---
title: How Relivo spots duplicates
description: When Relivo matches a new person to someone already in your contacts, and when it creates a second record.
search:
  keywords: [duplicate contacts, dedupe, merge contacts, same email, same phone, double entry, existing contact]
related:
  - /import-and-export/how-csv-duplicates-are-merged
  - /contacts-and-leads/delete-contacts
  - /contacts-and-leads/add-a-contact
  - /lead-capture
---

Relivo matches people on their email address first, ignoring capital letters, and then on their phone number. How it uses a match depends on where the person comes from.

## Lead forms, webhooks and property microsites

When someone fills in one of your forms, or a webhook or microsite inquiry arrives, and their email or phone is already in Relivo, the submission is added to their existing record. Their timeline shows it as coming from an existing contact, so you don't get a second record. An inquiry from a property microsite also makes them an active lead again. A form or webhook submission leaves them as a contact or a lead, as they were.

## CSV imports and Follow Up Boss

Imports match on email, then phone, and merge only when the names agree. Two people who share an email or a home phone but have different names, such as a couple, stay as two contacts. A merge never overwrites anything: it only fills in blank fields and adds new tags. See [How CSV duplicates are merged](/import-and-export/how-csv-duplicates-are-merged).

## Adding someone yourself

**Quick add** doesn't check for duplicates. Search for the person first if you aren't sure they are already in Relivo.

## Phone numbers

US and Canadian numbers match however they were typed, so (415) 555-1234 and 415-555-1234 are the same number. Lead forms and webhooks don't match on a number Relivo can't read with certainty, such as one with an extension, since a wrong match would merge two different people. Imports match those numbers only when every digit is the same.

:::note
Relivo can't merge two existing contacts into one. If you end up with two records for one person, keep the one with the history you need and delete the other.
:::