A merge keeps one lead, the master, and folds the others into it. On the merge screen you choose the value to keep for each field that differs. The owner is one of those fields. If nobody changes the default choice, the master's owner wins. Whether or not that person was working the lead.
How it goes wrong
- The newer record, from a form fill and the round robin, becomes the master. The rep who had been working the older lead loses it.
- Both leads were worked, by different people, and neither knows about the other.
- A merge in bulk, by a tool or a clean-up, keeps whichever record the tool picks.
What to check
- Find leads merged recently. Compare the owner before and after, using field history on the owner.
- Look for merged leads where the final owner never logged an activity on the lead.
- Ask how the duplicate arose. Fixing the entry point matters more than the merge. See finding duplicate leads and the entry point creating them.
Decide a rule for the owner of a merged lead, such as whoever last logged activity. Apply it every time, not case by case.
The free scan cannot count merge history. It checks the setup behind it.
Decide the owner rule
Pick one rule and write it down. For example, in this order:
- The owner of the matching account, if there is one.
- Otherwise the owner who last logged activity.
- Otherwise the owner of the older record.
Apply the same rule to every merge. A case by case choice is how a rep loses a lead without noticing.
A worked example
A made-up pair. Priya has worked the older lead for three weeks. The newer one came from a form and went to Sam by round robin.
A bulk clean-up keeps the newer record as the master. Sam now owns a lead Sam never touched. Priya's three weeks of history sit under Sam's name. Under the rule above, Priya keeps it.
Steps
- Query deleted leads that have a
MasterRecordId, with ALL ROWS. Compare each one'sOwnerIdwith the master's. Deleted records leave the recycle bin after a set time. Check Salesforce Help for yours. - For each pair, note the owner before and after.
- Mark the ones where the final owner never logged activity.
- Move those back to whoever should hold them under your rule.
Have it checked every night instead.
Routing Forensics connects as a read-only user and checks this, and the rest of your routing, against your real leads. Three design partners get a free health report on their own CRM, free for 90 days: what is leaking, where, and what it is worth. Apply for a place.
The free scan cannot count merge history. It reads your routing setup in your browser. Scan your Salesforce or HubSpot routing. The nightly check, open to design partners, counts it.