Merging Associations for Unique Leads in Clay: Example with Jane Smith

Lily R. · 2025-07-23T01:44:05.534Z

Hi Clay community, I’m working on a project where I’m scraping followers of multiple associations (e.g., AITA, CATO, ATEC) for the same leads. I’m running into an issue where the same person (e.g., Jane Smith) appears multiple times in my CSVs — once for each association they follow. When I import this data into Clay and use the *Remove Duplicates* feature based on *Full Name*, I want to make sure that *Clay consolidates all associations the lead follows into a single row*, rather than removing them. Has anyone worked with a similar setup? How can I ensure that the association names are *merged into one cell* for each unique lead while still removing duplicates based on the full name? Thanks for your help!

Merging Associations for Unique Leads in Clay: Example with Jane Smith | Clay

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Clay
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To merge association names while deduplicating by full name: 1. Before deduplicating: Use Add Column > Merge Columns to combine all association columns into one cell per lead 2. Enable auto-dedupe: Click the button at bottom-right, toggle "Enable automatic deduplication," and select "Full Name" as your dedupe column 3. Alternative approach: Use the Normalize and Deduplicate a List integration to clean your association data - it can handle comma-separated lists and remove duplicates within each cell Example output: Jane Smith would have "AITA, CATO, ATEC" in a single Associations column. The merge columns feature lets you input a formula to combine data from multiple association columns before running deduplication.
Sources: Hide, Re-order, Sort, Filter, Merge Columns Table columns | Documentation | Clay University Normalize and Deduplicate a List with Clay
Lily R.
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Example import into Clay: Full Name Job Title Prospect URL Company URL Association Name (this will identify which association the follower belongs to).
Lily R.
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One lead exists in multiple rows, like this: Row 1: Jane Smith follows AITA Row 2: Jane Smith follows CATO Row 3: Jane Smith follows ATEC
Clay
APP
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After importing your CSV, use Add Column > Merge Columns to combine association data before deduplicating. Then enable auto-dedupe by clicking the button at bottom-right, toggle "Enable automatic deduplication," and select "Full Name" as your dedupe column. Alternatively, use the Normalize and Deduplicate a List integration to clean comma-separated association lists within cells. Example output: Jane Smith would have "AITA, CATO, ATEC" in a single Associations column.
Sources: Hide, Re-order, Sort, Filter, Merge Columns Normalize and Deduplicate a List with Clay
Lily R.
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Final output, I wanna see: Jane Smith appears in both the AITA and CATO CSVs, her Association Name column should contain "AITA, CATO" in the merged row.
Lily R.
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Is this possible?
Clay
APP
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First, use Add Column > Merge Columns to create a consolidated associations column before deduplicating. Write a formula to combine association data from multiple rows for the same person. Then enable auto-dedupe by clicking the button at bottom-right, toggle "Enable automatic deduplication," and select "Full Name" as your dedupe column. Alternatively, use the Normalize and Deduplicate a List integration to clean comma-separated association lists within cells. Result: Jane Smith will have "AITA, CATO, ATEC" in a single Associations column instead of three separate rows.
Sources: Hide, Re-order, Sort, Filter, Merge Columns Table columns | Documentation | Clay University Normalize and Deduplicate a List with Clay
Clay
APP
·
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Yes, this is possible. Here's how to merge association names for duplicate leads: 1. Enable auto-dedupe: Click the button at bottom-right, toggle "Enable automatic deduplication," and select "Full Name" as your dedupe column 2. Use Merge Columns: Click Add Column > Merge Columns to combine association data from multiple rows into a single cell before or after deduplication 3. Alternative method: Use the Normalize and Deduplicate a List integration to clean comma-separated association lists within cells Result: Jane Smith will appear once with "AITA, CATO" in her Association Name column instead of multiple rows.
Source: Normalize and Deduplicate a List with Clay

Clay
APP
·
·
To merge association names while deduplicating by full name: 1. Before deduplicating: Use Add Column > Merge Columns to combine all association columns into one cell per lead 2. Enable auto-dedupe: Click the button at bottom-right, toggle "Enable automatic deduplication," and select "Full Name" as your dedupe column 3. Alternative approach: Use the Normalize and Deduplicate a List integration to clean your association data - it can handle comma-separated lists and remove duplicates within each cell Example output: Jane Smith would have "AITA, CATO, ATEC" in a single Associations column. The merge columns feature lets you input a formula to combine data from multiple association columns before running deduplication.
Sources: Hide, Re-order, Sort, Filter, Merge Columns Table columns | Documentation | Clay University Normalize and Deduplicate a List with Clay
Lily R.
·
·
Example import into Clay: Full Name Job Title Prospect URL Company URL Association Name (this will identify which association the follower belongs to).
Lily R.
·
·
One lead exists in multiple rows, like this: Row 1: Jane Smith follows AITA Row 2: Jane Smith follows CATO Row 3: Jane Smith follows ATEC
Clay
APP
·
·
After importing your CSV, use Add Column > Merge Columns to combine association data before deduplicating. Then enable auto-dedupe by clicking the button at bottom-right, toggle "Enable automatic deduplication," and select "Full Name" as your dedupe column. Alternatively, use the Normalize and Deduplicate a List integration to clean comma-separated association lists within cells. Example output: Jane Smith would have "AITA, CATO, ATEC" in a single Associations column.
Sources: Hide, Re-order, Sort, Filter, Merge Columns Normalize and Deduplicate a List with Clay
Lily R.
·
·
Final output, I wanna see: Jane Smith appears in both the AITA and CATO CSVs, her Association Name column should contain "AITA, CATO" in the merged row.
Lily R.
·
·
Is this possible?
Clay
APP
·
·
First, use Add Column > Merge Columns to create a consolidated associations column before deduplicating. Write a formula to combine association data from multiple rows for the same person. Then enable auto-dedupe by clicking the button at bottom-right, toggle "Enable automatic deduplication," and select "Full Name" as your dedupe column. Alternatively, use the Normalize and Deduplicate a List integration to clean comma-separated association lists within cells. Result: Jane Smith will have "AITA, CATO, ATEC" in a single Associations column instead of three separate rows.
Sources: Hide, Re-order, Sort, Filter, Merge Columns Table columns | Documentation | Clay University Normalize and Deduplicate a List with Clay
Clay
APP
·
·
Yes, this is possible. Here's how to merge association names for duplicate leads: 1. Enable auto-dedupe: Click the button at bottom-right, toggle "Enable automatic deduplication," and select "Full Name" as your dedupe column 2. Use Merge Columns: Click Add Column > Merge Columns to combine association data from multiple rows into a single cell before or after deduplication 3. Alternative method: Use the Normalize and Deduplicate a List integration to clean comma-separated association lists within cells Result: Jane Smith will appear once with "AITA, CATO" in her Association Name column instead of multiple rows.
Source: Normalize and Deduplicate a List with Clay