📌 This article answers the following questions:
- How do I identify and merge duplicates in my Elloha contact database?
- How can I avoid having duplicate entries for the same customer in my customer database?
- How does automatic duplicate detection work in elloha?
- What happens to associated bookings when two contacts are merged?
Why is this important?
A clean database is the foundation of successful customer relations for your accommodation business. Avoiding duplicates allows you to:
Make your communications more professional: you’ll no longer risk sending the same email to a traveller twice.
Centralise the history: find all bookings for the same customer on a single record.
Save time: no longer waste precious minutes trying to work out which customer record is the most up to date.
Follow the step-by-step guide
Step 1: Access the customer database
Follow these steps to manage your customer database:
In the left-hand side menu, click on Marketing.
Select the Customer Records tab.
If any duplicates are detected, an alert message will appear at the top of your screen. Click on this message to access the deduplication tool.
Step 2: Run the duplicate search
Set the criteria needed to identify identical customer records in your database.
Select the comparison criteria from the following fields:
Surname and first name
Email
Landline or mobile
Postcode
Company
Click the search button to view the relevant results.
Step 3: Merge contacts
Any duplicates found will be displayed in your customer list.
Tick the contacts you wish to merge.
Click the ‘Merge contacts’ button to confirm the action.
⚠️ Please note: Merging customer records is an irreversible action.
Step 4: Select the information to keep
Click the ‘Merge contacts’ button to start the smart merge.
Select the data you wish to keep permanently in your customer database.
If the records contain conflicting information (for example, two different telephone numbers), tick the most recent entry to ensure your database is updated.
Key points
A well-organised customer database improves the quality of your direct communications.
elloha’s automatic detection feature does the hard work for you as soon as you log in.
You always retain final control over the information retained (email, telephone number, etc.).