Deduplicating companies upon import

[jphelan79]

Hello Community, 

I have a company list to import. All records include a company domain, so my understanding is that Hubspot will automatically duplicate and append new company information to existing records.

My concern is that about 30% of our existing company records DO NOT have a company domain on record. What will happen if there is a duplicate company in the import? Will Hubspot create a new company record and then I would have to manually merge records?

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @jphelan79,

Thank you for the clarification. Unfortunately, HubSpot still wouldn't be able to deduplicate, it needs both pieces of the puzzle, either an object ID in both the CRM and the import file or the Company domain name in both the CRM and the import file.

If I understand you correctly, there might be a company that doesn't have a Company domain name in HubSpot, but it also appears in the import file, without object ID but with a Company domain name. This would result in a duplicate.

If you don't want duplicates in HubSpot, before you import you'd have to cross-reference a company export file with your import file and either remove the 30% from your import file entirely (probably not an option because you it sounds like this is a chance to get the Company domain name for all companies into HubSpot) or VLOOKUP the object ID.

After you've added the object ID for each duplicate to your import file, you can split the file in two. One file with all new records and without object ID. And one file with all duplicates, now with fresh new Company domain name and object ID, allowing HubSpot to deduplicate by object ID.

Best regards!

[RBozeman]

Hi @jphelan79,

A bit late to answer this question but I thought that it would be helpful. Full disclosure, I work for Insycle, but I think they would be able to help here. 

Insycle lets you deduplicate contacts, companies, and deals in advanced ways. While you can't deduplicate "on import" with Insycle, what you can do is setup HubSpot workflows to deduplicate your data immediately after it hits your HubSpot CRM database. 

Here is a breakdown of how Insycle can help with deduplication for companies. 

• Using any field in your database as a matching field (company names, addresses, emails, phone numbers), not just IDs and company domains. This allows you to catch more duplicates. 
• While you can't deduplicate on import, you can set associations on import, which can help you to limit duplicates in the future. 
• What you can do is use Insycle's Recipes and integrate them directly with your HubSpot Workflows. Then, you can set it up so that as soon as new data hits your database, it is automaticlaly deduplicated after that. If you'd like to see how this works you can check out our help article here. 
• When you do merge records, you have complete control over the data that is retained in the master record on a field-by-field basis.

Hope that helps!

Thank you. 

[kvlschaefer]

Thanks for sharing this with us, @RBozeman! 

[GeorgeBThomas · Accepted solution]

@jphelan79,

This is what HubSpot has to say about it.

Deduplicate companies by company domain
When a new company is added, HubSpot looks at the Company domain name property value to deduplicate companies. If you try to manually create a company with the same domain name as an existing company, HubSpot will alert you that a company already exists, and you will not be able to add the additional company. When added via an import, if a company already exists in your account with the same domain name, the new company information will be added to the existing company record.

If you do not include this property in your import, each row of your import file will be imported as a new company record.

Please note: companies created through API will not be deduplicated by the Company domain name property.

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @jphelan79,

Thank you for the clarification. Unfortunately, HubSpot still wouldn't be able to deduplicate, it needs both pieces of the puzzle, either an object ID in both the CRM and the import file or the Company domain name in both the CRM and the import file.

If I understand you correctly, there might be a company that doesn't have a Company domain name in HubSpot, but it also appears in the import file, without object ID but with a Company domain name. This would result in a duplicate.

If you don't want duplicates in HubSpot, before you import you'd have to cross-reference a company export file with your import file and either remove the 30% from your import file entirely (probably not an option because you it sounds like this is a chance to get the Company domain name for all companies into HubSpot) or VLOOKUP the object ID.

After you've added the object ID for each duplicate to your import file, you can split the file in two. One file with all new records and without object ID. And one file with all duplicates, now with fresh new Company domain name and object ID, allowing HubSpot to deduplicate by object ID.

Best regards!

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @jphelan79,

Correct, that's what would happen. HubSpot either needs the Company domain name or the object ID to deduplicate records. Without that information, a new company record will be created even if the exact same record already exists.

That means that you have two options: Either import all records and then manually find the duplicates in HubSpot. Or export all company records first and compare the export file with your import file and deduplicate outside of HubSpot, in Excel or Google Sheets.

Probably not the reply that you were hoping for but that's unfortunately what it is.

Alternatively, you could look into deduplication apps like Incycle.

Best regards!

[jphelan79]

Thanks, Karsten! Just so I'm clear: 

• on our existing company records, we have an object ID (Hubspot ID) but 30% don't have a domain.
• on our import list, we have no object ID but all have domains. 

The clean-up or de-duplication needs to take place outside of Hubspot?