Duplicate records can be created when a constituent is added through a donation, membership, survey, or event page, or when creating a portal account and the software does not find an existing match in the database. Duplicate records could also be inadvertently added when manually adding a new constituent and the search option is skipped.


Duplicate Record Search Criteria


When constituents are entering their name and email in the various forms and pages throughout the modules, the software looks for a match based on the criteria you have set up in your Account Settings. You can review your settings by going to the menu located under your organization's name and clicking on Account. Next choose Settings, then on the Account Settings page got to Options.



The software uses the primary email address as the first match field for a record. This is similar to how other online programs work. We use our email and a password to login to our streaming services, online shopping, and apps. The primary email address is the one located at the top of the record. 



The Email box cannot be unchecked in the duplicate record search. It will always be set as the primary search field. 


By the default, the next search fields will be matched based on the Last Name and First Name. You have the option of unchecking these boxes. If you uncheck the First Name field, this could reduce some duplicates because the software won't validate the first name (it won't have to match exactly anymore). So if Robert Jones [email protected] enters his event registration as Bob Jones [email protected], it will not create a duplicate and will instead sync with his existing record. Be sure to click Save at the bottom of the page to save the changes.


You also have the option of unchecking Last Name and only using Email as the validation. This will have less successful results since most constituents consistently use the same Last Name.


There are other ramifications of unchecking the First Name and Last Name boxes for duplicate checks. If you uncheck First Name and Mary Jones makes a donation using her name, but also uses Robert Jones' email address, [email protected], the software will automatically sync to Robert's existing record and will not create a new record for Mary.


And, if you uncheck both the First Name and Last Name boxes, it can cause duplicates during event registrations. If you require names and emails on an Event Registration page that includes Attendee Names, someone might use their own email address for all of their guests in order to submit the form. This will result in all the attendee names being changed to the registrant's name since the only match being used is Email address.


There are also options for duplicate records checks based on Address and Birthdate. All online forms now require email address for the constituent's completing the form, so Address is rarely used as a matching criteria. You can use the same logic as described above to determine if you would like to uncheck the First Name box here as well.


The final search criteria is Birthdate. This is generally used for forms and information being collected for children, since they do not have an email address. Like the previous examples, you can uncheck First Name to eliminate potential duplicates caused by different first names (like nicknames) being entered.


Your organization will have to determine what are the best duplicate record search criteria choices for you based on your constituents and the way you collect information.


Preventing Duplicates

 
There are some things you can do to reduce duplicate records including:

1. Do not bypass the search feature when entering new constituents. If you use the Email field, it will search not only the primary email address, but also any additional emails that might be in a constituent's record.



2. Whenever you send invitations, appeals, renewal notices, etc, include merge fields with the constituent's name and primary email address. Ask them to be sure to use the same name and email when completing the forms. 



3. Encourage your constituents to create a portal account. The basic portal will allow constituents to sign in to any event, membership, donation, or auction page and their information will be auto-populated and it will sync with their existing record. Many browsers will also save login information so that constituents can easily sign in to their accounts.




Identifying Potential Duplicate Records

You can set up notifications of potential duplicate records in the Account Settings >  Options section. You can choose the Duplicate Matching Criteria to generate the notifications. Exact Match on First and Last Names provides the best results. Soundex Match can produce false notifications since it uses a sound match, which can provide very broad results.



You can run duplicate record checks on a regular basis. This article provides more details about running the report https://support.associationsphere.com/en/support/solutions/articles/67000613053-how-do-i-look-up-duplicate-constituents- During event registrations and fundraising campaigns, you may want to do this  every few days. Constituents don't always follow our instructions, so duplicates can still happen despite our best efforts. If you do find duplicates, you can use the Merge column field to merge the records together. This article explains the steps for merging records. https://support.associationsphere.com/en/support/solutions/articles/67000615464-can-i-merge-two-constituent-records-together-

You can also review any new constituents recently created. The CRM Dashboard includes numbers under the Constituents Added This Week and This Month boxes. These numbers are clickable links, so you can quickly see any new constituents in your database. We often are familiar with our event invitees and members, so when we see a new constituent we can often recognize if that is one of our existing constituents who should be merged with the new record.