Automatic Company Creation and Enrichment

The system can associate your contacts with the right company on its own, using the business name on the contact, their business email domain, or both. When no matching company exists, one is created for you with its name and logo already filled in.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What it does
• Before you start
• Turn on automatic company creation
• Apply it to your existing contacts and companies
• How contacts are matched to companies
• Company names and logos
• Exclude domains from automatic association

What it does

When you create a contact, or change a contact's email address, the system looks for the company that contact belongs to. It can:

• Associate the contact with a company you already have
• Add the contact's email domain to that company, if it does not have one yet
• Create a new company when nothing matches
• Fill in the new company's name and logo automatically

It runs as contacts arrive, and you can also apply it to the contacts you already have.

Before you start

1. Go to Settings > Labs and enable the feature for your sub-account.
2. Go to Settings > Objects > Companies. The controls are under Automations.
3. Make sure your contacts have business email addresses if you want email domain matching to apply to them.

Note: this cannot be undone. Turning the settings off stops the system from creating anything new, but companies that were created, contacts that were associated, and domains and logos that were written all stay as they are. To correct a single result, remove the association or delete the company yourself.

Turn on automatic company creation

1. Go to Settings > Objects > Companies.
2. Under Automations, select the settings you want:

• Automatically create and associate companies from contact business names. Uses the business name typed on the contact.
• Create companies from contact's email domain. Uses the part of the email address after the @.
• Enrich companies automatically. Fills in the company name and logo.
• Automatically prevent duplicate companies. Keeps one company per domain.

3. Select Save changes.
   
   
   

We recommend matching by email domain. Turn on Create companies from contact's email domain, Enrich companies automatically and Automatically prevent duplicate companies, and leave the business name setting off.

Duplicate prevention and the Domain name field are covered in their own article: Company domain name and duplicate prevention.

Apply it to your existing contacts and companies

When you turn on Create companies from contact's email domain, you are asked what to do with the data you already have. Both options are selected for you, so clear either one you do not want.

• Fill in domains for existing companies. Adds a domain to companies that do not have one, so contacts can be matched to them.
• Apply to existing contacts. Associates your existing contacts with companies, creating any that are missing.

If you choose both, domains are filled in first and contacts are processed afterwards. That way your contacts attach to the companies you already have instead of creating new ones beside them.

Both run in the background and the time they take depends on how many records you have. You can keep working while they run.

What gets skipped when domains are filled in

• Domains you entered yourself. These are never changed.
• Free email providers, such as a company whose website field contains gmail.com.
• Social and website-builder addresses like Facebook, LinkedIn, Wix, Squarespace and Linktree, so unrelated companies are not all given the same address.
• Values that are not domains, such as a phone number typed into the website field.

How contacts are matched to companies

The system checks a few things in order and stops at the first one that finds a company. It never replaces a company you already associated with a contact.

1. Is the contact already associated with a company? Nothing changes.
2. Did you type a business name, and is that setting on? The company with that name is used, or created.
3. Does one of your companies already have that email domain? The contact is associated with it.
4. Does the email domain look like a company you already have? The contact is associated with it, and the domain is saved on it.
5. Nothing matched? A new company is created with the domain saved on it.

Note: if the business name setting is on, step 2 takes over and the email domain is never saved on the company. That company is then not covered by duplicate prevention until a contact arrives without a business name, or until you fill in domains for your existing companies. This is why we recommend leaving the business name setting off.

Example

You add a contact with a business email address.

The contact is associated with the right company straight away.

And the company record has its domain and logo already filled in.

Company names and logos

With Enrich companies automatically on, a new company gets its name and logo filled in from the email domain.

• If the domain is not recognized, the company is still created with its domain. The name is taken from the domain itself and no logo is added.
• Enrichment runs when a company is created. It does not update companies you already have.

To add names and logos to companies you already have, turn Enrich companies automatically off, select Save changes, then turn it back on. That starts a one-off update across your existing companies.

Exclude domains from automatic association

Some email domains should never create a company. Your own domain is the obvious one, since your staff are not a customer. Shared inboxes, partner domains and test domains are common too.

Free email providers like Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook and iCloud are always excluded and cannot be removed. Anything beyond that is up to you.

To exclude a domain:

1. Go to Settings > Objects > Companies.
2. Under Create companies from contact's email domain, select Exclude domains from automatic association.
3. Enter the domain on its own, such as acme.com, and add it to the list.
4. Select Save changes.

Things to know

• A contact that is already associated with a company is never moved.
• Domain matching is exact, so acme.com and mail.acme.com are treated as different domains.
• Company names are matched exactly, so keep them unique where you can. If two companies share a name, the system cannot tell which one you meant.
• Enrichment is best effort. It never stops a company from being created.

Troubleshooting

No company was created for a contact

Their email is on a free provider or an excluded domain, they have no email address, or they are already associated with a company.

A company was created even though I excluded the domain

The business name setting is also on, so the company came from the business name instead.

A second company was created for a business I already had

The name did not match exactly, usually because of punctuation or an ending like Inc, or the existing company already had a different domain.

A company has no logo

The domain was not recognized, enrichment was off when it was created, or the company already existed. Existing companies are only updated when you re-toggle enrichment.

Contacts are attached to the wrong company

Two of your companies probably share a name. Remove the association, then rename them.

A company matched by business name has no domain

This is expected. Fill in domains for existing companies, or add the domain on the record.

A company still has no domain after filling domains in

It has no website, its website is a social or website-builder address, or it shares a domain with another company.

Frequently asked questions

1. Should I still use the business name setting?

We do not recommend it. Email domain matching is more reliable, because a domain is not typed by hand and cannot vary between contacts. The business name setting still works if you have it on, so nothing breaks, but you will get cleaner company records with it off.

2. What happens if a contact has both a business name and a business email?

If the business name setting is on, the business name wins and the email domain is not saved on the company. The email domain is only used when the business name does not find a company. Turning the business name setting off avoids this.

3. I have been using business names. What should I do?

Turn off Automatically create and associate companies from contact business names and turn on Create companies from contact's email domain. Your existing companies stay exactly as they are. To give them domains so they can be matched and protected from duplicates, use Fill in domains for existing companies.

4. Does it work with Gmail, Yahoo and other personal addresses?

No. Free email providers are always excluded and cannot be removed from the list.

5. Can I exclude my own domain?

Yes, under Exclude domains from automatic association. This applies to email domain matching only, not to business names.

6. Do I need to fill in domains before applying this to my existing contacts?

It is strongly recommended, and if you select both options it happens in the right order for you. Without it, your contacts can create new companies beside the ones you already have.

Related articles

• Company domain name and duplicate prevention