If you’re getting too many mismatched leads or your sales team complains that “the system” is sending stuff to the wrong reps, you’re not alone. Lead routing can be a mess, especially if you’re using out-of-the-box rules. This guide is for anyone who wants to wring more value out of Leadangel’s account matching—whether you’re a sales ops pro, a CRM admin, or just the person everyone yells at when leads go missing.
Let’s cut through the fluff and walk through how to actually customize account matching rules in Leadangel to improve lead conversion. We’ll cover what works, what doesn’t, and the gotchas that don’t show up in the marketing materials.
Why Account Matching Rules Matter
Before you dive in, here’s the reality: no lead routing tool is magic. The rules you set up in Leadangel determine how well your leads get matched to the right accounts (and ultimately, the right reps). If your rules are too loose, you’ll get junk matches. Too strict, and good leads fall through the cracks.
Customizing these rules isn’t about making things fancy—it’s about making them right for your business. The goal is simple: get the right lead to the right person, fast. That’s what moves the needle.
Step 1: Audit Your Current Matching Rules
Don’t skip this. Before you change anything, look at what’s actually happening with your current setup.
- Pull a sample of recent leads and see where they landed. Are they matching to the right accounts? Are there obvious mismatches?
- Talk to your frontline sales users. They know when something’s off.
- Look at your Leadangel logs or reports to find patterns—do certain types of leads consistently go unmatched or end up routed weirdly?
Pro tip: Screenshot or export your current rule config before you touch anything. You’ll want a rollback plan if things go sideways.
Step 2: Map Out Your Ideal Matching Logic
Think about how you define a good account match—not how the software wants to do it.
- What fields matter most? Company name, website, domain, email, phone number, physical address?
- How do you handle subsidiaries or international variations? (e.g., “Acme Ltd” vs “Acme Inc.”)
- Do you care about fuzzy matches, or do you need exact matches?
What works:
Matching on domain (email and website) is usually strongest. Company name alone is risky—too many duplicates or spelling errors. Phone and address fields can help, but they’re often outdated or inconsistent.
What to ignore:
Don’t overcomplicate with every possible field. More rules = more maintenance and more ways for things to break.
Step 3: Get Familiar with Leadangel’s Matching Rule Engine
Leadangel’s matching engine is flexible, but it’s not always intuitive. Take a few minutes to poke around:
- Go to the Account Matching Rules section (usually under Admin or Settings).
- Review the default rules. These often match on company name and website by default.
- Check for any custom rules your team may have added previously.
Gotcha to watch for:
Leadangel’s fuzzy matching is powerful, but aggressive settings can match unrelated companies (“Acme Corp” and “Acne Corp”—yes, really). Test thoroughly.
Step 4: Start Simple—Customize the Matching Criteria
Now, build your matching rules based on what matters most for your leads. Here’s how to approach it:
- Prioritize strong identifiers.
- Email domain is king. If a lead’s email is jane@acme.com, matching to acme.com is almost always right.
- Website domain is next best.
- Use company name, but with guardrails.
- Combine with other fields (e.g., company name + city) to avoid false positives.
- Avoid relying on fuzzy company name matches alone.
- Add secondary fields sparingly.
- Physical address can help, but be careful with formatting differences.
- Phone number is hit-or-miss—lots of general lines or outdated info.
In Leadangel: - Create or adjust your rules to match on primary domain first, then fall back to company name plus another field if there’s no domain match. - Use weighting or scoring if Leadangel allows—give higher weight to stronger identifiers.
Pro tip:
Test with real data, not just the sample records Leadangel provides. Your data is messier than the demo.
Step 5: Test, Test, Test—Don’t Trust the Preview
Leadangel has a “preview” or “simulate” feature for rules. It’s helpful, but not foolproof.
- Upload a batch of real leads and see what accounts they match to.
- Check the misses. Are there high-value leads that aren’t matching? Are some matching to obviously wrong accounts?
- Ask your sales team to sanity check a few matches. They’ll spot problems you missed.
What works:
Iterative testing—make a small change, test, repeat. Don’t try to fix everything at once.
What to ignore:
Don’t assume the matching engine “learns” or gets smarter over time. It only does what you tell it.
Step 6: Add Exceptions and Overrides for Edge Cases
No rule set is perfect. There will always be weird accounts (think: holding companies, international branches, companies with multiple brands).
- Set up manual overrides or exception lists for your biggest accounts or known trouble spots.
- Document these somewhere visible—when you leave, someone else has to maintain this.
Pro tip:
If you’re spending more time on exceptions than on your core rules, it’s a sign your base logic needs work.
Step 7: Monitor, Measure, and Iterate
Once your new rules are live, don’t walk away.
- Set a calendar reminder to review matches every month. Look for a spike in unmatched or mismatched leads.
- Monitor lead conversion rates by matched account. If conversions go up, you’re on the right track. If not, dig in.
- Ask for feedback from the sales team regularly. They’ll tell you if things improve—or if you just moved the problem around.
What works:
Regular check-ins and data pulls. Don’t let matching rules become “set it and forget it.”
Common Pitfalls (and How to Dodge Them)
- Overreliance on company name. Unless you love sorting through duplicates and typos, don’t do it.
- Fuzzy matching set too loose. Suddenly, “Big Tech” and “Big Teach” are the same account? Not good.
- Trying to automate every exception. Some edge cases are just better handled manually.
- Ignoring feedback from the field. The system might look great in a spreadsheet, but if the sales team hates it, it’s not working.
Keep It Simple—And Iterate
Customizing account matching in Leadangel isn’t about perfection. It’s about making things better, one step at a time. Start simple, test with your real data, and don’t be afraid to tweak as you go. The goal isn’t a 100% match rate—it’s getting the right leads to the right people, more often.
If you’re ever in doubt, default to what’s simplest and easiest to maintain. Your future self (and your sales team) will thank you.