How to avoid duplicates

Duplicate records seriously complicate the work with data. Duplicates occupy an extra row in contacts, thought the number of the rows is limited. There is frequently confusion between duplicates and correct information. It takes longer time to find the correct data. Duplicates also take resources, for example, when mailing to the customer base.

It is impossible to control duplicates manually. Therefore, Albato has implemented a tool that solves the problem with duplicate records. It can perform additional checks to ensure that the data is unique.

In this article we will explain how the tool works. In the automation settings, you can configure four scenarios, which we will be described below.

Scenario 1. Do not check for duplicates, always create new record

In this scenario, Albato does not perform additional checks and always sends a request to add a new record. Sometimes errors may occur if the required data uniqueness is not ensured.

Scenario 2. Do not create a record if a duplicate is found

Albato checks if sending data already exist in a receiving system. If such record is found (Duplicate), further processing of the current step will be stopped. And new record will not be created. The fields of the found record are available for the further steps of this automation.

Scenario 3. Update an existing record if a duplicate is found, otherwise create new record

In this scenario, Albato also searches for an existing record and updates its fields when found. If no duplicate is found, then new record is created.

For example, when submitting Facebook lead form, the system creates a customer record in CRM. It has standard fields: name, phone number and email. Next time the customer will communicate with you (e.g., a call after clicking the ad), additional data from ad system will be automatically loaded to his card.

You can delete the current value and enter your own data or select from the drop-down list. The field will be updated.

Scenario 4. Only update an existing record if a duplicate is found.

This is the last option for working with duplicates. It searches for duplicate, and stops if duplicates are not found. The scenario is similar to the previous one and performs the same functions except for creating a new record. Thus, it serves only to update records.