Data and search
In short
Why did Reply overwrite my contact data during enrichment?
The "keep existing data" choice protects contact fields only. Company records are always overwritten, with no option to keep what was there, and if enrichment returns a different employer, the contact is moved to a different company altogether, or a new company record is created for it. Two smaller surprises: placeholder email addresses count as empty and are always replaced, and job title comes from current work experience rather than the profile headline.
Quick fix
- Check whether the field that changed belongs to the contact or to the company. Only contact fields obey your choice.
- If a company detail changed, that is expected; company records are always overwritten.
- If the contact is now filed under a different company, enrichment found a different employer. Move it back manually if the old one was right.
- If the old email address looked like a generated placeholder, it was treated as empty and replaced. That is intended.
- To avoid a repeat, set enrichment to keep existing data before the next run.
Didn't work? Contact Reply support; the team can check your account directly.
Symptom
After an enrichment run, a contact's job title, company, location or email address is different from what you had. In some cases the contact has also moved to a different company in your account, or a near-duplicate company has appeared alongside the original.
Which fields your choice protects
| What changed | Does "keep existing data" protect it? |
|---|---|
| Contact job title, company name, industry, location | Yes – filled only if empty |
| Contact email address | Yes, with one exception below |
| Contact phone number | Yes |
| Company record fields | No – always overwritten |
| Which company a contact belongs to | No – can be reassigned |
The single most common misunderstanding on this page is that the choice covers everything. It covers the contact. It does not cover the company behind the contact.
The four reasons data changed
1. Company records are always overwritten
There is no "keep existing" option at the company level. Whatever enrichment returns about a company replaces what you had: name, industry, size, location, and the rest.
How to recognize it: the contact's own fields are intact, but the company card next to them looks different.
What to do: if you maintain company data by hand, enrich contacts rather than companies, and expect company fields to be provider-owned. There is currently no way to protect them.
2. The contact was moved to a different company
If enrichment reports a different employer than the one on file, the contact is re-linked to that company. If no matching company exists in your account, a new one is created.
This is usually right; people change jobs. It is wrong when the provider's data is stale or when your own company record used a different name for the same business.
How to recognize it: the contact no longer appears under the company you expect, and may appear under one you have never seen.
What to do: move the contact back manually. If the two company records are the same business under different names, merge them so the next run matches correctly.
3. A near-duplicate company appeared
When enrichment looks for an existing company to attach a contact to, it searches the companies owned by the person who owns the contact. A company a teammate created is outside that scope, so a second record is created for the same business.
How to recognize it: two company records with the same or almost the same name, owned by different people on your team.
What to do: merge the two company records. Nothing in your setup causes this, and merging is the complete fix.
4. A placeholder email address was replaced
When Reply cannot find a real address for a contact, it can store a generated placeholder. Those placeholders count as empty. "Keep existing data" will still replace one with a real address when enrichment finds it.
How to recognize it: the address that disappeared was not one you recognize, and the new one is a plausible work address.
What to do: nothing; this is intended, and it is almost always the result you want.
Why the job title does not match the LinkedIn headline
Job title is taken from the contact's current work experience entry, not from the headline at the top of their profile. Someone whose headline reads "Helping teams sell better | Ex-Google" will be enriched with their actual current role, not that line.
This is deliberate and usually more accurate, but it surprises people who compare the two side by side.
What never overwrites
A LinkedIn step in a sequence does not overwrite email or phone. When a sequence step visits a contact's profile and collects data along the way, existing addresses and numbers are left alone. The one exception is the placeholder case above.
If the address it finds already belongs to a different contact in your account, it is skipped silently and nothing changes.
FAQ
Can I protect company fields the way I protect contact fields?
Not today. The keep-existing choice exists only at contact level.
Does importing a CSV follow the same rules?
No. A CSV import has its own overwrite setting, and it defaults to overwriting. Check it before importing over a list you have curated.
Will re-running enrichment undo the change?
Only if the provider now returns the older value, which is unlikely. Correct the field by hand.
Still stuck? Contact Reply support
If these steps didn't solve the problem, the Reply support team can look at your account directly. Open the Reply Help Center and send the team a message.
To get an answer faster, include:
- which field changed, and what it was before
- whether the field belongs to the contact or the company
- which enrichment action you ran and whether keep-existing was selected
- roughly when it ran, and your timezone
Don't send passwords, API keys, or access tokens.
Related
- Why did enrichment use credits but find nothing?
- Why was a contact duplicated? – including duplicate company records
- Why were contacts not imported? – the CSV overwrite setting
Build with Reply
- MCP: docs.reply.io/mcp – read and change the enrichment overwrite setting from an assistant