Modern businesses face a big challenge. They struggle to recognize and engage customers across all channels: web, mobile, email, and in-store. Customer data is often scattered across different systems, making it hard for teams to understand who each customer is.
61% of digital experience and product leaders say consolidating and organizing their data across different tools is difficult.
Marketing becomes less effective when there’s no unified view of the customer. Personalization is weak. Budgets are wasted on duplicate ads. Staying compliant with privacy laws becomes increasingly complicated.
In this article, you’ll learn what identity resolution is, how it works, and why it’s crucial for the future of data-driven marketing.
Table of contents
- What Is Identity Resolution?
- How Does Identity Resolution Work?
- Deterministic vs. Probabilistic Identity Resolution
- Benefits of Identity Resolution
- Identity Resolution Software and Services
- Popular Identity Resolution Platforms:
- Challenges and Privacy Concerns in Identity Resolution
- FAQ
- Final Thoughts
What Is Identity Resolution?
Identity resolution involves connecting data points from various sources (email addresses, device IDs, cookies, and CRM records) to identify individuals across different channels and sessions. It enables brands to build a real-time view of each customer, helping marketers understand who engages with their content and how.
In simple terms, it’s how businesses know that “user567 on a mobile app” is the same person as “michaeldong@gmail.com on a desktop.”
How Does Identity Resolution Work?
The process involves several key steps:
- Data Collection
Collect customer data from various sources: websites, mobile apps, CRM systems, email platforms, and offline interactions.
- Normalization
Clean and organize the data so it’s consistent and easy to compare.
- Matching
Use specific techniques to connect different pieces of data and identify the same person across platforms.
- Profile Unification
Combine all the identifiers and details into one clear customer profile.
- Activation
Prepare the unified profile for marketing campaigns, personalization, and analysis.
Deterministic vs. Probabilistic Identity Resolution
Regarding identity resolution, businesses use two main methods to match customer data across platforms: deterministic identity resolution and probabilistic identity resolution. Both methods help unify customer profiles, but they work in different ways.
Here’s a breakdown of each approach:
Deterministic Identity Resolution
Deterministic identity resolution relies on exact matches between data points to identify individuals.
For example, if a customer logs into your website with their email address, you can match that email address with their interactions across other platforms (mobile app, CRM system, etc.).
Probabilistic Identity Resolution
Probabilistic identity resolution takes a different approach. Instead of looking for exact matches, it uses behavioral data and statistical algorithms to determine the likelihood that multiple identifiers belong to the same person.
This method can infer matches based on patterns, such as the same browsing habits, device usage, or geographic location.
| Feature | Deterministic | Probabilistic |
|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | High (exact match) | Moderate to High (educated guess based on data) |
| Data Requirement | Requires exact, consistent identifiers (e.g., email address, phone number) | Can work with partial or indirect identifiers (e.g., device IDs, browsing history) |
| Use Case | Email marketing, CRM systems | Ad targeting, cross-device tracking |
| Scalability | Limited (needs exact matches) | Highly scalable (can work with any data patterns) |
| Risk of Error | Low (based on exact matches) | Higher (based on probability, may result in false positives) |
Use deterministic identity resolution when you have precise and consistent data, such as email addresses. It’s ideal for high accuracy, particularly in CRM and personalized marketing. However, probabilistic identity resolution should be used when scaling across platforms or when customer identifiers are limited. It helps link anonymous users, like those browsing without logging in.
Many businesses combine both methods to strike a balance between accuracy and scalability. This approach helps create a more complete and reliable customer profile over time.
Benefits of Identity Resolution
1. Unified Customer View (Single Customer Profile)
Identity resolution combines data from different touchpoints to create one unified customer profile. Instead of a fragmented view, businesses can see a complete, real-time picture of the customer’s interactions across platforms.
This unified view helps businesses make better decisions by providing:
- A full understanding of customer behavior and preferences;
- Consistency in communication and engagement across all channels;
- The ability to track the entire customer journey seamlessly.
2. Improved Personalization and Targeting
Businesses can create personalized experiences for each customer with a unified customer profile. Customized content, offers, and recommendations are more relevant because they are based on the customer’s preferences and past behaviors.
Personalization brings several benefits:
- Increased customer satisfaction: Customers feel understood and valued;
- Enhanced loyalty: Personal touches build stronger relationships;
- Higher engagement: Relevant content keeps customers interested;
- Improved conversion rates: Tailored marketing efforts directly address customer needs;
- More successful campaigns: Personalized messaging leads to better outcomes.
3. Enhanced Marketing ROI and Attribution Accuracy
By resolving customer identities across multiple touchpoints, businesses can accurately measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. With a complete view of customer interactions, marketers can better attribute actions to specific campaigns or touchpoints.
Key benefits include:
- Accurate attribution: Understand which campaigns or channels drive results.
- Smarter budget allocation: Avoid spending on duplicate ads and focus resources on what works.
- Improved ROI: Invest more in high-performing strategies.
4. Cross-Device Tracking and Consistent Messaging
Today’s customers often engage with brands across multiple devices. For example, a customer might start shopping on a smartphone, switch to a laptop, and later purchase a tablet.
Identity resolution enables businesses to track and recognize the same customer across devices, ensuring consistent messaging and a seamless experience.
Cross-device tracking helps businesses:
- Recognize the same user across phones, tablets, and computers;
- Maintain consistent messaging across all platforms;
- Deliver a smooth and personalized customer journey.
5. Better Compliance and Data Governance
Privacy concerns and data regulations (GDPR and CCPA) are now top priorities for businesses. Businesses can manage and protect personal data more effectively by creating a single, accurate customer profile.
A unified profile helps reduce the risk of errors or misuse. It also makes it easier to follow privacy laws and stay compliant.
Effective data governance helps prevent legal issues, fines, and damage to your brand. It also simplifies tasks such as managing consent and responding to data requests, including updates and deletions.
6. Improved Customer Retention
Identity resolution helps businesses track customer activity and understand their preferences and pain points. With a consistent view of each customer, companies can:
- Anticipate customer needs;
- Re-engage them with personalized offers;
- Provide faster and more relevant support.
Keeping existing customers is more affordable than finding new ones. When businesses understand each customer’s history and behavior, they can improve the experience. This fosters trust, strengthens relationships, and encourages customers to return.
Identity Resolution Software and Services
Many businesses rely on specialized software and platforms to effectively handle identity resolution. These tools use advanced technologies to collect, match, and unify customer data across multiple sources.
Key Features of Identity Resolution Tools:
- Data integration: Pull data from websites, mobile apps, CRM systems, advertising platforms, and offline sources.
- Identity matching algorithms: Use deterministic and/or probabilistic methods to link customer identifiers.
- Real-time profile updates: Keep customer profiles current as new data arrives.
- Privacy and compliance tools enable businesses to manage consent, comply with regulations such as the GDPR and CCPA, and safeguard personal data.
- Activation capabilities: Enables easy distribution of unified profiles to marketing platforms, analytics tools, or personalization engines.
Popular Identity Resolution Platforms:
- LiveRamp: Focuses on data onboarding, cross-device identity resolution, and privacy-first marketing.
- Segment (by Twilio): Offers customer data infrastructure with real-time identity resolution.
- Treasure Data: A Customer Data Platform (CDP) with strong identity stitching and personalization features.
- Acxiom: Provides identity services with deep data and analytics capabilities.
- Oracle Unity, Salesforce CDP, Adobe Real-Time CDP: Enterprise-grade solutions that unify data and support advanced segmentation and targeting.
Each platform enables businesses to understand and connect with their customers. It also ensures that data is organized, secure, and easy to use.
Challenges and Privacy Concerns in Identity Resolution
While identity resolution offers numerous benefits, it also presents several challenges. These include concerns about privacy, data accuracy, and compliance with regulations.
Key Challenges:
- Data silos: Customer data is often stored in separate systems that don’t communicate with each other, making it difficult to integrate all the information.
- Incomplete or inaccurate data: Identity matching can fail or produce errors if the data is old or incorrect.
- Device and channel fragmentation: Users constantly switch between devices and channels, making it more difficult to track them accurately.
- False positives: With probabilistic matching, incorrectly linking users can lead to confusion or incorrect messages.
- Scalability: As businesses grow, the amount and complexity of data increases. This requires more advanced tools and systems to handle it effectively.
Privacy Concerns:
- Regulatory compliance: Laws (GDPR and CCPA) set clear rules for how businesses handle customer data. These laws protect personal information and hold companies accountable for using it responsibly.
- Consent management: Businesses must get clear, active consent before collecting or using personal data. Without it, they risk breaking the law and losing the trust of their customers.
- Transparency: Customers should be aware of what data is being collected, why it’s necessary, and how it will be utilized. Clear privacy policies and simple consent forms help build confidence and trust.
- Data security: Identity resolution involves sensitive personal data. A security breach can expose sensitive data, leading to legal trouble, financial loss, and a damaged reputation. To prevent this, businesses must utilize strong encryption, limit access to sensitive data, and maintain proper system security.
FAQ
An identity graph is a database that maps all known identifiers and attributes to a single user profile. It updates in real time as new data becomes available.
Identity resolution focuses on identifying individuals. Entity resolution, on the other hand, is a broader concept. It matches any data entity, like businesses, products, or devices. Both processes connect fragmented data, but identity resolution specifically builds complete profiles for individuals.
Yes, identity resolution is valuable for both B2B and B2C brands. For B2C, it enhances customer personalization and targeting. In B2B, it is crucial for account-based marketing, improving lead generation, and tracking business relationships across various platforms.
AI improves identity resolution by automating data matching and detecting patterns. Machine learning algorithms quickly analyze large amounts of data, making it easier to maintain and update real-time identity graphs.
Final Thoughts
In a world where customer interactions span multiple channels and devices, identity resolution is essential for building unified, accurate customer profiles. By implementing effective identity resolution strategies, businesses can improve personalization, enhance marketing performance, and maintain compliance with privacy regulations.
The result is a stronger customer connection, improved engagement, and better business outcomes.
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