Customer Data
Part of Customer data platforms in a marketing stack
Checking identity resolution during a CDP evaluation
Use known record relationships, shared-identifier cases and a case log to assess CDP identity matching and profile reconciliation.
Check identity resolution with the same synthetic records and known relationships for each candidate. Inspect both the links the system makes and those it leaves unresolved. A unified-profile count cannot show whether two people were joined incorrectly, or whether one person's records were kept apart.
Define the profile being tested
State whether the proposed profile represents a person, account or household. List the sample identifiers: customer ID, email, phone, login, browser identifier. Note who creates each one, whether it changes and whether several people can share it.
Keep two decisions separate. Matching links records. Reconciliation chooses a displayed value when linked sources disagree. A correct link can still yield an unsuitable profile if an old address is selected after a correction.
Prepare cases with known outcomes
Set the expected relationship before seeing a supplier's result. For a person-level profile, useful cases include:
Synthetic case / What to inspect
- One person signs in on two devices with the same reliable login ID
- Whether both activities reach that person.
- Two people use a household email or shared browser
- Whether their person profiles remain separate.
- A source supplies a reused or invalid phone value
- Whether unrelated records become linked.
- One person changes email address
- Which evidence, if any, links the old and new records.
- Sources disagree on a contact detail
- Which value appears and why.
- A source record is corrected or removed
- What changes in the profile and any downstream use.
These are proposed checks, not observed results. Do not assume an email, phone or browser identifier uniquely identifies a person. If the team cannot define the correct outcome, settle that definition before scoring the product.
Inspect each decision
For an unexpected link, ask which values and rule caused it. Ask whether the proposed edition lets an authorised user inspect source references, identifier history and selected values. Can the team adjust a rule and preview its effect before changing production settings? Record what the supplier shows, what requires another role or component, and what remains an explanation only.
Some products describe exact, normalised, fuzzy or graph-based matching. The terminology does not establish how the offered configuration handles your cases. Ask when a changed source record is processed and when a changed audience reaches its destination. A correct match that arrives after the campaign decision may not help.
Review false joins, missed joins and unresolved cases separately. A false join can place one person's data on another's profile. A missed join fragments a view.
Keep case-level findings beside any aggregate rate. An unresolved state can be appropriate when evidence for a person-level link is weak.
Include use and correction controls
A person-level link does not establish permission to use every attached event for marketing. For an Australian organisation, have the privacy owner assess the intended collection, use or disclosure and any applicable direct-marketing conditions. Check whether a source correction or opt-out reaches the profile and the destination that acts on it.
Finish with a case log: input records, expected and observed relationships, rule explanation, displayed value, downstream effect, unresolved question and owner. It should show what was observed in the demonstrated configuration and what still needs checking in the organisation's own data flow.
End-to-End Identity Resolution Evaluation Flow
- Define the profile type (person, account, household)Specify identifiers: customer ID, email, phone, login, browser ID
- Prepare synthetic test cases with known outcomesUse scenarios involving shared identifiers, data changes, and conflicts
- Evaluate matching and reconciliation decisionsInspect links, unresolved records, and displayed values
- Validate correction and opt-out propagationEnsure privacy controls reach the profile and downstream systems
- Document findings in a case logInclude input records, expected vs observed, rule explanation, downstream effects
