HighLevel Contact Deduplication: Choose Your Matching Rules

HighLevel released a new feature that gives you control over how contact deduplication works. No more surprises when forms create unexpected duplicates — or merge contacts you wanted separate.

The Problem This Solves

Imagine this scenario:

1. Someone submits a form with john@email.com and 555-1234
2. You already have a contact with john@email.com and a different phone
3. You also have a contact with 555-1234 and a different email

Which contact should the new submission merge into? Or should it create a new one?

Before this feature, HighLevel made that decision for you. Now you decide.

How It Works

Unique Field Settings

You can now configure which fields are considered "unique identifiers" and in what order:

1. Email first — Match by email, then phone
2. Phone first — Match by phone, then email
3. Either — Match if either field matches any contact
4. Both required — Only match if both fields match the same contact

When to Allow Duplicates

Sometimes you want duplicates:

• Multiple locations — Same person, different contexts
• B2B scenarios — Same person at different companies
• Testing — Creating test contacts without merging

Now you can control this per form or globally.

Where to Configure

1. Go to Settings in your HighLevel sub-account
2. Find Contact Settings or Deduplication
3. Set your preferred matching rules
4. Save

Best Practices

• For most B2C businesses — Email-first matching works well
• For service businesses — Phone-first may be better (customers call more than email)
• For agencies — Consider per-sub-account settings for different client needs

See Also

• HighLevel — The platform