Activists are deduplicated by email address and mobile number. An activist is defined by their email address, which must be unique.
This means that if an existing activist is uploaded again or takes action with the same email address and mobile number, we will layer the new data on top of the existing activist record. New custom field values, tags, action, or donation history will be added to the activist record that matches up to the existing email address and mobile number.
What if there's an existing activist with the same mobile number, but different email address?
The activists will not be merged. We will create a new activist record for the email address and mobile number that was just added, and remove the mobile number from the existing activist record. The existing activist record will keep the email address. No action history, donation history, tags, custom fields, or notes will be brought over to the new activist record. The mobile subscription status will be copied over.
For example, if activist Skippy is currently stored in your group with the email address goodboy@gmail.com and his mobile number (202) 123-4567, and later he signs a petition with the email address verygoodboy@gmail.com and the same mobile number, we will remove the mobile number from his goodboy@gmail.com record in order to store it with his averygoodboy@gmail.com record.
Note that we do not expect this to be an issue with the majority of your activists. Most activists use one email address and mobile number for advocacy.
What if there's an existing activist with the same email address, but different mobile number?
The new mobile number will overwrite the existing mobile number on the activist record. For example, if activist Willow is currently stored in your group with the email address goodgirl@gmail.com and her mobile number (202) 987-6543, and later she signs a petition with the email address goodgirl@gmail.com but with a new mobile number (123) 456-7890, we will replace the old 202 number with the new 123 number.
What if there's an existing activist record with a mobile-only record, and an email address is added later?
The activist records will be merged. For example, if activist Axel is currently stored in your group with the email address badboy@gmail.com and he doesn't have a mobile number on record, and he has a separate activist record with only his mobile number (202) 123-4567, and later he signs a petition with the email address badboy@gmail.com and the same mobile number, we will merge the two records.
How does merging work?
You can read more about how merging works here.
We will track who gets merged in the user_merge_log table on the SQL mirror (if your group has one, more here).