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Today's business relies heavily on data. Companies need data to engage customers successfully, thrive on the digital transformation path, or interact with partners and other companies. Therefore, decisions can be for the better or worse, depending on how accurate the underlying data is. Whether or not a company can seize a fresh opportunity depends on data too.

A company's future success depends on making data-informed decisions quickly and effectively. Companies that don't follow these practices may be at a disadvantage. According to [reports](https://hbr.org/2016/09/bad-data-costs-the-u-s-3-trillion-per-year), poor data management costs organizations an estimated $3.1 trillion in the United States yearly.

In addition to poor data management, duplicate data is one of the practices that can cut an organization from the success train. It can occur for several reasons, but it is not a peculiar challenge. Duplicate data costs businesses in America an[ estimated ](https://www.dmnews.com/data/news/13086153/study-poor-data-quality-costs-600b-yearly)600 billion dollars every year, but the adverse effect on companies cannot be overemphasized. Therefore, it is essential to understand the negative impact of duplicates.

## Calculating the Costs

As many as [94%](https://www.edq.com/about-us/news/latest-experian-qas-research-finds-contact-data-quality-affects-the-customer-experience/) of companies believe that their customer and prospect data is erroneous. Businesses can incur high costs due to the existence of these duplicates, with hidden costs eating deeper into the profits. Your marketing budget can quickly go down the drain if you have data duplicates. For example, three records for one consumer means three catalogs. The costs of sending the same information several times are enormous, especially on a larger scale. Assume you're sending an email at $3 per 1,000 emails. If you have 100,000 email addresses and 10% are duplicates, you lose $30 every time you send an email. Think about how many dollars you could lose if the same mistake occurred during your marketing efforts.

Decision-making may be hindered if your marketing data isn't reliable because data integrity issues make it difficult to make informed decisions. The expenses of data duplication run over the budget. In addition, loss of productivity has its price tag. Customers with multiple records imply a time-consuming and challenging customer support experience for both sides.

### **Storage Expenses**

First of all, multiple copies of the same data result in higher storage costs. Consider this example, 100 people in your business submitted a 1 MB email attachment. With 100 attachments in your database, you need 100 MB of storage space. By deleting duplicate entries, only one instance of the attachment is required to be saved, hence saving space. But, the storage expenses are not the only focus.

There are significant costs associated with excessive data duplication connected to servers regardless of how inexpensive storage might be. Infrastructure costs are the most common form of these costs. Database software is often necessary to handle the access to the data on the servers. Some businesses are sufficiently advanced that they can assign expenses based on applications and even business functions. Still, only a few companies are mature enough to know what data is duplicated across the applications they manage. For this reason, managers may end up purchasing storage in large quantities, hence buying too much.

### **ETL and Labor Costs**

When you use the Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) strategy to copy data, it's straightforward and fast. It can create interfaces across systems to replicate data, and the costs are usually minimal. However, the data copies diverge over time. Any changes to the dynamics can cause the data to fall out of sync or "drift." Using inaccurate data(duplicates) in this way can be dangerous, with far-reaching consequences in the long run.

Many organizations employ ETL developers in their business analyst teams, which spend most of their time managing data pipelines, leaving little time for data analysis. Bottom line? The habit of copying data comes with additional expenses. Also, a single change in one system can have a ripple effect on several other applications. Then overall developmental costs go to the roof at the expense of productivity.

### **Inaccurate KPIs, Reporting, and Audit Issues**

Companies use important metrics to measure and forecast their performance against their own goals and the competitions. However, accuracy will be a challenge if the organization relies on duplicate data to construct its KPIs. For better decision-making and greater profitability, companies should consider one reliable source.

While duplicates can affect accuracy, financial reporting may also suffer. The accuracy of the crucial record-to-report function can be potentially undermined if information comes from multiple unreliable sources. Financial performance metrics will be affected, but so will compliance requirements. Redoing or postponing financial reporting because of data integrity issues never looks good.

### **Customer Service and Engagement**

We know that CRMs make it easier for businesses to communicate with their consumers, provide better customer service, and boost brand loyalty by providing a centralized data source. Therefore, the system is as good as the data that feeds them. Improving the customer experience can prove problematic when customer records have duplicate entries, missing entries, etc.

Bad data affects customer service and sales. In most cases, a client calls to inquire about a purchase they made earlier, and because the CRM is refreshed every night, the company won't have a trace of it. In other cases, discrepancies between the CRM and the ordering system may occur. If a company's marketing teams cannot delete duplicate records during marketing efforts, they risk losing their audience.

## How you can prevent data duplication

Preventing data duplication is the best way to avoid all issues mentioned above. It's an automated procedure that uses algorithms and data processing in your lead database to find and merge probable duplicates. Data entry errors can be curtailed by following consistent procedures the first time a customer's information is entered.

* Consider running duplicate data through filters regularly. In most data management tools like Excel, there are basic features for removing duplication.
* Ensure that the prospecting data you receive is accurate and void of duplicates by sourcing it from a trusted source.
* Stop using prospecting data you've paid for in your home file. When purchasing data, be sure that your residence file can be suppressed. Duplicate data will be reduced, and you won't have to pay for data you already own.
* To find duplicate data, work with reliable data management like [CloudAnswers](https://cloudanswers.com/products/merge-duplicates). They have been recognized as experienced data business specialists and are the builders of the [Potential Duplicates component,](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EcyysUAB&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=hidden_cost_of_duplicates) which you can use to find and merge duplicates.

Clean data is error-free data, saving you a lot of money if you confirm it before launching your marketing efforts. The expense of removing duplicate data is lesser than scrubbing data.

A company's future success depends on making data-informed decisions quickly and effectively. Companies that don't follow these best practices, on the other hand, will be at a disadvantage.  Duplicate data is bad news in addition to poor data management. Luckily, it is not a peculiar challenge. It can occur within an organization for several reasons, and rest assured.

the-hidden-costs-of-duplicates-in-salesforce

The hidden costs of duplicates in Salesforce

_Blog post updated on the 25th of March 2022_

Maintaining a clean and consistent **database** is important to keep a business running smoothly. But it requires a never-ending process of **removing duplicates**, cleaning bad data, enhancing records, backing up data, and more. In today’s post, we’d talk about one of the first things to start with - Salesforce duplicate management.

**Duplicate records** are almost unavoidable, especially when you have data coming from multiple sources or multiple users. They are stress agents. Imagine calling a prospect only for them to reply that your company reached out earlier. Or telling a customer that you didn’t get their order just to realize that you were looking at the wrong record for them. Or sending someone several emails because you have multiple leads for them. There are many ways that duplicates can hurt your reputation and directly impact your business.

Therefore, it is vital to know how to find duplicate accounts in Salesforce, remove them, and prevent them. And when it comes to duplicate checks in salesforce, there are several options. For example, a [search for duplicates on the AppExchange](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxSearchKeywordResults?keywords=duplicates&searchType=simpleSearch) provides over 260 results! So that you can find duplicate accounts in Salesforce in a single search.

So where should you start? Read on to know your options and how you can prevent and merge duplicates in Salesforce. If you’d rather have someone else put together a recommendation specifically for your company you can [schedule some time to talk](https://cloudanswers.com/jsullivan).

# Salesforce Duplicate Rules

Most Salesforce systems come with Duplicate Management, a way to alert users about duplicates. Salesforce Duplicate report Management requires setting up Duplicate Rules and Matching Rules (although some are set up by default).

1. [**Duplicate Rules**](https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?err=1&id=sf.duplicate_rules_map_of_reference.htm&type=5) answer the question: what happens if a duplicate is identified? These define what happens when someone views a duplicate or tries to edit or create a duplicate.
2. [**Matching Rules**](https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?err=1&id=sf.matching_rule_map_of_reference.htm&type=5) answer the question: what is a duplicate? These define what fields and criteria are used to match records. Matching Rules are used in Duplicate Rules.

The standard account duplicate rule is one of the defaults that come with Salesforce. The Matching Rule is referenced in the Duplicate Rule.

## Customizing Matching Rules

Matching rules are the best place to start since they determine what defines a duplicate. Before sitting down to create these rules, make sure to review your data and talk to your team. Some things to think about or discuss with your team:

* **What fields are populated when records are created?** You don’t want to create a matching rule that uses the Website field, for example, if you never fill in that field.
* **What fields help identify which records** **_aren’t_** **duplicates?** There are a lot of scenarios where you might want to allow records that are similar, so identifying unique fields like Email or Address can help avoid matching records that aren’t actually duplicated. You can also use a field for a related object, like Account on Contact, to limit the potential duplicates to only those on the same related object.

**How broadly do you want the potential duplicates to be?** When setting up rules you can cast a wide net or a small one. If your users are well-trained and familiar with merging records you can make your matching rules broader and let the users decide if a record is a duplicate or not. Otherwise, you can set up stricter rules and users will get fewer warnings about potential duplicates.

## To set up your Matching Rules, follow these steps:

1. In Salesforce Setup, search for Matching Rules on the left menu
2. Click New Rule to create a new rule or click Edit to edit an existing rule. Note: Rules that are active cannot be edited, deactivate the Duplicate rule and the Matching Rule to edit. Standard rules cannot be edited.
3. Choose the object that the matching rule is for.
4. Enter a rule name and select the fields and matching method for each one. For details on the matching methods, [check out the Salesforce help](https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?err=1&id=sf.matching_rules_matching_methods.htm&type=5).
5. If you have advanced logic (like match on Name and Address OR Email), then click Add Filter Logic to enter the logic.
6. Save and activate your rule. Depending on the amount of data and Salesforce’s current server load, the activation could take a while to generate keys for all of the records.

That’s it, you now have a matching rule that you can use in your duplicate rules.

## Customizing Duplicate Rules

Now that you have matching rules, you can decide what happens when they find a match. To customize Duplicate Rules search for Duplicate Rules in Salesforce Setup. Like Matching Rules, there are a few things you may want to consider before setting these up:

* **Should duplicate checks bypass sharing?** If your organization's records are private, you'll have to determine whether or not to share them. If you disable sharing, the user records that others don't have access to aren't displayed, but it may prevent them from duplicating them even if they can't view the original.


* **Do you want to prevent the creation of duplicates? Warn users, or report it to admins** Your company must decide how stringent it wants to be when it comes to duplication, and this should be considered alongside your matching standards. If you have stringent matching restrictions, it's easy to decide whether to prevent people from making duplicates, but if you don't, you might only want to notify them. If you don't want to annoy your users, simply report the duplicate and let them make or change it.

## To set up a Duplicate Rule, follow these steps:

1. In Salesforce Setup, search for Duplicate Rules on the left menu.
2. Click New Rule and choose an object or edit an existing rule. To edit a rule, you have to deactivate it first.
3. Name the rule - if you plan to have a lot of rules, consider a naming convention so it’s easier to find the rule you need to edit.
4. Bypass sharing rules if needed - if you want to match on all records, change Record-Level Security to Bypass sharing rules.
5. Choose what happens on Create and Edit. If you want to prevent duplicates, choose Block. Otherwise, choose if you want to Alert the user or Report the duplicate. Enter your Alert message if needed.
6. Choose your matching rules. Note that you can use multiple matching rules and can even compare records with a different object (for example Contacts with Person Accounts).
7. Specify your conditions, if applicable. This is a good place to filter out any automated processes, for example, you could avoid blocking the web-to-lead records by setting a condition for Lead Source not equal to “Website”.
8. Save and Activate.

That’s it, now go test your new rule and see if it works correctly.

# Viewing Duplicates

Now that you have your duplicate rules set up, you might want to view the duplicates.

## Viewing Duplicates on Reports

To report on the duplicates, you’ll need to create a new report type and then create a report.

1. Go to Report Types in Setup
2. Create a new Report Type
3. Choose the object that has duplicates as the primary object (i.e. Leads, Contacts, Your Custom Object)
4. Relate Duplicate Record Sets to the primary object.
5. Save the report type and create a report.

## Viewing Duplicates on Records

One of the best ways to keep up with duplicates is to display them prominently on the records so that users can see them and merge them if they are allowed. In Lightning Experience, Accounts, Contacts, and Leads come with a pre-built component for this. If you’re trying to use a custom object, or just want a little more control over the component, install our free [Potential Duplicates Component](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EcyysUAB).

If you don’t see potential duplicates on a page, here’s what to do:

1. If you haven’t already, install our [potential duplicates component](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EcyysUAB&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=duplicate_records_in_sf) from the AppExchange.
2. Open up a record that you want to see duplicates on.
3. Click the gear icon in the top right and click Edit Page to launch the Lightning App Builder.
4. Drag the Potential Duplicates component onto the page wherever you’d like.
5. If desired, specify the columns that you want to display on the component or on the merge screen.

The Potential Duplicates Component

## Merging Duplicates

If you happen to be on Performance or Enterprise edition, you can use [Salesforce’s Duplicate Jobs](https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?err=1&id=sf.duplicate_jobs_run_and_manage.htm&type=5) to leverage your Duplicate Rules and merge records. If not, you’ll have to decide if you want to develop a tool to merge duplicates, use something from the AppExchange, or let users merge the records.

If you installed the [Potential Duplicates Component](https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EcyysUAB&utm_source=cloudanswers_website&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=duplicate_records_in_sf) in the last section or have the standard duplicates component on Leads, Accounts, or Contacts then you can start merging records immediately. Just open any record that has a duplicate and click the Review and Merge button to open the merge screen. You can start from a report on potential duplicates from the last section then click into one of the records to merge from the potential duplicates component. Otherwise, users can view and merge duplicates as they are working in the system.

## Conclusion

Maintaining a CRM system with accurate data is critical for any business to succeed. Removing duplicates is one of the easier ways to improve data quality and a huge benefit to the users and the businesses’ financials. For those just getting started with duplicate management, start with setting up Duplicate Rules and Matching Rules to prevent or identify duplicates, then figure out a plan to merge them and keep it clean moving forward.

Maintaining a CRM system with accurate data is critical for any business to succeed. Removing duplicates records in Salesforce is one of the easier ways to improve data quality. For those just getting started with duplicate management, start with setting up Duplicate Rules and Matching Rules to prevent or identify duplicates, then figure out a plan to merge them and keep it clean moving forward.

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