In this article, you will learn how to merge duplicate contacts in Manychat. If you have a Manychat Pro subscription, you can use the Merge Contact feature to link, for example, a Facebook contact who has a duplicate record in another channel. This will reduce the number of duplicate email and SMS records a customer can have via Messenger, Instagram, or WhatsApp. By utilizing the contact merging, you can create one master record for one contact.
What are primary and secondary contacts?
The primary contact is the master contact with the values and data you want to keep. You can select a contact from any channel, such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. The secondary contact is the duplicate you want to merge with the primary contact.
⚠️ Note: Facebook is the only channel you can’t choose as the secondary. This prevents merging two Facebook contacts into one.
⚠️ Note: The system doesn't allow linking two different Instagram, WhatsApp, or Telegram contacts. However, you can merge, for example, a Facebook (primary contact) and an Instagram (secondary contact) user.
💡 You will still have secondary contact with all data in the contacts list with the status “Merged”. To see the merged contacts, make sure you can view the unsubscribed contacts.
How to merge Contacts
Go to Contacts tab and select the record that will be your primary contact.
Select the Merge Contact from the upper right drop-down menu.
💡 You can also merge contacts from conversations in a live chat.
The values and data associated with your primary contact will appear in the left column. This contact will remain after the merge. The second column will contain an empty name field for the secondary contact. After merging, the system will delete this contact and its data.
⚠️ Note: The system will permanently delete the secondary contact and its live chat records after merging.
Enter the contact's name. If the secondary contact is in the system, its data and values will appear.
Select Preview.
Review the data of the primary and secondary contacts, including phone number and email address.
Click Edit Merge to select which fields you want in your main contact.
Merging rules
- Phone and Email. You can select which phone number and email you want to keep. For example, pick an email from one contact and a phone number from another.
💡 If you want to have a second phone number, before you merge, open a primary contact card and add a Custom Field for "extra number".
- Other System fields like First Name will be taken from the primary contact.
- Custom User Fields will be joined. If contacts have the same custom fields with different values, you can select which custom field to use from either your primary or secondary contact.
- Tags will be joined.
- Channels from the secondary contact will automatically transfer to the primary contact.
- Live chat’s history for secondary contact will be deleted.
After merging, click the Save button. Your chosen field values will appear in the main contact.
Click Next. Read and confirm the statement in Merge Contacts pop-up window, and select Merge.
The result of your merged main contact will appear.