Data cleanliness is essential when using a CRM, and merging profiles in Beamery helps you achieve this by allowing you to combine information from two profiles that pertain to the same candidate into a single Beamery profile. When Beamery detects potential duplicates in your CRM based on matching (but not uniquely identifying) profile data, it will suggest that you merge the profiles. 

When importing contacts into Beamery by CSV, Beamery will automatically merge any duplicates based on email address or social media profile URls, which are unique to a candidate.

Table of Contents

How to Merge Profiles
Automatic Merging with CSV Import

How to Merge Profiles

In cases where there is more than one profile for the same candidate in Beamery, you will want  to merge these profiles into one profile to avoid confusion and duplicated effort. 

The following steps will help you to merge duplicate Beamery Profiles: 

1. When Beamery detects potential duplicate profiles, you will see an alert banner at the top of the profile. Click Review & open merge options.
   
   Beamery uses the following information to identify potential duplicate profiles: Integration ID (if applicable), email address, social link, and full name.
   
   If you do not see the duplicate banner, but are certain that you have found duplicate profiles, ensure that the contact names on each profile are an exact, case-sensitive match, refresh the page, and you should then see the duplicate alert banner.
   
   
   If two Candidates share the same name, same email address, but have different ATS IDs then the merge banner would not be present. This is because it's synced with their integration where the profiles are being treated separately.
   
2. Next, a modal will appear where you can review the potential duplicate profile(s) that Beamery has identified. In this modal, you will see the details of all potential duplicates. The red trash can indicates a data point that will be removed from the resulting merged contact. This will include the contact you are currently viewing, and any potential duplicates. You will be able to clearly see which data points will be retained and which will be deleted forever after the merge. In the example shown below, there are 2 email addresses with the primary tag. While all email addresses will be included in the resulting merged contact, the primary tag will be removed from the duplicate contact (on the right), indicated by the red trash can. 
   
3.  If you would like to take a closer look at a potential duplicate candidate’s profile to determine whether it should be merged with the selected contact, click on the diagonal arrow icon next to their name.
   
4. If there are more than one potential duplicate profiles, you can move between these profiles using the arrow icons at the top right of the modal. Note that only two profiles can be merged at a time, so if there are multiple potential duplicates, you will need to review and merge each one individually.
    
5. If you are certain that the potential duplicate profiles are definitely not duplicates, you should click Keep both contacts. This will prevent these profiles from being suggested as duplicate profiles in future, not just for you but for everyone on your team. If you are uncertain as to whether the profiles are duplicates, you do not need to take action and can close the modal by clicking the x in the top right corner. This might be a good time to assign a colleague a task of determining whether the contacts are duplicates that should be merged.
   
6. If you are satisfied that the potential duplicate profiles are confirmed duplicate profiles and should be merged, you will next need to decide which of the profiles should be the primary profile. Information will be included on the merged profile from both of the duplicate profiles, but the information on the primary profile will be shown as the primary information. For example, the email address of the primary contact will be the primary email address and the duplicate contact’s email address will be shown on the merged profile as an additional email address. Information for fields such as Status where only one value is possible will be taken from the primary contact that you select. Select the primary contact profile by clicking the radio button at the top of the contact you wish to select. 
   
7. Once you have selected your primary contact profile, review the results after the merge on the far right of the modal, and click Merge contacts. 

Once merged, contacts cannot be un-merged.

After clicking Merge contacts, the contacts will have been merged and you will see the resulting profile. The events on the profile timelines of each individual profile will be combined onto the profile timeline of the newly merged profile. Note that this means there will be two instances of certain events where you may expect there to only be one, for example how and when the profile was created. 

Automatic Merging with CSV Import

When you complete a CSV Import using Beamery, you may be importing contacts that already exist in your CRM. Beamery will automatically merge duplicate records from your CSV import that have matching email addresses and/or social URLs. This includes duplicate contacts on the same CSV file or with candidates who are already in Beamery. 

If candidates share the same name but not the same email address or social URL, the contacts will not be automatically merged, but you will see the potential duplicate banner appear on those profiles. Follow the above steps to review and merge potential duplicates like this. 

For instructions on how to complete a CSV Import, check out this article. 

Contact Merging via the API

There is also the ability to merge duplicate contacts via the API. Neither contact may be deleted or anonymized for this action to work. This endpoint should only be used to merge contacts to be in sync with your ATS integration. This endpoint should be used with caution as it could cause data integrity issues with the ATS. Find the full API developer notes here.

In Summary…

Beamery makes it quick, simple and easy to review and merge duplicate profiles, allowing your team to maintain a high level of data cleanliness. 

Additional Resources: 

An Overview of the Beamery Profile
How to Import Contacts from a Spreadsheet into Beamery