How to Use CleanMerge

A feature-by-feature walkthrough of CleanMerge, for anyone setting it up without a recorded demo to follow alongside.

Overview

CleanMerge is a HubSpot app with two parts:

1. Normalize CRM Data — a free workflow action available to everyone who installs the app today. It cleans up messy property values (names, phone numbers, URLs) right inside your existing HubSpot workflows.
2. Warehouse Sync — a paid, white-glove service that syncs your data warehouse into HubSpot with built-in duplicate detection. It's not self-serve yet; setup is arranged directly by email.

This guide covers both, with the most detail on the free action since that's what you set up yourself.

Installing CleanMerge

1. Open the install link (from the CleanMerge listing or setup guide) and click Install CleanMerge.
2. You'll land on HubSpot's account chooser — select the HubSpot account you want to connect.
3. Review the requested scopes on the consent screen.
   Scopes requested: a base identity scope, plus read/write access to Companies and Contacts. These support the internal duplicate-matching engine and Warehouse Sync — the free workflow action itself does not read or write CRM records directly.
4. Click Connect app.
5. You'll land on a confirmation page reading "CleanMerge is connected." Installation is complete — no further configuration is needed.

Setting Up the Normalize CRM Data Action

1. In HubSpot, go to Automation → Workflows.
2. Create or open a workflow that enrolls Contacts, Companies, Deals, or Tickets.
3. Click the + icon to add an action, then search for CleanMerge.
4. Select CleanMerge: Normalize CRM Data.
5. Set Input text to the property (or static value) you want to normalize.
6. Choose a Transformation from the dropdown (see the reference table below).
7. Save the action.

Transformation Reference

The Critical Step: Set Property Value

CleanMerge only computes the cleaned-up value — it does not write it to the record by itself. Right after the CleanMerge action in your workflow, you must add a second action:

1. Click + again, immediately after the CleanMerge action.
2. Choose Set property value.
3. Set the property to update (e.g. the same field you normalized, or a different one).
4. For the value, select CleanMerge's output field, Normalized text.
5. Save the workflow.

How It Works Under the Hood

When a record reaches the CleanMerge step, HubSpot sends over just the one value you're transforming — nothing else about the record. CleanMerge cleans it up and sends the result straight back, in the same instant. Nothing is stored on CleanMerge's side; the value only exists for that one round trip.

The actual write to your CRM record happens back in HubSpot, through the "Set property value" step described above — the same way any other workflow action works.

This is also why the free action doesn't need read or write access to your Contacts or Companies: it's a pass-through cleanup step, not a system that holds a copy of your data.

Data & Security

• All traffic between HubSpot and CleanMerge is encrypted in transit (TLS).
• OAuth tokens are encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM).
• The free Normalize CRM Data action never stores the values it transforms — see "How It Works Under the Hood" above.
• Full details on what data is accessed, why, and how to request deletion: Privacy Policy.

Free Tier Limits

The free action allows up to 50 runs per month per account, across any number of workflows. Past that, the action returns the original value unchanged, with a status message pointing to Warehouse Sync — it will not fail your workflow or block enrollment, it simply stops normalizing until the next month.

FAQ & Troubleshooting

Why didn't my property update?
The most common cause is a missing "Set property value" step right after CleanMerge — see "The Critical Step: Set Property Value" above. CleanMerge computes the value; that second step is what writes it to the record.

What happens if a phone number can't be formatted?
CleanMerge returns the original value unchanged, with an error status, rather than failing the workflow. Check the workflow's history log for the specific record to see the error detail.

How do I get Warehouse Sync?
Email jay@kinetify.com — it's arranged directly, starting with a conversation about your warehouse and the data you want synced.