How to deduplicate contact records in bulk within Syncari for cleaner databases

If your contact database is clogged with duplicates, you're not alone. Whether you're in SalesOps, RevOps, or just the person stuck cleaning up the mess, duplicate contacts are a pain: they mess up reporting, annoy your team, and waste money. This guide is for anyone who wants a straightforward, reliable way to deduplicate contact records in bulk using Syncari—without breaking things or making your life harder.

Why Duplicate Contacts Are a Big Deal (and Why They Happen)

Duplicates creep in everywhere—imports, integrations, manual entry, bad sync jobs. If you have multiple systems talking to each other (think: Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk), it gets worse. You might have “John Smith” with three different emails, or the same person with slightly different spellings.

The costs? Confused sales reps, annoyed customers, bad analytics, and sometimes, compliance headaches. You need a fix that works at scale (sorry, had to use it once) but isn’t a black box or a weekend-long project.

What Syncari Can—and Can’t—Do About Duplicates

Syncari is best known for syncing and unifying data across your apps. Its deduplication features are powerful, but not magic: you still have to define what counts as a duplicate, and you’ll need to spend some time up front. The good news? Once you set up your deduplication logic, Syncari can handle bulk dedupes quickly and repeatably.

Here’s what works:

  • Bulk deduplication: Clean thousands of contacts at once, not one-by-one.
  • Custom rules: You decide what counts as a “duplicate”—maybe email, maybe phone, maybe a combo.
  • Merge logic: Pick which data to keep and what gets overwritten.
  • Audit trails: See what happened and why, so you’re not guessing.

What doesn’t work so well:

  • Fuzzy matching is limited: If you want super-smart AI that knows “Jon Smyth” is “John Smith,” you’ll need to get creative or use another tool first.
  • No undo button: Once records are merged, reversing it is tricky. Always test on a small data set first.

Let’s get into it.

Step 1: Prep Your Contacts and Syncari Environment

Before you do anything, get your house in order. Deduplication is not something to rush—bad merges can do more harm than good.

Checklist:

  • Backup your data. Seriously. Export your contacts from Syncari and your source systems. If something goes sideways, you’ll be glad you did.
  • Review your data sources. Know where your contacts come from (CRM, marketing tools, spreadsheets). Syncari pulls from all connected sources, so be clear about what’s in scope.
  • Clean up the worst offenders. If you know you have records with missing emails or obviously fake data, filter or delete them first.

Pro tip: If you’re new to Syncari, start with a test environment or a sandbox. Don’t experiment on your live CRM.

Step 2: Define What a “Duplicate” Is for Your Business

Every company’s definition is a bit different. Some say “email address match,” others look at name + company, or even phone. The key: be realistic, not perfect.

Common approaches:

  • Strict match: Only merge records if the email is identical. Safest, but you’ll miss some real dupes.
  • Loose match: Name + company, or email + phone. Catches more, but risks false positives.
  • Custom fields: Maybe you have an internal ID, or you care about LinkedIn URLs.

My advice:

  • Start strict. You can always loosen the rules later.
  • If you’re not sure, pull a sample and eyeball the results before going big.

Step 3: Set Up Deduplication Rules in Syncari

Now you’re ready to get into Syncari’s deduplication engine.

How to do it:

  1. Log in to Syncari and go to the Data Studio.
  2. Select the “Contacts” entity.
  3. Open the Deduplication Rules panel. Usually, this is a tab or a menu option within the entity config.
  4. Define your matching criteria. This is where you set exactly what fields need to match (email, phone, etc).
    • You can stack rules (e.g., “Email equals” AND “First Name equals”).
    • You can also add weight or priority if Syncari supports fuzzy logic, but keep it simple at first.
  5. Set your merge logic. Decide:
    • Which record is the “master” (the one that survives).
    • How to handle conflicting data (e.g., always keep newest, or prefer records from a trusted source).
    • What to do with related data (notes, tasks, custom fields).
  6. Preview your matches. Most tools, including Syncari, let you run a preview before committing. DO THIS. Check the proposed merges and make sure you’re not about to wipe out good data.

What to ignore:

  • Fancy “AI” settings unless you’ve thoroughly tested them. They sound cool, but can introduce weird merges.
  • Overly complex rules. If you need a flowchart to explain them, simplify.

Step 4: Run the Bulk Deduplication Job

Here’s where you actually clean up the mess.

Steps:

  1. Run a test merge.
    • Select a small batch (maybe 100–500 records).
    • Let Syncari process the deduplication.
    • Check the results: Were the right records merged? Any surprises?
  2. Review the audit log.
    • Syncari logs every merge. Scan for anything unexpected.
    • If something looks off, adjust your rules and retest.
  3. Go big.
    • Confident in your rules? Run the bulk job on the full contact set.
    • Monitor performance—large jobs can take a while.
    • Keep an eye out for errors or partial merges.

Pro tip: Schedule bulk dedupes during off-hours, if possible. Merges can slow down other sync processes.

Step 5: Post-Dedupe Cleanup and Ongoing Maintenance

Congrats, you’ve merged your dupes. Don’t stop there.

What to check:

  • Spot check key records. Search for important accounts/contacts and make sure nothing weird happened.
  • Sync downstream systems. If you use Syncari to update Salesforce, HubSpot, etc., confirm the changes made it everywhere.
  • Update your team. Let people know the cleanup happened and who to contact if they see issues.

Ongoing tips:

  • Set up a regular deduplication schedule (monthly or quarterly).
  • Tighten user permissions. Less manual entry = fewer future duplicates.
  • Review your dedupe rules as your business changes.

Honest Gotchas and Limitations

No tool (not even Syncari) can fix years of bad data in one click. Here’s what to watch for:

  • Bad source data = bad results. If your contacts are full of typos or missing emails, dedupe is tough.
  • User pushback. Some reps will complain their contacts vanished. Communicate early and often.
  • Merge conflicts. If two records have different info (say, two phone numbers), you have to pick. No system can always know what’s right.

If you need advanced fuzzy matching (catching “Jon” vs. “John,” etc.), consider pre-processing your data in Excel or using a dedicated deduplication tool before pushing to Syncari.

Wrap-Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often

Bulk deduplication in Syncari isn’t rocket science, but it pays to go slow, test, and keep your rules simple. Don’t chase perfection—just get rid of the obvious mess. Review your process every few months, and you’ll keep your database clean without losing sleep.

And remember: no tool will ever fully replace human judgment. Your job is to set the guardrails and keep things from going off the rails. Good luck, and happy cleaning!