How Merging Works

Merging Salesforce contacts can have different outcomes depending on the scenario. It is important to note that the losing record(s) will be deleted when a merge occurs in Salesforce, just as if you had deleted a record manually. Merging is one of Salesforce most complicated flows as it has so many permutations.

If merged contacts have related Mailchimp Members, we relate all members to the winning contact. We won't change the status of Mailchimp Members as part of the merge. 

Below are some common scenarios and the expected outcomes. 

When two Contacts are merged and they both have the same email address and are in the same Audience

Mailchimp only allows an email address to exist once in an Audience. If the merged contacts share the same email address, they will only appear once in the Audience. An Audience Member record can only be linked to one Salesforce contact, usually the most recently modified one. After the merge, the Audience Member record will appear under the winning contact. 

When two Contacts are merged that have the same email address but belong to different Audiences

If two contacts share the same email address and each contact is active in a different Audience, then after the merge the winning contact will remain subscribed to both Audiences. The losing contact will be deleted in Salesforce. 

When two Contacts are merged and have different email addresses but are in the same Audience(s)

If the losing contact's email is saved to another email field before merging the contacts, 

When two Contacts are merged and have different email addresses and belong to different Audiences

The winning contact will remain active in its existing Audiences.