Sometimes the same real customer ends up as two separate lead records — one created from an inbound email, another entered manually under a slightly different address. Merging leads lets you collapse those duplicates into a single, clean record without losing any history.
When merging is useful
Merge leads when:
- The same customer contacted you from two different email addresses (work vs. personal, alias vs. primary)
- A CRM import or integration created a record that duplicates an existing lead
- You added an email to a lead and Slokoto detected it already belongs to another lead
You do not need to merge leads for returning customers. If a won customer starts a new buying cycle, Slokoto reopens the existing lead into a new cycle automatically. See Returning Customers And Shopify.
How to trigger a merge
Merging is triggered from Lead View → sidebar → email field:
- Open the lead you want to merge into another.
- Click Edit next to the email field in the sidebar.
- Add the email address that belongs to the duplicate lead.
- Click Save.
If the email is already associated with a different lead record, Slokoto detects the conflict and opens the Merge duplicate leads review modal automatically.
The review modal
Before anything is changed, Slokoto shows you a full preview of what the merge will produce. Review each section carefully — the merge cannot be undone inside the app.
Surviving lead
Slokoto picks one lead to keep. This is called the canonical lead. It is chosen automatically based on which record has the most data:
- Prefers leads with both an email and a phone number
- Then the lead with the most todo actions
- Then the lead with the most activity log entries
- Then the lead that has a CRM external ID
- Then the lead with the most recent interaction
- Then the oldest lead by creation date
The surviving lead keeps its ID, and all other records are retired into it.
State source
The state source (also called the state donor) is the lead whose outcome, pipeline stage, and assignees carry forward to the merged record. This is often — but not always — the same as the surviving lead.
State is chosen based on the most decisive recent signal:
| Priority | Signal | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latest sale | One of the leads is Won and the sale happened after the latest conversation |
| 2 | Latest customer communication | Inbound email, reply, or call from the customer |
| 3 | Latest interaction | Any recorded activity on the lead |
| 4 | Current lead | Falls back to whichever lead you opened the sidebar from |
| 5 | Oldest record | Last resort tiebreaker |
The review modal shows the reason Slokoto chose that state source, with the exact timestamp used.
Merged emails
Every email address from all participating leads is preserved. The first email in the list becomes the primary address; the rest become aliases. Slokoto will recognize the customer no matter which address they write from.
Participants
The bottom of the modal lists each lead being merged. You can see the stage, assignees, latest customer activity, latest win date, interaction count, and todo count for each one — all the context you need to judge whether the automatic selections are correct.
What happens after you confirm
Once you click Merge leads:
- The surviving lead keeps its record ID and absorbs all emails, todos, activity, and timeline entries from the other leads.
- The retired leads are marked as merged and removed from all active views (Todo, Upcoming, Pipeline).
- The surviving lead's status, pipeline stage, and assignees are updated to match the state source.
- You are redirected to the surviving lead, where a refresh runs to update the email thread list.
Stale merge detection
Slokoto generates a revision fingerprint when it builds the merge preview. If either lead changes between the time you open the modal and the time you confirm — for example, a new email arrives or a stage update runs — the system will reject the merge and show you a refreshed preview. This prevents you from accidentally merging on outdated information.
What cannot be changed
The merge selection is automatic. You cannot manually choose which lead survives or which one donates its state. If the automatic choice looks wrong, review the participant details and check the timestamps shown in the modal. The system always selects based on the most recent verifiable signal.
Limitations
- Merges cannot be reversed from inside the app. Contact support if you need to undo one.
- A lead that has already been merged into another lead cannot be merged again directly — you need to work from the surviving canonical record.
- Phone-only leads (no email) that share a phone number with one of the duplicates are automatically pulled into the merge cluster and will also be retired.
Related: Lead View | Returning Customers And Shopify