Deduplicate according to the entity the report claims to count
Reconcile records using documented identifiers without discarding distinct activity. A form inquiry followed by a booking can represent one person with two meaningful actions.
A submission, person, company and opportunity are different entities. Deduplication should match the chosen reporting unit while preserving the original source events. One person may legitimately make several distinct requests.
A worked example
A hypothetical buyer submits a form and books a meeting using the same email. That may be one person with two interactions. Two people from the same company are not necessarily duplicates, while one person changing an email spelling may require review.
How to apply it
- Define the unique entity and the period before choosing matching rules.
- Use stable identifiers where available and separate uncertain matches for review.
- Preserve original source records and the reason records were linked.
What the result can establish
Avoid aggressive merging based only on a shared company name. Report raw activity separately from deduplicated totals. A lower unique count after a sound correction is improved accuracy, not lost marketing performance.
Reference: Google Analytics: recommended events.
Supporting documentation
Google Analytics: recommended eventsNIST: AI Risk Management FrameworkGoogle Analytics: measurement documentation