How to Scan for Duplicates and Merge Them in Act!
Here is the article on how to do this in Act!, and you can only merge two contacts at a time. If you want to do this en masse, you need Duplicate Merge Wizard instead. Here is what's cool about this plugin.
- It will merge the contacts without going through the arduous 7 step wizard
- You can use up to 7 criteria to match duplicates
- When contacts merge, it will merge the notes, history, activities and opportunities; then, add notes to the new merged record that tell you the historical contact field data.
Here is what happens:
For example: The program merges Contact A with phone number 312-555-1234 and Contact B with 312-527-3133 to have Contact A with phone number 312-555-1234. Contact B is gone.
Contact A has the notes from A&B.
Contact A has a note in Act! now, "Merged Phone Number from Contact B of 312-527-3133".
So you don't lose the historical information from the merge. The merge program decides whether A or B is the best record by the most recent edit date.
The Duplicate Merge Wizard offers a trial version of their software.
Quick video (No Audio) on the steps in Act!
How to Disable Act! Scheduler in a Terminal Server Setting
If you keep getting the prompt to run Act! Scheduler when you start Windows, and it keeps bugging you; then, disable it. Here is how:
Steps :
- Open up Task Manager Start -> Run -> Taskmgr
- Click on startup tab
- Right Click on Act.Sceduler.ui.exe and select ‘disable’.
This means this user cannot do the following:
- Automate Backup
- Run Database Maintenance
Some Tips on Avoiding the Junk Box for E-Mail Campaigns
One question we get is, "How do I avoid a spam trap ?". I will answer this from a business process and content creation standpoint. Nothing is full-proof, but these are factors you can control.
From a business process standpoint:
- Do not buy a list of e-mails and solicit them. Will you answer a cold-blasted-email, no matter how good the offer is ? Not likely
- Ask them to add your e-mail to their safe sender list, and here is a list of systems' instructions
- Re-Purpose Blog Commentary like this
- Create some sort of relationship beforehand by direct mail, on-site visit or by telemarketing.
From a content-creation standpoint, these factors raise spam scores
- Using an excessive number of consecutive exclamation points
- Using excessive CAPS to write your message
- Using Microsoft Word as your .html editor. Microsoft Word's .html export tool contains sloppy code, which the spam filters will flag and not deliver
- Using an excessive amount of graphics instead of text. If you send an e-mail with just an image, it may look good for you. However, the spam-bot will flag it.
You can submit your email to some SPAM checker sites as well
Some of my drip marketing campaigns are plain-text in order to increase delivery rates, but I trade off branding and imagery to convey the message.
How to Setup Act! Scheduler for Remote Database Synchronization
If you use Act! for remote database synchronization, you can add an automated task to synchronize automatically based on time. Act! cannot automatically sync based on whether you have a valid connection to the internet or your local network etc.
This video demonstrates the setup. Have your Act! user name and password ready. For a text-based tutorial, here is an article from their website.
How to Add The Synchronize Now Button to an Act! Remote Database
This video shows you how to customize an Act! remote (aka subscriber) database so the “Synchronize Now” is available. This saves three steps, and you don’t have to remember where to look in the drop-down menu.