Contact Deduplication Settings in Sparkforge

Contact deduplication preferences set the rules Sparkforge uses to decide whether a new submission creates a fresh contact or updates an existing one. The setting lives under Settings → Business Profile → Contact Deduplication Preferences and changes save automatically.

What the setting controls

The Allow Duplicate Contact toggle decides what happens when a new submission shares an email or phone with an existing contact:

• Off (no duplicates): The new submission updates the existing contact instead of creating a new one. Sparkforge matches against the primary field you set, falling back to the secondary field if no primary match exists.
• On (allow duplicates): A new contact record is created even when email or phone overlap. Useful when the same individual needs to exist as separate records — e.g. across departments. Merge later if needed.

What sources it applies to

Forms, Zapier, Facebook, and Instagram

• Off: Existing contacts are updated; no duplicates.
• On: Separate records are created for matching email or phone.

CSV imports — always merge

The Allow Duplicate Contact toggle does not apply to CSV uploads. Sparkforge always merges contacts based on email or phone during a CSV import, regardless of the setting.

The three settings

Allow Duplicate Contact

Toggle ON to allow duplicates, OFF to prevent them.

Find Existing Contacts Based On

The primary match field. Choose Email (default) or Phone. Pick whichever you collect most consistently at intake.

Second Preference for Search (Optional)

The secondary match field. If the primary field doesn't match, Sparkforge checks this one. Leave blank to match on a single field only.

Example: Primary = Email, Secondary = Phone. Sparkforge first looks for an email match. If none exists, it checks phone. If neither matches, it creates a new contact.

Behavior across contact sources

Forms and Zapier

• Enabled: Allows duplicates — separate records for matching email or phone.
• Disabled: Updates existing contact instead of creating a duplicate.

CSV imports

• Duplicate records merge automatically based on phone or email.
• Duplicate contacts cannot be created during CSV import.

Facebook and Instagram conversations

• Disabled: If a Messenger contact later shares an email or phone matching an existing contact, Sparkforge auto-merges the records into a single unified profile with all conversations attached.
• Enabled: Messenger contacts can stay as separate records even if email or phone matches. Auto-merge does not run; merge manually if needed.

How to configure deduplication preferences

Step 1: Open Business Profile Settings

1. From the dashboard, click Settings in the lower left.
2. Business Profile Settings opens automatically.

Step 2: Find the Contact Duplication Preferences panel

1. Scroll until the Contact Duplication Preferences panel appears on the right.
2. Toggle Allow Duplicate Contact, then set the primary and optional secondary match fields.
3. Changes save automatically — no Save button required.