How to Set Up an Automated Keap Workflow to Flag Potential Duplicate Contacts in Real-Time

In the fast-paced world of B2B sales and recruiting, maintaining a clean CRM is non-negotiable. Duplicate contacts in Keap not only inflate your database but also lead to wasted marketing efforts, inconsistent outreach, and skewed reporting. This guide outlines a practical, Keap-native workflow to help you proactively identify and flag potential duplicates as new contacts enter or existing ones are updated, ensuring your team always works with the most accurate information.

Step 1: Define Your Duplicate Recognition Criteria

Before building any automation, you must first clearly define what constitutes a “duplicate” for your business. For most organizations, a matching primary email address is the strongest indicator. However, depending on your business model, you might also consider a combination of fields such as first name, last name, and company name, or a unique identifier like a phone number. Document these criteria precisely, as they will dictate the logic of your Keap workflow. Understanding these parameters is the foundational step to creating an effective and relevant duplicate flagging system that genuinely addresses your data integrity needs without generating false positives.

Step 2: Prepare Keap with Custom Fields and Tags

To effectively manage potential duplicates, you’ll need to set up specific custom fields and tags within your Keap application. Create a custom field, perhaps a Yes/No field, named “Is Potential Duplicate” or “Review for Duplicates,” and set its default to “No.” Additionally, create a tag, such as “Potential Duplicate – Review Needed,” which will be automatically applied by your workflow. These assets are crucial for visibility and actionability. The custom field provides a quick status check on the contact record itself, while the tag allows for easy segmentation and reporting, enabling your team to quickly identify and prioritize contacts that require manual review and potential merging.

Step 3: Establish Your Automation Trigger in Keap

The core of any real-time workflow is its trigger. For flagging potential duplicates, your Keap campaign should be initiated whenever a contact is created or updated. This ensures that every new piece of information or new contact entering your system is immediately put through your duplicate identification process. In the Keap Campaign Builder, select a “Goal” such as “Web Form Submitted,” “Tag Applied,” or “Contact is Added to Campaign.” For a comprehensive approach, consider triggers that encompass all common entry points, including web forms, API integrations, or manual additions, ensuring no potential duplicate slips through the cracks. This proactive triggering is key to maintaining data hygiene from the moment information enters your CRM.

Step 4: Design the “Potential Duplicate Check” Sequence

Within your Keap campaign, create a sequence that activates immediately after your chosen trigger. This sequence is where the logic for identifying potential duplicates will reside. While Keap’s native Campaign Builder doesn’t directly query the entire database for matching records within a decision diamond, this sequence’s purpose is to prepare the contact for human review and alert your team. Within this sequence, you can normalize key data points (e.g., use an action to force an email address to lowercase) which aids in consistent comparisons. The most effective “check” within a pure Keap environment involves applying the “Potential Duplicate – Review Needed” tag and moving to the next step: notification.

Step 5: Implement Notification and Task Assignment

Once the “Potential Duplicate – Review Needed” tag is applied in the previous step, your workflow should immediately notify the relevant team members. Within the same sequence, add an “Internal Notification” action, sending an email to your sales operations manager, HR, or data administrator. This notification should include the contact’s name, email, and any other relevant identifiers, along with a clear call to action to review the contact for duplicates. Concurrently, you can also add a “Task” action, assigning a specific person the responsibility to manually search Keap for other contacts sharing the primary identifier (e.g., email address) and take appropriate action. This ensures immediate attention and accountability.

Step 6: Ongoing Review, Merging, and Process Refinement

An automated flagging system is only as effective as the human process that supports it. Your team must regularly review contacts flagged with the “Potential Duplicate – Review Needed” tag. Utilize Keap’s native duplicate merging tools (found under Contacts > Merge Duplicates) to combine records efficiently once a true duplicate is confirmed. Establishing a consistent review schedule and clear guidelines for merging is critical. Furthermore, continually assess your duplicate recognition criteria and workflow steps. As your business evolves and data sources change, refining your process ensures your Keap database remains clean, reliable, and optimized for your operational success. This iterative approach guarantees long-term data integrity.

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: Keap Data Recovery Best Practices: Minimizing Duplicates for HR & Recruiting Firms