How Identity Resolution Needs to Evolve in 2023

Marketing Intelligence

June 15, 2023

It’s time enterprises and businesses rethink their data and Identity Resolution strategy as the world continues to witness rapid changes in technology and consumer behavior. 2023 alone has seen pivotal changes in privacy regulations, the continued ascent of generative AI, and the rapidly-changing behavior of consumers. The pandemic was the single biggest disruptor of consumer behavior, as consumers adapted to a changed world where everything from groceries to medicines had to be bought online. Some of these changes were transient and temporary, but some things have truly changed for good.

All these factors and more mean consumer identity once again has to take center stage and enterprises and businesses will have to reevaluate their approach to identity resolution. Here are 5 important factors that businesses need to consider to be prepared for the future:

The Omnichannel Experience

Consumers today switch easily between online and offline, and the customer journey is now stretched across multiple channels. To meet their consumers where they are, enterprises will have to focus on their omnichannel approach and offer a seamless experience across the various consumer touchpoints. To accomplish this effectively, identity resolution must be used to connect the various disparate data points, uncover patterns and get a full picture of the customer’s journey.

Invest in Your Data

In the past year, we have witnessed the explosive rise of generative AI, and this has further emphasized the importance of good quality proprietary data. Businesses that choose to invest in strengthening and improving the quality of their consumer data will win the game and uncover value that goes beyond marketing or operational intelligence. To truly unlock value from identity resolution, business leaders can use it to enhance their existing customer base by using the identity graph to obtain pieces of the consumer identity puzzle that they do not have. For example, an online-only retailer might not know where a customer shops in the real world and enriching their customer data with real-world attributes could help them better understand their real-world behavior.

The Privacy Imperative

Businesses in the data space have to ensure privacy is at the forefront of everything they do. By following privacy-centric practices such as data anonymization and secure data-sharing protocols, businesses can build trustworthy relationships with their customers. In the context of identity resolution, solution providers have to ensure privacy-safe practices are followed such as ensuring ID matching occurs only in neutral environments. But the ideal would be for privacy solutions that allow for matching in a privacy-safe manner and also run queries and workflows during the process to derive value, achieving two goals at the same time.

Need for Persistent Identifiers

The age of the third-party cookie is now past, and businesses can no longer depend on cookies reliably. The next stage of the identity ecosystem will involve investing in a solution that uses more persistent identifiers that do not depreciate. For example, Near’s identity graph is built to be future-proof and designed to stay relevant in a post-MAID, post-cookie world by focusing on a persistent identifier for individuals instead of a device, browser, or household.

Ethical and Effective Data Partnerships

It is crucial for businesses to ensure they choose the right data partners or solution providers and prioritize both ethical data practices as deriving the maximum value. Apart from ensuring that data partners are privacy compliant, the effectiveness of the identity resolution solution must also be taken into consideration. A few factors to keep in mind before collaborating are:

Speed:

Robustness and speed in the delivery of SLAs (Service Level Agreements) is important criteria to consider when choosing a solution provider.

High Match Rate:

Choose a solution that has a high match rate. The match rate indicates the solution’s capacity to correctly identify and link disparate data points to the same individual. A higher match rate means better accuracy and quality of the data.

Future-Proof:

The technology has to be defensible and future-proof, ensuring that even if one dataset becomes obsolete, the solution can still match other data points to accurately identify individuals. The provider must offer both online and offline data to provide a complete picture of the consumer behavior

Beyond the factors discussed above, the need is for a more strategic approach to identity resolution and its benefits. Currently, it is used to achieve short term or one-time objectives like curating audience segments and measuring attribution for advertising campaigns. While this is important, it is a transactional process and does not add cumulative value. Instead, identity resolution can and should be used to inform strategy and create competitive advantages.

To win in a challenging environment, business leaders must use identity resolution to retain and increase the lifetime value of existing customers as well as inform their marketing strategy and customer acquisition strategy.

Learn how Near’s identity resolution and customer data enrichment solution can help you transform your first-party data. Sign up for a demo now!