Goodworld’s Contact Merge and Import Update capabilities allow admins to maintain an organized, deduplicated contact database—without losing valuable data. Whether you’re importing new contacts, enriching existing ones with additional fields or tags (like Memberships or Interest Areas), or resolving duplicate records manually, the platform ensures your contact list remains unified and accurate.
In addition, when using integrations like Salesforce, it’s important to understand how merges are handled across systems to ensure data consistency.
Key Features
Smart Import Updates
Goodworld is designed to recognize and automatically update existing contacts when their records appear in a new import. When a contact is matched by email, new fields such as tags, job titles, or group affiliations can be added without creating a duplicate entry.
Flexible Tagging
Admins can bulk-tag existing contacts — such as assigning a Group or Tag —by including the new tag in a column of your import spreadsheet and mapping it to the correct tag group during import.
Manual Contact Merging
In cases where duplicate contacts already exist in your database, you can merge them manually within the platform. All data fields are preserved during this process, allowing you to consolidate contact history, tags, and attributes.
How to Update Contacts via CSV Import
Updating existing contacts is simple and non-destructive. Here’s how to do it:
1. Prepare Your Spreadsheet
Create a CSV with the emails of the contacts you wish to update. Add any new data you’d like to import—such as tags, group affiliations, or custom fields.
Example:
Membership | Region | |
Silver Member | Northeast | |
Gold Member | West Coast |
Make sure to use the same email address that already exists in your Goodworld database to ensure the contact is matched.
2. Click “Import CSV”
Navigate to the Contacts tab and click the Import CSV button in the top right corner.
3. Match by Email
Ensure that “Match By” is set to Email so existing records are updated, not duplicated.
4. Map New Fields
Map your columns to the appropriate fields or groups:
Click the three dots next to the new column (e.g., Membership).
Select Map to Group, then choose or create the appropriate tag group (e.g., Membership, Region, Board Members).
Map each column accordingly.
5. Preview & Confirm
Preview your import to verify that all data looks correct. Then click “Looks Good” to proceed. All matched contacts will be updated with the new tags or data.
How to Manually Merge Duplicate Contacts
Sometimes duplicates happen—two contacts with slightly different email addresses, or one contact created twice. Goodworld makes it easy to merge them:
1. Go to the Contacts Tab
Find the duplicate you want to merge into another contact.
2. Click the Three Dots (⋮)
Next to the duplicate contact’s name, click the three-dot menu.
3. Select “Merge to Other Contact”
Search for the contact you wish to merge into. Select the correct contact from the list.
4. Confirm the Merge
All fields, including tags, donation history, custom attributes, and engagement data, will be preserved in the merged contact.
Salesforce Merge Behavior (Important)
When using the Salesforce integration, merges that occur in Salesforce do not immediately sync to Goodworld.
Here’s how it works:
If two contacts are merged in Salesforce, the “losing” contact will remain in Goodworld.
The Salesforce reference tied to that contact may become invalid (dangling).
Goodworld does not automatically update or remove the duplicate contact at the time of the merge.
Instead, reconciliation happens only when new activity occurs, such as a donation:
When activity is triggered, Goodworld checks whether the Salesforce reference is still valid.
If the reference is invalid, Goodworld will:
Attempt to re-match the contact to the correct Salesforce record using matching logic, or
Sync the contact as a new record (this is rare in merge scenarios)
Best Practice: If you are actively merging contacts in Salesforce, it’s recommended to periodically review and manually merge duplicates in Goodworld to maintain alignment between systems.
Membership Tagging
Let’s say your organization just launched a membership program and wants to retroactively tag all current members. You upload a CSV with the names and emails of your members, along with a new “Membership” column. During the import:
Goodworld matches each email to an existing contact.
The new “GSL Member” tag is mapped to your existing Membership tag group.
Contacts are updated without duplication—and no manual editing required.
Later, you realize some contacts appear twice. You locate the duplicate entries, use the “Merge to Other Contact” tool, and seamlessly consolidate their data.
Additional Notes on Designation Merges
If designations are merged (for example, in Salesforce or via backend processes):
The change log for donations does not currently track designation merges
This means:
You will not see a record showing that a designation was updated
The system does not log which designation was changed to another
This is due to how designation merges are processed in bulk at the database level.
Key Benefits
Clean, Unified Contact Records
Ensure your data remains organized and deduplicated as your supporter base grows.
Continuous Data Enrichment
Keep enriching contacts with new fields and tags over time—no need to re-enter or recreate profiles.
Better Reporting & Segmentation
With accurate and complete records, your filtering, analytics, and communications stay sharp and relevant.
Goodworld’s Contact Merge and Import Update features make contact management smarter and stress-free. By matching records automatically and offering flexible merge tools, your database stays clean, your data stays useful, and your team can stay focused on impact—not admin.
If you have questions about the Merging Contacts, schedule a support call with our success team.