chapter six

6 Identity resolution and enrichment: building a complete customer profile

 

This chapter covers

  • Understanding identity resolution’s importance for marketers
  • Common identity resolution recommendations and algorithms
  • The role of third-party enrichment in marketing technologies
“Before identity resolution can happen, one has to ensure that accurate data from first-party data sources—apps, websites, or smart devices—is collected and made available where the identity resolution algorithm runs. The process is non-trivial and requires a deep understanding of the customer journey.”

— Arpit Choudhury, Founder of Databeats

First-party data can come from many different sources, often creating a fragmented view of each customer by data source. Now that we have covered the marketing data architecture in chapter 5, let’s dive deeper into how to harmonize those fragmented data sources into a single customer profile. Identity resolution refers to the way your organization chooses to match these various fragments into a unified profile of each customer.

6.1 Getting started with identity resolution

6.1.1 Foundational identity resolution strategies

6.1.2 Identity resolution for company records

6.1.3 Marketing technology solutions

6.1.4 Risk mitigation approaches

6.2 Anonymous-to-known identity resolution

6.2.1 Third-party cookie tracking

6.2.2 First-party cookie tracking by third parties

6.2.3 Full first-party tracking

6.3 Third-party enrichment of identity resolution

6.3.1 How third-party enrichment works

6.3.2 Identity stitching

6.3.3 Contact expansion

6.3.4 Profile enrichment

6.3.5 Purchasing third-party data services

6.4 Summary