Matching Criteria in Matching Rules

Indicates which field to compare. When selecting fields, keep the following in mind.

• The available fields depend on which object the matching rule applies to and include both standard and custom fields.
• The supported input field types are email, lookup relationship, master-detail relationship, number, phone, standard picklists, custom picklists (single-select only), text, and URL.
• You can’t use an auto-numbered lookup or master-detail relationship field in a matching rule.
• If you enable state and country/territory picklists, we recommend using State/Province Code and Country Code in your matching rules. These fields yield better results than the state and country text fields.

Specifies how blank fields affect whether the two fields being compared are considered matches. If you select Match Blank Fields for a field and that field is blank in both records being compared, the fields are considered matches. However, if you select Match Blank Fields for a field and that field is blank in only one of the records being compared, the fields aren’t considered matches.

If you don’t select Match Blank Fields for a field and that field is blank in both records being compared, the fields aren’t considered matches.

A formula that improves the speed and performance of duplicate detection. When the matching rule runs, it compares the match key values of the saved record with existing records. If the saved record has the same match key value as an existing record, it’s a potential duplicate and evaluated further. If the saved record has a unique match key value, it’s not considered a duplicate.

Defines the logic that determines whether two fields match. For the exact matching method, the exact matching algorithm is automatically used. For the fuzzy matching method, various fuzzy matching algorithms can be used. Each matching algorithm is scored based on how closely it matches the two fields. For example, if you select exact matching and the two fields match, the match score is 100. If the two fields don’t match, the score is 0.

Determines how the matching algorithms’ match scores are calculated to come up with one match score for the field. Each matching algorithm is scored based on how closely it matches the two fields. Only standard matching rules use the scoring method.

Average: Uses the average match score.

Maximum: Uses the highest match score.

Minimum: Uses the lowest match score.

Weighted Average: Uses the weight of each matching method to determine the average match score.