Use the Data Health Hub to review possible duplicate constituents and decide how to resolve each one. If you determine constituents are duplicates, you can merge their profiles. You can merge one or multiple pairs of constituents at the same time.
If the constituents aren't duplicates, you can:
Mark the constituents as Not Duplicates.
Add the constituents to a new household.
Do these steps apply to me?
If you haven’t purchased the Intelligent Giving Platform bundle, and you see a Merge Duplicates page instead of a Data Health Hub page in your Data Tools menu, read Review and Merge Duplicate Constituents.
If your organization uses our Intelligent Giving Platform, and you see a Data Health Hub page in your Data Tools menu, follow the steps in this article to review and merge duplicate constituents.
Tip: This article describes how to manage duplicates on the Data Health Hub page. You can also merge two individual constituents when you view a constituent’s profile.
How It Works
How are duplicates determined?
Bloomerang CRM uses matching rules to scan for possible duplicates when:
You create, delete, or merge constituents
You edit names or contact information
To determine whether some constituents might be duplicates, Bloomerang CRM compares several fields:
Name
Address
Email
Phone Number
For customers with the Intelligent Giving Platform, our Data Health Agent takes both exact matches and similar entries into account to search for duplicates more thoroughly.
The number and type of matching fields is taken into account. Constituents are considered to be potential duplicates when:
Their name and contact information match, or
They have the same email address, even if no other account information matches
Constituents are not considered to be potential duplicates when:
They are in the same household, even if they have the same name, address, email, or phone number
Someone in your organization marked them as "Not Duplicates"
Our Data Health Agent also flags constituents for review if the constituents are a potential household pair. For example, it flags constituent records if the constituents have the same last name but different first names.
When Bloomerang CRM is confident that two records are a match, the Data Health Hub includes an explanation and its confidence rating, so you can make decisions with more context.
Note: An individual constituent and an organization can be a duplicate pair. You can merge an individual constituent and an organization, but only on the Data Health Hub page. You can't merge an individual constituent and an organization on a constituent account page.
After the initial scan, to keep the Data Health Hub up to date, Bloomerang CRM:
Populates high-confidence constituent matches in real time
Scans weekly for lower-confidence matches
What data is merged?
When you merge accounts, information from the merged account (labeled as the Merge This One account) is added to the kept account (labeled as the Keep This One account):
Contact
Timeline
Credit card
Relationships
Groups
Memberships
DonorSearch batch screening data
Journey Automation participation
If both accounts have:
X (Twitter) handles, the handle from the Keep This One account is kept, but the merged constituent's timeline includes tweets from both X handles.
Custom profile pictures, the custom profile picture from the Keep This One account is kept, and the profile picture from the Merge This One account is deleted.
Interactions from the same email, the interaction from the Keep This One account is kept.
DonorSearch batch screening data, only data from the Keep This One account is kept.
Different relationship managers, the relationship for the Keep This One constituent is kept.
Pinned notes, the pinned note from the Keep This One account stays pinned, and the note from the Merge This One account becomes an unpinned note.
If you merge an individual constituent and an organization:
The account type from the Keep This One account remains. For example, if the Keep This One account is an organization, the account remains an organization after the merge.
If the Keep This One account is an organization, the merged individual fields become the primary contact info if there isn't already primary contact info.
If the Keep This One account is an individual, the organization name from the Merge This One account becomes the employer if there isn't already an employer.
What happens to group membership after a merge?
Bloomerang-managed groups automatically recalculate after you merge the constituents. For Bloomerang-managed groups, the constituent’s group memberships might change based on this recalculation. All groups that your organization manages remain unchanged.
Do constituents remain in journey automations after a merge?
If you merge constituent accounts, and one of the accounts was within an automation, Bloomerang CRM checks whether the constituent still qualifies to be in that automation.
The details:
If you merge a constituent within the First Ever Donation automation with a constituent who has previously donated, the constituent exits the First Ever Donation automation.
If you merge two current donors who are in the same type of donation automation (same entry source), the constituent remains within the automation they’ve been in the longest.
If you merge two current donors who are in different types of donation automations (different entry sources), the constituent remains within the automation they’ve been in for the shortest amount of time.
Review Possible Duplicates
Bloomerang CRM compares your constituent records and shows the number of potential duplicate pairs on the Duplicate Constituents tile in the Data Health Hub.
To review a potential duplicate pair:
In the side navigation menu, click Data Tools.
Within Data Tools, click Data Health Hub.
In the Data Health Hub, click the Duplicate Constituents tile.
(Optional) Filter the duplicates list by newest, oldest, or alphabetical by last name.
Click, or use the search box to find, a pair of constituents in the duplicates list. By default, a side-by-side view appears for the first constituent pair in the list.
Compare the two constituent records. The constituent tiles show each constituent’s email address, phone number, address, Created By method, latest transaction, and total giving amount.
(Optional) To compare every field on both records, click Show all fields.
Mark a Constituent Pair as Not a Duplicate
If two records aren't actually duplicates, dismiss the merging suggestion:
Follow the steps in the Review Possible Duplicates section to review potential constituent duplicates.
Click Not a Duplicate.
Warning: Marking two constituents as Not a Duplicate is permanent. If you mark two constituents as Not Duplicates, they will not appear as a suggested duplicate again.
In the confirmation message, click Not a Duplicate.
Merge Duplicate Constituents
Merging combines two constituent records into one. Before you confirm a merge, Bloomerang CRM shows you what will change.
To merge a duplicate pair:
Follow the steps in the Review Duplicate Pairs section to review potential constituent duplicates.
Select Keep This Record on the record you want to keep. After you select it, the button turns green and says "Keeping this record".
Click Merge Records.
Review the consequences of the merge in the merge confirmation message. The message shows up to nine consequences, with details such as information that will be permanently deleted, relationships or groups that will carry over to the primary constituent record, giving amount combinations, and more.
Warning: Merging constituents is permanent. If you merge two constituents, Bloomerang CRM cannot restore the separate records or data deleted during the merge.Click Merge Records to complete the merge.
Resolve Multiple Constituent Pairs
You can resolve multiple duplicate pairs at the same time:
Review individual duplicate pairs as needed.
After you review the pairs, select the checkboxes for the pairs you want to edit. To select all the pairs on a page of the duplicate constituents list, click Select all.
A window appears showing the number of pairs selected. Do one of the following:
To mark constituents as Not a Match:
Click Not a Match.
Warning: Marking two constituents as Not a Duplicate is permanent. If you mark two constituents as Not Duplicates, they will not appear as a suggested duplicate again.In the confirmation message, click Dismiss.
To merge selected constituents:
Click Merge Selected.
Warning: Merging constituents is permanent. If you merge two constituents, Bloomerang CRM cannot restore the separate records or data deleted during the merge.Click Merge.
Create a Household from a Constituent Pair
If two records represent related constituents rather than the same constituent, link them as a household instead of merging or dismissing them. You can do this without leaving the Data Health Hub page. Both constituents must be individuals who aren’t already in a household.
Bloomerang CRM creates the household and adds the constituents at the same time. The constituent who appears in the first column on the Data Health Hub page becomes the Head of Household. After Bloomerang CRM creates the household, you can change the Head of Household.
To create a household from a duplicate pair:
Follow the steps in the Review Duplicate Pairs section to review potential constituent duplicates.
Click Create Household.
In the Household Name text box, enter the name of the new household.
Click Create Household.