Identity resolution
What is Identity resolution?
Identity resolution is the process of matching multiple identifiers — an email, a phone number, a device cookie, a loyalty account ID — that all belong to the same real person, merging what would otherwise be several fragmented, anonymous-looking records into one unified customer profile. Without identity resolution, the same customer browsing on mobile, purchasing on desktop, and calling support looks like three unrelated people to separate systems instead of one.
More detail
Identity resolution typically uses both deterministic matching (an exact shared email or phone number) and probabilistic matching (a strong statistical likelihood based on behavior and device signals) to link records.
A unified profile produced by identity resolution is what powers a customer data platform's computed traits and segments, since those calculations need one consolidated view of a customer rather than fragments spread across systems.
Frequently asked
- What's the difference between deterministic and probabilistic identity resolution?
- Deterministic matching links records using an exact shared identifier, like the same email or phone number appearing in both; probabilistic matching links records based on a strong statistical likelihood from shared behavior or device signals, without an exact identifier match.
- Why does identity resolution matter for personalization?
- Without it, the same customer's activity across channels and devices looks like several disconnected people, so any personalization or messaging based on partial data misses context that a unified profile would otherwise provide.
See also
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