Merging two contacts, and what happens to their data

When one person ends up as 2 contacts, for example because they signed up twice with different email addresses, you can merge them. One contact is kept. Everything from the other contact moves into it, and then the other contact is deleted. A merge can't be undone.

Only want to give a contact a different email address? Use Change email address in the contact's options menu, as described in Changing a contact's email address. You only need a merge when the new address already belongs to another contact, and that flow brings you here by itself.

Merging two contacts

Go to CRM → Contacts and open one of the 2 contacts.
Click the options button (the three dots) next to Assign points and choose Merge contacts. The merge opens full screen, in 2 steps: Select contacts and Result.
Choose both contacts:
- Merge this contact, on the left, is the contact that's merged away. It's deleted after the merge.
- Into this contact, on the right, is the contact you keep. It keeps its email address and gets all the data.
The contact you opened starts out on the right. Search for the other contact on the left, or click Swap to turn the 2 around.
Read the warning below the contacts. It names both email addresses and says which contact is deleted.
Click Merge contacts.

Following the merge

The merge runs in the background and moves one kind of data at a time. On the Result step, a progress bar fills up with the part being moved right now shown underneath it. You can leave the page while it runs; the merge carries on without you.

When it's done, the title reads Contacts merged and the line under the bar says All data is moved. View contact takes you to the contact you kept.

Every merge is also listed in your account settings: click the gear icon at the top right of the dashboard to open Settings, then click Contacts under Management (only admins see this item) and look in Merged contacts, with both email addresses and the status. Open a merge there to see its Tasks.

What happens to each contact's data

The contact you keep stays the same contact: its email address, contact type, status and creation date don't change. The other contact's data is added to it.

Moved to the contact you keep

Points transactions. The point balance is then worked out again from all transactions together, so the points of both contacts add up.
Prepaid transactions. The prepaid balances add up the same way.
Vouchers, gift cards, and redeemed vouchers, deals and promo codes.
Stamp cards. When only the other contact has a card for a stamp card program, that card moves over as it is. When both have one for the same program, the stamps and the history of the other card are added to the card of the contact you keep, even past the program's maximum of completed cards. The other card, with its QR code and wallet pass, then stops working.
Orders, visits, bookings and tickets.
Files and form submissions.
Cards, identifiers and wallet passes. The contact you keep can end up with more than 1 card or identifier, and its wallet passes are updated.
Email history and automation runs. A campaign that both contacts received counts once.
Referral codes. The codes of both contacts stay valid, because they may already have been shared.
Referrals the contact made. If both contacts were referred by someone, the referral of the contact you keep stays.

Where both contacts have a value, the contact you keep wins

First name, last name, birthdate, language and custom attributes. The other contact's value is only used where the contact you keep has none.
Phone number and address. The other contact's is only moved over when the contact you keep has none.
Email subscriptions, per subscription type. If the contact you keep already has a status for a subscription type, that status stays, whether it's subscribed or unsubscribed. The other contact's status only moves over for types the contact you keep has no status for.

Checked again after the merge

The tier of the contact you keep is evaluated again.
Dynamic contact lists check the contact you keep against their filters again. Memberships of static and manual lists move over.

Deleted

The merged-away contact, along with anything of it that didn't move over, such as its own point balance and its subscription statuses for types the contact you keep already had.

When a merge can't start or stops

A merge can't start when:

Both sides are the same contact. The page asks you to Select 2 different contacts.
One of the 2 contacts is already part of a merge that's still running. Wait until that merge is done.

If one part of the merge fails, the merge stops there. The Result step then reads Contacts not merged, and the line under the bar says which part it stopped at. The parts after it haven't been moved yet, and the merged-away contact isn't deleted. Click Retry to carry on: the parts that already finished aren't done again. You'll find Retry on the merge under Settings → Contacts → Merged contacts too. It isn't offered when one of the 2 contacts no longer exists.