How to merge duplicate contacts without losing data or consent
When you merge two records for the same person, move every piece of history to the record you keep, combine their tags and details, and keep the stricter consent: if either record opted out, the merged one stays opted out. Email Digit shows you the merged record before you confirm, moves everything, and never lets a merge turn a channel opt-out into consent.
Why the same person ends up twice
Duplicates are normal, not a sign of a messy list. People sign up with a work address and later buy with a personal one: amira@example.com and amira@example.net. An old import brought in a record that a newer form created again. Someone changed jobs and wrote back from the new company.
Leaving duplicates in place has a cost. The person gets your campaigns twice, their engagement is split across two records so neither looks as engaged as they are, and a reply on one record is invisible when you look at the other.
Where merges go wrong
Most of the risk is in the details a merge tool fills in for you:
- History left behind. If only the profile fields are combined, the sends, replies and purchases on the deleted record go with it, and your reports quietly lose them.
- Consent mixed up. If the merge takes “the newest value” or “the kept record’s value” for consent, an opt-out on the other record can disappear. You end up mailing someone who said no, and the record now says they said yes.
- Doubled memberships. Both records were in the same list or the same sequence, and the merged contact is now in it twice.
A checklist for merging by hand
- Pick the record to keep: usually the address the person uses now and that does not bounce.
- Compare consent on both. Where they differ, keep the opt-out.
- Move sends, replies, purchases and notes to the kept record before deleting the other.
- Combine tags; for conflicting fields, decide which value is current.
- Check list and sequence membership afterwards for doubles.
How a merge works in Email Digit
Select the two contacts on the contacts page and choose Merge. Email Digit suggests keeping the fuller of the two records, and you can switch. Before anything changes, you see a preview built by the same calculation the merge itself uses: the tags, details and consent the surviving record will have, and how many records will move to it.
| What | What happens on merge |
|---|---|
| Emails sent, replies, conversions | Moved to the surviving contact |
| Sequence sends and enrolments | Moved; an enrolment both had is kept once |
| List memberships | Moved; a list both were in is kept once |
| Consent history | Moved, every row |
| Tags | Combined |
| Custom fields | The surviving record’s values win; gaps filled from the other |
| Name and phone | Kept; filled from the other only if empty |
| Consent per channel | If either record opted out, the result is opted out |
| Email address and subscription status | The surviving record’s own are kept |
Nothing stays behind on the record that goes. Once everything has moved, that record is deleted.
Choosing which record survives
The surviving record keeps its own email address, so pick the one the person uses now. Its custom field values win where both records have one, so if the other record holds the more current value for a field such as a company name, either keep that record instead or update the field after the merge. Switching the survivor in the dialog recalculates the preview, so you can compare both outcomes before you commit to either.
The consent rule
This is the part worth checking in any tool you use. In Email Digit, if either record had opted out of a channel, the merged contact’s consent for that channel is off, whichever record you keep. A merge cannot be used to acquire consent that someone withheld.
Your do-not-send list is separate and is keyed by email address, so a merge does not touch it. An address that unsubscribed stays on the list after the merge.
That cuts both ways. The list covers addresses, not people, and the survivor keeps its own subscription status. If the record you delete is the one that unsubscribed, the surviving address is not on the list and its status does not change. When one of the two has unsubscribed, keep that one as the survivor, or check the survivor’s status after the merge.
The dangerous buttons are the slow ones
A merge cannot be undone, which is why the preview exists. A real undo would mean replaying seven kinds of moved records plus the combined profile, and an undo that works most of the time is worse than none, because people trust it.
Bulk delete follows the same thinking. Delete 50 or more contacts at once and you have to type the number (or the word DELETE) before the button works. The dialog says exactly what happens: those people leave every list and segment, their consent history goes with them, and their sends and replies stay in your history. Every bulk delete is written to your workspace audit log as one entry with the count.
Limits
- Merges are two contacts at a time, and you choose which two.
- Neither merge nor delete can be reversed. Export the contacts first if you might need them.
- Merging and bulk actions need the Editor role or above; viewers see the buttons but cannot use them.
If your duplicates came from importing an old list, the guide to importing an old list covers how dedupe on import avoids most of them. To try it with your own contacts, start a 14-day trial.