How to merge accounts in Salesforce

Reports reveal that companies believe at least 26% of their data is dirty, leading to enormous losses. Unorganized data costs 15-16% of a company's revenue, amounting to around three trillion dollars annually for US companies alone.

Salesforce users are not immune to the problem of dirty data, often due to duplicate records. Such a problem can clutter your system, complicate customer relationship management, and lead to inefficient operations. Merging duplicate accounts is a practical solution to ensure your data remains clean and functional.

In this article, we'll provide tips on how to merge 2 accounts in Salesforce Lightning and Classic interface based on Noltic's experience working with the Salesforce ecosystem. 

Reasons to merge accounts in Salesforce 

Merging duplicate accounts in Salesforce may be necessary for several reasons:

Improving data quality

Duplicate accounts lead to inconsistent and inaccurate data. Merging accounts helps ensure your database is clean, reliable, and up-to-date. Accounts organization improves overall data quality, which is crucial for making informed business decisions.

Increasing sales managers' productivity

When sales managers have to sift through duplicate records, their productivity decreases. Merging accounts simplifies their workflow, allowing them to focus more on high-priority sales tasks.

Better customer relationship management

Consolidating duplicate accounts provides a full view of each customer. This complete perspective enables your team to deliver more personalized and effective customer service, fostering stronger relationships.

Accurate reporting and analytics

Duplicated records can skew reports and analytics, leading to faulty insights. By merging accounts, you ensure that your reports are accurate, helping you to track performance and strategize effectively.

Efficient marketing efforts

Marketing campaigns rely on precise data for targeting and personalization. Merging accounts helps eliminate redundancies, ensuring your marketing efforts are directed accurately and efficiently.

Cost savings

Maintaining duplicate records consumes unnecessary storage space and resources. By merging accounts, you can reduce data storage costs and allocate resources more effectively.

Compliance and data governance

Ensuring your data is clean and accurate helps comply with regulations and standards. Merging accounts supports better data governance and reduces the risk of non-compliance issues.

Preparing for account merging in Salesforce 

Before you begin to merge accounts in Salesforce, you should make some preparations that can simplify the task and protect you from making mistakes.

1. Data review

First, review the accounts you plan to merge. Ensure they are duplicates or genuinely need merging due to similarity or overlap.

2. Backup

Always back up your data before merging accounts. Ensure you have a copy in case something goes wrong or if you need to refer back to it.

3. Check dependencies

Look for any related records or objects linked to the accounts, such as contacts, opportunities, or custom objects. Understand how merging will affect these dependencies.

4. Consolidate account information

Determine which account will be the primary record and merge the necessary data from the duplicate accounts into this primary account.

5. Communicate changes

If applicable, communicate with relevant teams or users about the merging process. Ensure everyone understands the implications of what happens when you merge accounts in Salesforce and any changes they might need to make.

How to merge two accounts in Salesforce step-by-step 

There are two interface types: Lightning and Classic. Each has a different method of how to merge duplicate accounts in Salesforce.

How to merge accounts in Salesforce Classic 

• Navigate to the Accounts tab in Salesforce Classic.
• Locate the Tools section and click on Merge Accounts. If this option is not available, request permission from your admin account.
• Enter a search string to find potential duplicate accounts.
• The system will display a list of accounts that match your search criteria.
• Select up to three accounts to merge and click Next.
• Choose one of the accounts as the master record (primary account), and all data from the other selected records will be added to it.
• Choose the specific fields to retain from each duplicate record.
• Click the Merge button to consolidate all data into one master account.
• Salesforce Classic will merge the records while maintaining the integrity of all associated data (e.g., open tasks, opportunities, and cases).
• Once the process is complete, the duplicate accounts will no longer exist, and all associated data will be consolidated into the master account.

How to merge accounts in Salesforce Lightning

• Navigate to an Account record within Salesforce Lightning Experience.
• Click the View Duplicates button to find potential duplicates. Lightning Experience only recognizes exact account names as potential duplicates. If you are looking to learn how to merge accounts in Salesforce Lightning with different names, you will need to use Salesforce Classic and utilize the Merge Accounts tool.
• Identify the accounts that need to be merged.
• Select the master account and the field values, then click Next. You can only merge business or personal accounts together. These two account types can't be mixed.
• Use the Salesforce Sandbox environment to test the merging process and ensure it works correctly.
• Once confident in how to merge two accounts in Salesforce Lightning, begin the merging process to enjoy clean, reliable data in Salesforce.

Quick tips to merge accounts in Salesforce 

Here are some best practices for a smooth merge:

1. Perform a complete backup of your Salesforce data before initiating the process. While account merging is reversible within a specific time frame, having a backup adds an extra layer of safety. You can recover your data if any issues arise during the merging process.
2. Inform users and stakeholders about the merger to ensure they understand its potential impact on their workflows and are aware of any changes. Providing training and support throughout the process helps users understand the benefits and responsibilities of using the Account Merging feature.
3. Document the merging process for future reference to quickly refer back to the steps taken, any challenges encountered, and how they were resolved in case of any future need.
4. Audit and clean up accounts regularly to identify duplicates. Locate where is the merge accounts tool in Salesforce Lightning and utilize data cleansing tools or validation rules to prevent the creation of duplicate records in the first place can help reduce the frequency of account merging.
5. Manage user permissions properly, providing access to Account Merging functionality to trusted users who understand the implications well. Security controls should also be put in place to prevent any unauthorized access.

Troubleshooting common issues when merging accounts in Salesforce 

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When merging Salesforce accounts, there is always a risk of encountering issues that can lead to data loss or inconsistencies. Below, we’re exploring what can go wrong and how to fix this.

Identify & evaluate discrepancies

• Carefully compare conflicting information in each record to ensure no critical data is lost during the merge.
• Check related objects like contacts, opportunities, and cases to understand how the merge will impact these records.
• Focus on high-impact fields like name, address, phone number, and other essential information.
• Ensure key business identifiers like account numbers or unique IDs are correct.
• Address discrepancies in custom fields that affect reporting and other business processes.
• Ensure that custom field mappings are correctly set up before merging to avoid data loss.
• Use data from the designated "master" account as the source of truth to ensure consistency and accuracy.
• Review the master account's history and notes to verify its completeness.

Troubleshooting system hiccups

• Consult Salesforce error logs to pinpoint the problem and understand the cause of any merging issues.
• Look for common error messages related to permissions, data integrity, or record locking.
• Depending on the error, update data or address system issues. For example, correct any data inconsistencies or remove conflicting records.
• If the error is due to permissions, ensure that the user performing the merge has the necessary rights.
• Verify that important data, such as attachments or notes, are not lost during the merge.
• Temporarily turn off any validation rules or triggers that might interfere with the merge process.
• After the merge, re-enable these rules and verify they work correctly with the merged data.

Use additional resources

• Leverage expert assistance from Salesforce support when encountering issues that can't be resolved internally. Provide details about the issue, error messages, and steps already taken to resolve it.
• Use community forums and knowledge bases to find valuable tips and troubleshooting insights from other users. Search for similar issues and solutions that others have found effective.
• Review Salesforce documentation on account merging for any updates or additional troubleshooting steps.
• Be sure to teach your team the correct merging procedures to minimize errors.

Considerations for large-scale Salesforce mergers

Currently, Salesforce only allows users to merge up to three accounts at a time, which can be immensely time-consuming if you're dealing with many. Fortunately, some tools can deal with the process in just a few clicks. 

Cloudingo

• Allows you to efficiently handle large-scale data management tasks such as mass updates, deletes, and merges.
• Identifies and merges duplicate records to maintain clean data.
• Enables you to set specific criteria for finding duplicates.
• Highly rated with a 4.8-star rating on AppExchange.

It is the best choice for users who need a robust solution for handling large-scale data cleaning and merging tasks with advanced customization options.

ZaapIT

• Offers a thorough suite of data management tools such as mass cloning, creating, converting, and merging leads.
• Allows you to schedule account merges in advance, saving time and effort.
• A user-friendly interface allows complex data operations to be performed without a steep learning curve.

This app is a great choice for users who require a versatile tool for managing large datasets and prefer automated scheduling for merging tasks.

XLConnector

• Offers extensive data manipulation capabilities for mass merge accounts in Salesforce.
• Utilizes a familiar and intuitive interface for easy data management.
• Allows for custom configurations to suit specific data handling needs.

This app will suit users who prefer working within Excel and accounting departments that need a powerful tool to perform large-scale data operations directly from their spreadsheets.‍

Ensuring data integrity post-merge

Once you’ve successfully merged accounts, you will be ready to check data accuracy. 

Verify merged account details

• Check contact information, addresses, and other relevant data to ensure they are accurate and correctly merged.
• Confirm that no critical information is missing or incorrectly combined.

Check related records and data associations

• Review opportunities, cases, and campaigns associated with the merged accounts to ensure they are correctly linked.
• Ensure all related records reflect the correct associations with the new master account.

Run reports to confirm the accuracy

• Use Salesforce's reporting tools to generate detailed reports on the merged data.
• Identify any discrepancies or errors that may have been missed during the initial verification process.
• Reports can provide insights into data integrity and highlight areas that need further attention.

Case study: How clear data helps in optimizing sales operations 

AFV Partners, operating in the aerospace and defense industry, needed to facilitate operations and ensure high-quality data in their Salesforce environment to optimize sales processes.

Noltic's approach

We consolidated AFV Partners' fragmented data by merging duplicates and ensuring accurate representation. Our team implemented validation rules and automated cleaning processes to maintain data quality. Also, we integrated Salesforce with external systems for seamless data flow and developed custom solutions to improve data accuracy and usability.

Results

With our help, AFV Partners achieved high-quality, reliable data. This improved data allowed for optimized sales operations, enabling better-informed decisions and more efficient deal closures. Enhanced reporting capabilities provided valuable insights into sales performance. Streamlined workflows reduced manual data entry and corrections.

Learn more about data optimization in Salesforce in our case studies.

Wrapping up

Merging accounts in Salesforce is not just about tidying up data; it's about optimizing your entire operational efficiency. This way, you can unlock valuable insights, enhance customer relationships, and facilitate workflows by eliminating duplicate records and ensuring data integrity.

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Partnering with Noltic offers substantial advantages rooted in extensive Salesforce expertise and industry knowledge. Our certified team optimizes data management and operational efficiency, ensuring clean and reliable Salesforce environments. We at Noltic integrate Salesforce seamlessly with external systems, enhance data accuracy with custom solutions, and support clients in achieving simplified sales operations and enhanced reporting capabilities. 

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FAQs

How can I identify duplicate accounts?

You can identify duplicate accounts using Salesforce's Duplicate Management features. This includes creating and using matching rules and duplicate rules. Matching rules define what criteria to use when identifying duplicates, such as matching on account name or email. Duplicate rules alert you to potential duplicates when you're creating or editing records, and they can also block duplicates from being created. Additionally, you can use the "Find Duplicates" button on an account record to manually check for duplicates. 

What happens when duplicate accounts are found?

In this scenario, Salesforce can alert you through notifications or reports, depending on your duplicate rules settings. If your duplicate rules are configured to block duplicates, users won't be able to save a new account that matches existing ones.

What information should I prioritize when merging accounts?

When merging accounts, prioritize the following information:

• Ensure the correct name is retained.
• Contact details should be accurate.
• Ensure opportunities, contacts, and activities are linked to the correct master record.
• Pay attention to any custom fields critical to your business processes.
• Notes and attachments should be preserved to ensure no important information is lost.

How do I handle conflicting data during a merge?

When handling conflicting data during a merge:

1. Carefully review and compare the information in each record.
2. Choose the most up-to-date and accurate data.
3. If necessary, verify information manually with the account owner or other stakeholders.
4. If you need to reference it later, keep a record of what changes were made and why.

What if I encounter errors while merging?

If you encounter errors while merging:

• Salesforce will typically provide an error message with details. Review this message to understand the issue.
• Ensure you have the necessary permissions to merge records.
• Conflicts with related records (e.g., opportunities, contacts) can cause errors. Ensure these records are correctly linked.
• If you cannot resolve the issue, contact Salesforce Support for assistance.
• Make sure you have a records backup before merging to restore data if necessary.

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