CTV, Email, DOOH, Instagram—there is no shortage of ways by which brands can connect with consumers these days, enabling opportunities for tremendous growth. However, without a clear way to connect these touchpoints to each other, to an individual, and to business outcomes, brands are operating in the dark.
New technologies, such as identity graphs, are transforming marketing and advertising by shedding light on the customer journey, enabling brands to gain a clearer understanding of their customers, where they are in their journey, and how to drive conversions.
This explainer will explore what an identity graph is, its key elements, benefits, and how brands can leverage this technology to enhance their marketing and advertising efforts.
What is an identity graph?
An identity graph is a structured database where matched identifiers live, organized into unified profiles of either individuals or households. Through a process called identity resolution—fueled by a combination of matching logic, algorithms, and data infrastructure—deterministic and probabilistic matching connects identifiers to a person or household.
Another way to think about an identity graph is to think about the frame of a mosaic. Each tiny tile in a mosaic represents an identifier. Each tile (or identifier) must be organized and placed in its corresponding spot, appropriately connecting to the tiles around it. While each tile alone may not reveal much, together the tiles form a clear picture (of an individual or a household). The frame holds the picture together, giving it its shape and structure
While the identity graph may hold or contain the bigger picture, it is the identifiers—the individual datapoints—that make the picture possible.
Identifiers: What are they?
Identifiers are datapoints tied to an individual, household, or device. These data points span a variety of sources, including channels, platforms, and interactions. Below are examples of identifiers.
Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
This information is often shared with a brand directly by a person, think subscription signups, providing the brand with a clear customer profile. Examples of PII include, but are not limited to, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, birthdays, and login credentials (including usernames). It’s also worth noting that IP addresses can be considered PII; however, this depends largely on how it is used and where, as definitions vary across states and countries.
Behavioral Identifiers
Behavioral identifiers are specific interactions that a customer may have with a brand and its products or services. These can include purchase history, browsing activity, product views, items added to a cart, or engagements with marketing campaigns.
Device-based identifiers
These data points link activity to a specific device or browser, enabling marketers to understand how customers interact with a brand’s content or products. Examples include first-party cookies for web browsers, mobile device IDs, and connected TV device IDs—all of which provide insight into individual or household device usage.
The role of identity graphs in advertising
Without a way to tie different touchpoints and interactions between a consumer and brand, advertisers risk over- or under-exposing consumers to brand messaging across channels and platforms, and delivering irrelevant and generic messaging, ultimately wasting media spend. However, with an identity graph, brands and their agencies can:
- Gain clarity into who they engage, when, where, and how, across channels
- Improve targeting, ensuring they’re reaching the right audiences with the appropriate cadence and relevant messaging
- Enhance measurement and attribution, ensuring ROI is accurately calculated across all channels and touchpoints
- Lessen reliance on third-party cookies, which are declining in availability
With an identity graph, advertisers can rest assured they’re making the most of their data, marketing channels, and media investments to forge and nurture customer relationships and drive business outcomes.
Household identity graphs vs individual identity graphs: What’s the difference?
Where an individual graph connects identifiers, behaviors, and attributes to a single person, a household graph connects identifiers, devices, and attributes to a single household. These different identity graphs can help advertisers target their audiences in the ways that best serve their campaigns and business objectives. The distinction is clearest when you consider consumer habits—from the way they consume media to how they use technology within the home—and their decision-making process.
Shared devices and media consumption
Devices like connected TVs, computers, and tablets are often shared within the home. Since advertisers may not always be certain of who is using a specific device, a household graph enables advertisers to target everyone within a home, exposing the entire household to their messaging, rather than targeting a single individual.
Shared decision making
For certain verticals, such as travel and healthcare, for instance, purchasing decisions are often shared or influenced by others in the household. For example, a travel brand may choose to advertise its new vacation package to a household to ensure it reaches those who influence decision-makers within the home.
Measurement and Attribution
Channels like connected TV are measured more effectively at the household level, which helps attribute conversions more easily. For instance, an advertisement for cereal is served via CTV. Later that week, the head of the household adds the cereal to their online grocery order on their mobile phone before checking out. This intelligence helps advertisers understand exposure, path to purchase, and campaign effectiveness.
Privacy and compliance within identity graphs
Identity graphs are powerful tools that aid advertisers in connecting with consumers across channels, platforms, and devices. However, identity graphs must adhere to privacy-safe and compliant practices. Effective identity graphs are built with privacy by design using data that has been consented to by the consumer, employing hashed or anonymized identifiers, clean rooms for data matching that do not compromise or share PII, and data retention limits.
Identity graphs are the future
Identity graphs are essential to more efficient and effective marketing and advertising. With an identity graph, brands can center their marketing efforts on the consumer—shedding light on their journeys, behaviors, and preferences—forging stronger relationships through relevant and personalized ad experiences. Brands that use identity graphs today to unify the industry’s fragmented landscape are well-positioned to drive success well into the future. As data, technology, and consumer habits continue to evolve, identity graphs will be vital to human-centered, measurable, privacy-first advertising.