The consumer views a product review on the CTV, then checks prices on the laptop and ultimately buys the item via the mobile application the following day. To many advertisers, it appears as three different interactions across channels. Without a unified view, campaigns miss opportunities.
This challenge has made Identity Resolution a priority for advertisers. Brands can no longer rely on fragmented identifiers to understand customer behavior. Instead, they need a reliable way to connect information into a single customer profile.
This article explains why identity resolution is important for AdTech.
Why AdTech Should Invest in Identity Resolution
1. Creating a Unified Customer Experience across all Channels
Without Identity Resolution, customer experiences are fragmented and hard to grasp. Identity Resolution in AdTech enables a marketer to put together these interactions into a single view of the customer experience.
2. Enhance Cross-Channel Metrics
Performance Metrics of the campaign become complicated when customer engagements do not link. Identity Resolution connects all those engagements such that marketers can know the touchpoints that led to conversion and the most profitable channels.
3. Support Privacy-First Advertising
There is now a need for first-party data due to the end of third-party cookies and stringent privacy policies. Identity Resolution in AdTech enables organizations to activate the data while maintaining compliance with privacy requirements.
First-Party Data as the New Competitive Moat
1. Identity Resolution Unlocks the Value of First-Party Data
AdTech Identity Resolution brings together all the data into a single customer profile. Instead of dealing with separate customer data, activation is done through the whole process.
In this case, the company will bring together website sign-up data, loyalty data, and application data to create one unified customer experience.
2. Improve the Quality of Look-alike Audiences
First-party Data is used to build the lookalike audiences. Instead of basing it on demographics, identity resolution in AdTech allows for modeling audience based on behavior and purchasing patterns.
A SaaS company generates a lookalike audience from its valuable customers rather than website visitors.
3. Enhance Data Collaboration
Companies collaborate with publishers, retailers, and clean rooms to unlock value from customer data. Identity Resolution enables this through an accurate match of first-party data with privacy.
In a clean room, a retailer and consumer products company match loyalty to program audiences to gauge the campaign’s effectiveness without exposing customer data.
The CDP as Identity Resolution Infrastructure
1. Linking Deterministic and Probabilistic Signals
Today’s CDP platforms provide deterministic signals, which include unique identifiers, like email addresses, customer IDs, along with probabilistic signals, such as devices and behavior patterns.
Deterministic signals can be matched using verified email addresses, while behavioral signals can be used to match anonymous site visitors.
2. Support for Real-time Audience Activation
CDP updates the audience segments in line with shifting customer behavior and allows for the implementation of real-time campaigns through advertising channels.
The customer leaves the product in the shopping cart, and the CDP updates the audience’s segments, starting display and email marketing.
3. Enable AI and Predictive Marketing
With CDPs, organizations can create consolidated customer profiles that facilitate predictive analytics, audience scoring, and automation of campaigns.
In an e-commerce business, AI is utilized for analyzing consolidated customer profiles for identifying repeat buyers among the customers.
Why Identity Resolution Is a Business Strategy Decision
Each advertising dollar spent comes down to one thing. Do we know who our customer is? If there is no cohesive identity strategy, even the most sophisticated AI technologies, media platforms, and first-party data cannot be fully leveraged. Identity Resolution is the basis for everything that AdTech can do.
Paramita Patra is a content writer and strategist with over five years of experience in crafting articles, social media, and thought leadership content. Before content, she spent five years across BFSI and marketing agencies, giving her a blend of industry knowledge and audience-centric storytelling.
When she’s not researching market trends , you’ll find her travelling or reading a good book with strong coffee. She believes the best insights often come from stepping out, whether that’s 10,000 kilometers away or between the pages of a novel.
