linked records (e.g. contacts, opportunities, or cases) to ensure data consistency throughout Salesforce. Update any relevant records as needed to reflect the changes made during the merge process.

10) Monitor for Duplicates

Regularly monitor Salesforce data for duplicates to maintain its quality over time. Implement preventive actions to reduce duplicates and maintain the accuracy of your CRM database.

How to Use Salesforce Merge Accounts?

Merging accounts in Salesforce is an important step for keeping a clean and accurate database by removing duplicate records. The method is different between Salesforce Lightning Experience and Salesforce Classic. Here is how to use Salesforce merge duplicates:

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Salesforce Lightning Experience

  1. The first step for Salesforce merge duplicates is to make sure you have duplication and matching rules set up for accounts. These rules aid Salesforce in detecting duplicates.
  2. Use the Lightning App Builder and add the “Potential Duplicates” component to the Account record pages. This lets users view and act on duplicates straight from their account records.
  3. Go to an account record. If there are any possible duplicates, the “Potential Duplicates” component will let you know.
  4. Select the “View Duplicates” option to check the list of duplicate accounts provided by Salesforce.
  5. You can merge up to three accounts (including the one you currently view).
  6. Check which account will be the master record and the primary record you want to save. Information from various accounts can be combined into this record.
  7. Salesforce lets you choose which fields from the duplicates to preserve. After checking and selecting the appropriate information, complete the merging by confirming your selections. 

Salesforce Classic

  1. Go to the “Accounts” tab and select the “Merge Accounts” link, which is found in the Tools section.
  2. Search for duplicate accounts by entering the search criteria to identify duplicate accounts. Salesforce will display accounts that meet your criteria.
  3. Select Accounts with up to three accounts to merge. Then click “Next.”
  4. Similar to Lightning, choose one account as the master record.
  5. Decide which field values to keep in the master record. Confirm your preferences and combine the accounts.

How to Mass Merge Accounts in Salesforce?

There are many ways to mass merge accounts in Salesforce including third-party tools or the Salesforce Data Loader with some user intervention. Here are 7 simple steps to merge accounts in Salesforce:

1) Identify Duplicate Accounts

Before mass merging, use Salesforce’s Duplicate Management features or run reports to find accounts with similar or identical information.

2) Export Data

Now use Salesforce Data Loader to export and merge account records. Make sure you include the fields required for recognizing duplicates and finding the master record.

3) Review and Prepare Data

Prepare to merge by reviewing exported data for duplicates and choosing the master record. Remember that you might have to change the data to guarantee consistency.

4) Perform Mass Merge

To mass merge duplicate account records, use Salesforce Data Loader to update the master record field and merge them into the master record. This procedure needs to alter the Salesforce IDs of duplicate records to match the ID of the master record.

5) Import Updated Data

Now that you have updated the master record field for duplicate records, you need  to import the revised data into Salesforce using Salesforce Data Loader. You are almost done after this step.

6) Review and Confirm

You are almost done here. Now you just need to review and confirm the changes. After importing updated data, check the accounts in Salesforce to make sure that there is proper integration and accuracy.

7) Clean Up

The final to make sure that there is data consistency is to check and update any associated records. This includes things like contacts or opportunities. Do this after you are done with the merging process.

Conclusion

Merging duplicate entries in Salesforce is like giving your data a thorough spring cleaning. It means keeping your information organized and making sure everything is in its proper place. With Salesforce’s merge duplicates function you can easily remove redundant records from data.

Mike is a professional business and Tech blogger that writes for a variety of leading sites. He loves content partnerships with advertisement agencies.