An organization's web domain does more than sit on its record. Rhythm uses it to find the organization again, match a new Portal member to their employer, and sometimes fill in a brand-new organization's details automatically.
Finding an Organization by Its Domain
Each organization can have a web domain on file. When Rhythm looks for the organization that owns a domain in your account, the domain must match exactly, including capitalization and whether it includes "www." A close match, or the same domain entered in a different format, will not find the organization. If two organizations in your account use the same domain, Rhythm returns the one saved most recently. After you save a plain domain without a scheme, the value can display with an http prefix even when the stored link works over https. This is only a display detail, not a sign that the address is insecure.
Domain matching also runs when you add a contact. If the email address you enter uses a domain already recorded on an organization, Rhythm can fill in that organization on the contact for you. This works only with an exact domain match, so a colleague at the same company with a different, unrecorded email domain, such as one from an acquisition or regional office, will not match automatically. Rhythm can instead create a brand-new organization for that domain instead of linking the contact to the organization you already have.
If your account works with organizations that use more than one email domain, add an Alternate Domain field to the organization's Create/Update form. Then edit the organization and record every additional domain that should map to it. This helps contacts from those other domains match the organization you already have instead of creating duplicates. Automatic organization creation from an unmatched domain is also configurable, so you can turn it off if you prefer to handle unmatched domains yourself.
Warning
Entering or changing a contact's email address has, in some cases, filled in an organization unrelated to the domain you typed, instead of finding the correct domain match or leaving the organization blank. If a contact's organization changes unexpectedly after you edit their email, check it against the domain you actually typed before assuming it is correct.
Filling In a New Organization from a Company Profile
When Rhythm needs to create a new organization from only a web domain, it can look up that domain in a shared company-profile source. This most often happens when a new Portal member signs up with a work email address that does not match any existing organization. When the lookup finds a match, Rhythm can use the profile to fill in the new organization's name, domain, logo, social links, and address.
A few details affect how reliable this is:
- Rhythm uses this lookup only when it finds a named company for the domain. If it does not find one, Rhythm does not create the organization this way or guess any details.
- If a new member's email address matches more than one domain, Rhythm uses only the first domain with a named company profile to create and fill in the organization. It ignores any other domains for this purpose.
- If the profile lists more than one address or location, Rhythm uses only the first one listed, which may not be the company's main office or headquarters.
- Company profiles come from a cache shared by every Rhythm customer that looks up the same domain. If a company recently changed its name, logo, or address, the older profile may still appear for a while, and there is no way to force a fresh lookup.
- The address Rhythm fills in is verified against Google's address data, like address lookups elsewhere in Rhythm. This means a valid address follows Google's standard, not a separate Rhythm-specific one.
If none of a new member's email domains has a named company profile, Rhythm does not create an organization for them automatically. Whether your account offers this during sign-up, and where you configure that choice, is part of Portal sign-up setup rather than domain matching.
Warning
If two new members from the same company sign up around the same time, before either one matches an existing organization, each sign-up can create a separate new organization for that company. If you notice this, look for the duplicate and merge it instead of leaving both organizations in place. Leaving the duplicate in place risks a future member picking the wrong one during their own sign-up.
Related
For how Rhythm flags likely duplicate contacts, which works on a similar principle, see How Duplicate Matching Works.