Duplicate contacts can appear for several reasons depending on how your contacts are created or imported into CloudTalk. This guide explains how CloudTalk handles merges, which cases are supported, and what to expect when duplicates appear across integrations, CSV imports, the API, or manual creation.
User level: Admin
Symptoms
You may experience one or more of the following:
Two or more contacts in CloudTalk share the same phone number or email.
Contacts imported from an integration do not merge as expected.
Contacts imported via CSV are merged differently than expected.
Calls or SMS appear under a different contact than you expected.
After importing via CSV, multiple records appear instead of one.
Duplicate contacts appear after syncing with an integration.
Root Causes
This behavior is usually caused by one or more of the following:
Integration merge settings configuration
In Account > Settings > General, merge rules for integrations may be set to:
Phone number
Email
Phone number and email
Don’t merge
If "Don’t merge" is selected or matching is too strict, expected merges will not happen.
Unsupported merge scenarios
CloudTalk does not merge when:
An already imported integration contact is updated inside CloudTalk.
A user manually creates a contact that shares phone or email with an imported integration contact.
Two existing contacts in an external tool are both already imported. CloudTalk does not auto-merge them; it only merges newly imported contacts or leads.
A contact is created via the CloudTalk API.
"Duplicate contacts created at separate times" is currently an unsupported use case.
Specific merge rules for CSV import
CSV merging is separate from integration settings.
CSV merge logic is:
Match by phone number
If no phone match, match by email
The first match in that order is used. This can lead to merges that differ from what the customer expected.
Call and SMS export behavior with and without merge
When merging is disabled, CloudTalk keeps contacts separate and uses the external ID to export calls to the correct CRM record.
When merging is enabled, the merged CT contact is linked to the most recently updated integration contact, so calls export to that one.
If the CRM itself later merges records, call placement there depends on the CRM’s merge logic, not CloudTalk.
Step 1: Review integration merge settings
If duplicates came from an integration:
Go to Dashboard > Account > Settings > General.
Locate the section for merging:
imported contacts with leads,
imported contacts with other imported contacts.
Check which matching rule is selected:
Phone number
Email
Phone number and email
Don’t merge
If the selected rule does not match how your external tool stores data, CloudTalk will not merge the records.
Step 2: Understand expected merge results
When CloudTalk merges two contacts, the final merged contact includes:
all phone numbers from both contacts
all emails from both contacts
the most recent value for all other attributes
Example:
Contact A
Phone: 101, 102
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Name: Dana Smith
Contact B
Phone: 103
Email: [email protected]
Name: Dana S.
Merged result
Phone: 101, 102, 103
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Name: Dana S. (newest value)
If your expected merge result looks different, continue to the next steps.
Step 3: Check whether your scenario is supported
CloudTalk does not merge contacts in the following cases:
An already imported integration contact is updated inside CloudTalk.
A manually created CloudTalk contact uses the same phone or email as an integration contact.
Two contacts already exist in the external system and are both imported.
A contact is created via the CloudTalk API.
Duplicate contacts were created at different times (this use case is currently not supported).
If your scenario matches one of these, CloudTalk will not merge the contacts automatically.
Step 4: Verify CSV merging logic
If duplicates appeared after CSV import:
Confirm that the CSV file follows the correct template.
Remember that CSV merging uses this order:
match by phone number
if no phone match, match by email
The first match is always used.
If both a phone number and an email match different contacts, CloudTalk merges with the phone match.
Also check:
Column names match custom attribute names exactly (case sensitive).
Custom attributes exist in Settings > General > Contacts.
For more details on preparing your CSV file, see How to import contacts to CloudTalk from a file
Step 5: Check call and SMS export behavior
Depending on your merge settings:
When merging is disabled
CloudTalk keeps contacts separate and exports calls based on the external record ID.
When merging is enabled
The merged CloudTalk contact connects to the most recently updated integration contact, and calls and SMS are exported there.
If call export seems incorrect, make sure merging settings match your intended flow.
When to Contact Support
Contact CloudTalk Support if:
Duplicates continue appearing despite correct merge settings.
Expected merges do not occur.
Calls or SMS export to the wrong CRM record.
CSV imports behave inconsistently.
Include screenshots, timestamps, and examples of affected contacts to speed up troubleshooting.