Who Is This For?
StoreHub merchants who have the same shopper saved twice in their customer list and want to combine those records into one, so store credit, points and purchase history all sit in one place.
Overview
When the same person is added more than once on the same mobile number, their store credit, points and purchase history get split across two records. Neither record shows the full picture.
BackOffice now finds these records for you and merges them. You choose which record to keep. The store credit, points and purchase history from the other record move into the one you keep, and the extra record is retired.
BackOffice also stops you saving a mobile number that is already in use, whether you are adding a new customer or editing an existing one, so the problem does not build up again.
Before You Begin
You need access to BackOffice, and your employee account needs the 'Merge Duplicate Customers' permission under 'Limit BackOffice Access'. Without it, the Duplicates page will not open. See How to Manage Your Employees to check or change this.
Do not use 'Delete' to clear a duplicate. Deleting is permanent and takes that record's purchase history with it. Merging combines everything into the record you keep instead.
Duplicates are grouped by mobile number only. Customers with the same name but different numbers are never grouped together.
A merge cannot be undone. Read what you are about to combine before you confirm.
Some groups are not really duplicates. If two different people share one number such as a family phone or a shop phone, hide that group instead of merging it. See Hide a Group That Is Not a Duplicate below, and do this before you use 'Merge all duplicates'.
Step-by-Step Guide
Find Your Duplicate Customers
Before you begin, search your system to locate and flag any duplicate customer accounts.
1. In your BackOffice, go to 'Customers'.
2. If BackOffice has found duplicates, a message appears above your customer list saying how many customers appear more than once. Click 'Review duplicates'.
Note:
There is no 'Duplicates' item in your side menu. The page is only reachable through this message. If you do not see the message, you may have no duplicates, your employee account may not have the 'Merge Duplicate Customers' permission, or this feature may not have reached your account yet, it is rolling out gradually.
3. The 'Duplicate customer records' page opens. Each group on this page is one mobile number and the records that share it. The page tells you how many groups it found, and the search box above the list lets you jump to one customer by name or number. It will be useful when you have more groups than you can scroll through.
Merge One Group of Duplicates
Use this when you want to check each group yourself before combining it.
1. On the 'Duplicate customer records' page, find the group you want to fix and click 'Review and merge'.
2. On the 'Choose who to keep' step, pick the record you want to keep. BackOffice marks one as 'Recommended to keep', choosing it in this order:
The record linked to a Beep account
Then the record with the highest store credit
Then the record with the most recent purchase
Then the record with the most points
Note:
This is a recommendation, not a rule. You can pick the other record.
3. Click 'Continue'.
4. On the 'Review what changes' step, check the three tables. 'Customer details' shows which record's name, email and Member ID will be kept. 'Purchase History' and 'Loyalty' each end with an 'After merge' row showing the combined totals.
Important:
Anything filled in only on the other record such an email, a birthday, a tag. It does not carry over, and you cannot get it back once you confirm. Cashback works differently again. The combined cashback balance takes the expiry date of the record you keep, so if that record's cashback expires sooner, the whole combined balance expires sooner too. That date is not shown anywhere in BackOffice, including this step, so you cannot check it before you merge. Store credit does not expire, so there is nothing to lose there.
5. Click 'Merge'.
6. Read the confirmation. It names the record that will be retired and warns you that a merge cannot be undone. Click 'Confirm'.
7. The 'Merge complete' step shows what the kept customer now holds, with a 'What was merged' panel underneath listing the kinds of record that moved across. Click 'Back to duplicates' to carry on, or 'View customer' to open the record.
Merge Every Group at Once
Use this when you have looked through the list and you are happy for BackOffice to combine all of it.
Important:
'Merge all duplicates' does not ask you to choose for each group. Every group is merged into the record BackOffice recommends, so look through the list first if you want to decide which record is kept. BackOffice skips any group where the two records disagree on name or birthday, and leaves those on your list to review yourself.
A phone number shared by two real people, a family phone or a shop phone, forms a group here like any other. 'Merge all duplicates' will not stop to ask you about it, and a merge cannot be undone. Read the list first, and hide any group that is not really a duplicate. See Hide a Group That Is Not a Duplicate.
1. On the 'Duplicate customer records' page, click 'Merge all duplicates'.
2. Read the message. It tells you how many groups will be merged and confirms that each group keeps its recommended record.
3. Click 'Merge all duplicates' to confirm.
4. BackOffice works through the groups and shows how far it has got. When it finishes, a card tells you how many groups were merged, and 'Download summary' gives you a CSV showing what happened to each group and why.
Note:
The summary card does not disappear. It stays on your Duplicates page with no time limit, and leaving the page does not lose it. It is replaced only when you dismiss it, or when you run another bulk merge, so download the CSV before you do either.
BackOffice will not merge two records that look like different people. Before merging a group, it compares the first name, last name and birthday on both records, and leaves the group alone if both records have a value and the values do not match. A detail filled in on one record and blank on the other does not count as a mismatch, and email addresses are not compared.
This check only runs on 'Merge all duplicates'. When you merge a group yourself, you are the one comparing the two records. A group the check refuses stays on your list, so merge it on its own from Merge One Group of Duplicates if the two records really are the same person, or hide it if they are not.
Hide a Group That Is Not a Duplicate
If two records genuinely share a number, or you keep a placeholder record on purpose, you can take that group off the list.
1. On the 'Duplicate customer records' page, find the group and click 'Hide'.
2. Click 'Hide' again to confirm. The group stops appearing and your duplicates count goes down. Once no groups are left showing, the message on your Customers page goes away too. A hidden group is also left out of 'Merge all duplicates', so it cannot be merged by accident.
3. To see hidden groups again, tick 'Show hidden groups'. The list switches to show only your hidden groups, with the date each was hidden and who hid it. Click 'Show again' to put one back.
Important:
Hiding only works for records that already exist. From now on, a mobile number can belong to only one customer, so you cannot create a second profile on a shared family or shop phone. If two people really do need their own profile, each one needs their own mobile number.
What Happens to Store Credit, Points and Customer Details When You Merge
Part of the record | What the merge does | What to know |
Store credit or cashback balance | Added together | Negative amounts count too, so -10 and +10 come out as 0 |
Cashback expiry date | Keeps the date that was on the record you keep | This date is not shown anywhere in BackOffice, including the 'Review what changes' step, so you cannot check it before you merge. Store credit does not expire, so there is no expiry date to carry over |
Points | Added together |
|
Points expiry | Every batch keeps its own date | Points are handled separately. Nothing is moved onto a single date, so no points expire earlier and none are extended |
Membership and the Beep account link | Kept and if the record you keep has no Beep link, the other record's link moves across | Two records holding two different Beep accounts never appear on the Duplicates page at all, so you are never asked to choose between two members |
Membership tier | The record you keep keeps its own tier. If it has no tier, it takes the other record's | Two tiers are never added together |
Purchase history | Combined | Every sale from the retired record now shows under the customer you kept. This is the difference from deleting, which leaves those sales with no customer attached to them |
Last purchase date | Takes the later of the two dates |
|
Name, email and other details | The details on the record you keep are the ones that stand | A detail filled in on the other record is not copied across. If the record you keep has no email and the other one does, that email is lost. Check both records before you choose |
Member ID | The record you keep keeps its own | Works like the other profile details, nothing is copied across |
Tags | The record you keep keeps its own tags | The other record's tags are not added. The one exception is the membership tier tag, which is updated to match the tier the merged record ends up on |
The other record | Retired | It disappears from your customer list, search, exports and campaign audiences. It is not deleted. Anything that arrives for it later, such as a sale rung up on the POS register, goes to the record you kept |
Note:
There is no merge history page in BackOffice. If the merge moved points or store credit, the customer's profile history gets a 'Merged from duplicate customer' entry showing when the merge happened and what came across, so you can look back on it later. Nothing is double-counted, the points that moved in keep their own history, and the entry just marks the event. If the merge moved neither points nor store credit, no entry appears. Merging every group at once also leaves a summary you can download. Make sure the 'Review what changes' step looks right before you confirm.
Troubleshooting
Issue | Solution |
I cannot find the Duplicates page | It is not in the side menu. Go to 'Customers' and click 'Review duplicates' in the message above your customer list. If there is no message, you may have no duplicates, your employee account may not have the 'Merge Duplicate Customers' permission under 'Limit BackOffice Access', or the feature may not have reached your account yet. It is rolling out gradually |
Two customers have the same name but are not grouped | Grouping is on mobile number only. Two records are only grouped when they share the same number, so a matching name or email will not group them |
The same number is saved in two different formats | They are still grouped. BackOffice reads the same number written different ways as one number with or without the country code, and with or without the leading zero. A number saved without a country code is read using your business's country |
I merged the wrong records | A merge cannot be undone in BackOffice. Contact StoreHub Support with your store name, the mobile number of the group, and the names on both records, and they can tell you what was moved |
New duplicates keep appearing after I clean up | Customers added at the POS register can still be created on a number that is already in use. Merge them again from the Duplicates page |
I cannot save a customer's mobile number | If the number is already in use, BackOffice will not save it. This applies both when you add a new customer and when you edit an existing one. It names the customer who already has that number and offers a link to open them |
I clicked 'Merge all duplicates' and it merged fewer groups than it said, or none at all | This is expected. BackOffice leaves a group alone when the two records disagree on first name, last name or birthday, so those groups stay on your list for you to check yourself. Merge them one at a time from Merge One Group of Duplicates if they really are the same person, or hide them if they are not |
Two records share a number but never show up as a group | If each of the two records has its own Beep account, the group is left out of the Duplicates page and cannot be merged there. Contact StoreHub Support via Live Chat. |
None of the above fixed it | Contact StoreHub Support with your store name, the mobile number involved, and the names on both records via Live Chat. |
FAQs
1. Will I lose any store credit, points or purchase history when I merge?
No. Store credit, cashback, points and purchase history from both records are combined into the record you keep. Profile details work differently, so read question 7 before you choose which record to keep. If your customer has cashback, read question 5 as well.
2. Can I undo a merge?
No. A merge cannot be undone, so check the 'Review what changes' step before you confirm. If you have merged something you should not have, contact StoreHub Support via Live Chat.
3. Is the extra record deleted?
No. It is retired, which is different from deleting. It stops appearing in your customer list, search, exports and campaign audiences, but it is not erased. Anything that arrives for it afterwards goes to the record you kept.
4. Two of my customers really do share one phone number. What do I do?
Do not merge them. Click 'Hide' on that group so it stops appearing on your Duplicates page. You can bring it back at any time by ticking 'Show hidden groups'. Hiding only covers records that already exist, from now on a mobile number can belong to only one customer, so you cannot create a second profile on a shared number. Anyone who needs their own profile needs their own number.
5. What happens to the expiry date on my customer's balance?
Store credit does not expire, so there is nothing to carry over. Cashback does expire, and the combined balance keeps the cashback expiry date of the record you keep. If you keep the record whose cashback expires sooner, the whole combined balance expires sooner too. That date is not shown anywhere in BackOffice, so you cannot check it before you merge. Points work differently again: every batch of points keeps its own expiry date.
6. Will merging move my customer to a higher membership tier?
Tiers are never added together. The record you keep holds on to its own tier. If it does not have one, it takes the tier from the other record.
7. One record has an email and the other does not. Will the merge keep it?
Only if it is on the record you keep. Details are not copied over from the record being retired, so an email, birthday or address held only by the other record is lost. Open both records and check before you choose which one to keep.
8. Can my cashier still create a duplicate at the register?
Yes, for now. The check that stops duplicates is on BackOffice. A customer added at the POS register can still be created on a number that already exists, so it is worth checking your Duplicates page from time to time.
9. Why can I no longer save a customer on a number I have used before?
A mobile number can only belong to one customer. BackOffice will tell you which customer already has that number and give you a link to open their record. This applies both when you add a new customer and when you edit an existing one.
10. Will my reports still count this customer twice?
A report or export you already ran keeps the numbers it had at the time. From the merge onwards, the transactions, points, store credit and loyalty history themselves sit on the record you kept, so anything built from them follows the merge.
11. Does merging affect my customer's membership?
No. A merged customer keeps their membership, their points and their tier. Merging does not cancel a membership or start it again.
12. I import my customers from a CSV. Will that create duplicates again?
No. An import can no longer create a second record on a mobile number that is already in use. If the row matches the customer you already have, nothing happens and the import finishes as 'Completed'. If it differs, the row is skipped and tells you to edit that customer or add their 'Customer Id'. See How to Import and Export Customer Data for what happens to each kind of row.
Need Help?
Contact StoreHub Support via live chat in your StoreHub app or email [email protected].
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