At A Glance
Identity resolution unifies fragmented IDs into more complete customer profiles, helping you understand your audiences and deliver personalized, privacy-conscious experiences. With Experian’s AI-powered identity resolution solution, you gain the scale, accuracy, and responsible data foundation to compete while making your marketing more human.In this article…
Every marketer has seen it: a customer browses reviews on a laptop, adds items to a cart on mobile, then “disappears.” In reality, they likely switched devices or logged in with a different email. Identity resolution connects these scattered signals into a more complete profile to help you maintain a clear view of the customer journey.
That clearer view can help you deliver more seamless experiences, support increasing privacy expectations, turn first-party data into measurable results, and fuel better customer analytics.
What is identity resolution?
Identity resolution is the process of using privacy-protected methods to connect the different identifiers associated with a customer into a consistent profile. Without it, you’re left with an incomplete picture of the customer — like a cart tied to one email, an app login tied to another device, or a loyalty swipe that never links back to the same person.
Common identifiers include:
- Cookies: Browser-based identifiers used to recognize activity within a particular browser
- Emails: Plain-text or hashed identifiers that can support identity matching
- Device IDs: Mobile advertising IDs (MAIDs) or app-based identifiers
- Loyalty IDs: Program numbers that tie online and offline activity
- Hashed PII: Personally identifiable information (PII) transformed into privacy-protected strings that can support matching without exposing the original values
Ultimately, identity resolution can help you recognize the same customer wherever they engage while protecting customer data.
Why is identity resolution critical in a privacy-first world?
Even as cookies linger, marketers have already shifted their strategies to rely on first-party data, where choice and transparency are the baseline expectation.
At Experian, our long history as a regulated data steward makes us a uniquely capable and trusted partner for managing modern compliance expectations. Our identity resolution solutions maximize the value of permission-based data while meeting consumer demand for privacy, personalization, and control.
Struggling with scattered customer data? We make identity resolution seamless.
How AI powers modern identity resolution
AI and machine learning strengthen identity resolution by analyzing billions of signals at scale, helping you improve match accuracy and connect recent activity to stable identities. Resolved identity can then provide a stronger foundation for predictive insights and more relevant marketing decisions.
Connect more fragmented identifiers
Deterministic matching connects records using exact identifiers, such as a login, hashed email, or loyalty ID. When those signals are unavailable, machine-learning models can evaluate probabilistic relationships across timestamps, IP addresses, user agents, cookies, and device IDs to determine which identifiers likely belong together.
Our Digital Graph applies advanced machine-learning clustering across more than 4.2 billion digital identifiers. Analyzing patterns at this scale can improve match accuracy and reduce the risk of false positives compared with static rules alone.
Incorporate more recent activity
Activity Feed captures digital events as they occur, resolves them to stable household and individual identities, and delivers event-level records hourly, making fresher resolved activity available for use across your marketing.
Turn resolved data into predictive insight
Identity resolution determines which signals are likely connected. Predictive modeling builds on that resolved identity foundation by analyzing behavioral patterns and other signals to anticipate likely interests or actions.
At Experian, our AI enhanced modeling surfaces combinations of signals associated with outcomes such as purchase, response, retention, or upsell. Our modeling teams review, test, and validate these signals before incorporating them into models. The resulting insights can help you prioritize audiences and inform more relevant messaging, offers, and experiences across personalization, connected TV (CTV), cross-channel targeting, activation, and measurement.
This identity foundation will become even more important as agentic media systems take on a larger role in campaign planning, activation, and optimization. These systems need accurate identity and trustworthy data context to interpret signals, make informed decisions, and act within defined parameters.
What changes for marketers when AI powers identity resolution?
The combination of AI and identity resolution changes how you work with customer data in three practical ways.
1. Respond to recent behavior
Delayed or incomplete customer views can make it harder to recognize changes in intent. With access to recently resolved activity, you can adjust targeting, optimization, and measurement based on newer signals rather than relying solely on periodic data snapshots.
2. Build more useful audiences
Resolved first-party data can be enriched with Experian Marketing Attributes and used alongside our syndicated audiences to help you:
- Understand consumers beyond their direct interactions with your brand
- Build more refined audience segments
- Reduce repetitive data preparation
- Activate audiences more efficiently across channels
3. Prioritize the right opportunities
Broad demographic criteria can show you who belongs to a category, but not necessarily who is more likely to support a particular campaign objective.
Our AI-enhanced modeling can build on resolved and enriched data to identify combinations of signals associated with a particular profile or action. These models can help infer consumer and household attributes when information is limited and identify consumers who may be more likely to act against a given objective.
That gives you a basis for deciding whom to reach, how to engage them, and where to invest while keeping marketing anchored in people.
How does identity resolution help brands?
These operational improvements can translate into broader business benefits, from expanding addressable reach to supporting more relevant customer experiences and more efficient media investment.
Creates a unified customer view
Connecting data from loyalty programs, point-of-sale (POS) systems, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, digital interactions, and offline sources gives you a clearer picture of each customer across touchpoints.
This can improve match rates, expand your addressable audience, and help you reach more of the right consumers across channels.
Enables more relevant AI-powered customer experiences
Customers constantly switch devices, update their information, and change preferences. A strong AI customer experience depends on recognizing those changes without treating each new interaction as a different person.
When paired with recent activity, a resolved identity foundation gives AI models more consistent context for interpreting changing signals and informing messaging, offers, and timing.
This can support more consistent cross-channel experiences, stronger engagement, and, over time, conversion and customer lifetime value (LTV) goals.
Drives better marketing ROI
A stronger identity foundation helps you direct your budget toward the audiences, channels, and opportunities most relevant to your campaign objectives. With better targeting and prioritization, you can reduce wasted impressions and make more informed investment decisions.
Over time, that efficiency can contribute to lower acquisition costs, stronger return on ad spend (ROAS), and higher overall marketing ROI.
Supports privacy-conscious data use
We apply rigorous data governance standards and provide consumer choice mechanisms such as opt-outs and data correction. This helps you use identity data responsibly while supporting personalization and protecting consumer trust.
See our identity resolution solution in action
What are some identity resolution use cases and examples?
Every industry faces its own unique identity challenges, but identity resolution is the common thread that turns scattered data into connected experiences. Let’s break down how companies in different verticals are putting it to work (and the kinds of results they’re seeing).
Audio
People use audio while commuting, working out, and even folding laundry. It can be one of the hardest channels to track because of how frequently listeners switch between apps, stations, and devices.
Our identity resolution partnerships with Audacy and DAX change the game:
- Audacy helps tie scattered listening into a single view, so you can follow audiences across devices and keep ads relevant in the moment.
- DAX pairs more than 3,500+ Experian syndicated audiences with its audio network, enabling you to target and launch impactful campaigns at scale.
These partnerships turn audio into an accurate channel where ads feel personal, privacy-safe, and measurable.
Financial services
In financial services, identity resolution creates a more consistent foundation for understanding customers across touchpoints and connecting them with relevant audience insights. This can help banks, insurers, and lenders tailor outreach for mortgages and refinancing, credit cards and deposits, personal loans, insurance, and wealth management, while supporting applicable regulatory requirements.
We offer approximately 400 financial audiences, including segments such as:
- In Market First Mortgage
- Refinancing Homeowners
- Credit Seeking Card Switcher
- Deposits Financial Personality
- Investment Financial Personality
- Investable Assets
Through our partnership with FMCG Direct, Consumer Financial Insights® and Financial Personalities® segments provide additional insight into behaviors such as credit card use, deposit balances, and investment habits without exposing sensitive personal details.
These insights help you engage consumers based on relevant financial behaviors, needs, and moments — from building credit and buying a home to managing investments and preparing for retirement.
Read more about how our financial audiences support privacy-safe personalization.
Gaming
Gamers don’t stick to one platform. Player data gets scattered across mobile, console, and PC, so it’s tough to keep track of individuals. We help stitch those signals together so you can finally see the whole picture, personalize gameplay, and keep players coming back.
With enriched profiles, you can deliver offers that resonate and earn fresh revenue by packaging high-value gaming audiences for advertisers outside the industry.
Unity, a leading gaming platform, is tapping into Experian’s syndicated audiences to gain player insights and help advertisers reach gamers across mobile, web, and CTV. For global publishers, unifying player data with Experian has driven higher engagement and stronger ad ROI.
Healthcare and pharma
You can’t afford slip-ups with HIPAA regulations. Identity resolution makes it possible to engage the right patients and providers with de-identified audiences rather than third-party cookies.
AI and machine learning have always been part of how we power identity resolution. In healthcare, that means using AI-enhanced modeling to connect de-identified clinical and claims data with lifestyle insights. The result is a more comprehensive picture of the patient journey that helps close care gaps, reduce wasted spending, and improve outcomes.
By working with partners like Komodo, PurpleLab, and Health Union, we make it possible to activate campaigns at scale that boost engagement and adherence while keeping patient privacy front and center:
- Komodo Health enriches our identity graph with insights from millions of de-identified patient journeys plus lifestyle data, giving you a fuller view of where care gaps exist and how to close them.
- PurpleLab connects clinical and claims data to our platform, letting you activate HIPAA-compliant audiences across CTV, mobile, and social with the ability to measure outcomes like prescription lift and provider engagement.
- Health Union contributes a data set built from 50 million+ patient IDs and 44 billion+ patient-reported data points. Combined with our identity and modeling capabilities, this improves match rates and delivers up to 76% net-new reach, so campaigns reach patients and caregivers in critical health moments.
These capabilities help you launch privacy-first, highly targeted campaigns and connect media exposure to meaningful outcomes.
Explore our pharma playbook to learn how to:
- Reduce governance risk
- Keep patient and healthcare provider identity workflows appropriately separated
- Sequence activation across channels
- Connect media exposure to outcomes
- Evaluate potential workflow partners
Media and TV
Viewers tend to hop around between linear TV, streaming apps, and social feeds. And without identity resolution, every screen looks like a different person. You can accurately plan, activate, and measure campaigns by unifying viewing behaviors into one ID with our AI-powered identity graph.
Optimum Media tackled its multiscreen challenge with our identity solutions. By layering our audience insights and AI-driven Digital Graph onto their subscriber data, they were able to connect the dots across channels, reach the right households, and measure results instead of just impressions. In the end, they finally got a clear view of what works across every screen.
Curious how identity resolution can power your customer analytics? We can walk you through it.
Retail and e-commerce
Shoppers move between websites, apps, carts, stores, and checkout lines, leaving fragmented signals along the way. In retail, identity resolution connects online and offline activity — such as digital engagement, loyalty transactions, and in-store purchases — to create a more complete view of the customer journey. This supports more relevant targeting, consistent experiences, and clearer measurement across channels.
Experian retail audiences add context based on how consumers engage, where they shop, and what they buy. You can activate and layer audiences to align channel selection, creative, and timing with demonstrated retail behaviors such as:
- Streaming First Cord-Cutter Households
- eCommerce Diehards
- Frequent In-Store Buyer Households
- Category-Specific High Spenders
Identity resolution is also increasingly important as commerce media evolves beyond traditional retail networks. Our 2026 State of advertising report explains how transactional data can give brands a clearer view of the purchase journey, support on-site and off-site activation, and connect upper-funnel investment to measurable outcomes across payment platforms, marketplaces, and merchant ecosystems.
Our 2026 Digital trends and predictions report examines this broader shift, including how commerce media is expanding beyond retail and why stronger connections among data, identity, activation, and measurement will be essential for turning media investment into business outcomes.
Travel and hospitality
Travelers move between devices and channels as they research destinations, compare options, and complete bookings. Identity resolution helps travel and hospitality brands connect loyalty, booking, and other digital and offline signals to create a more consistent view of guest preferences and intent. You can use that understanding to deliver relevant offers, reach high-intent audiences, and determine which marketing efforts drive bookings and repeat visits.
Windstar Cruises put this approach into action when we worked with MMGY to use our identity graph to connect digital media exposure with confirmed bookings. More than 6,500 bookings valued at over $20 million were attributed to MMGY-managed placements.
How should I evaluate identity resolution tools and providers?
When choosing identity resolution tools and providers, evaluate both their underlying identity data and the way they bring AI and identity resolution together. Look for:
- Data scale, quality, and sourcing: Identity resolution is only as reliable as its underlying data. Ask what online and offline sources the provider uses, whether its models are grounded in proprietary and verified data, and how it evaluates the accuracy, permissioning, and recency of outside sources. A broad data set is most valuable when its origins and quality are clearly understood.
- Match methodology, accuracy, and validation: Look for a provider that combines deterministic matching based on exact identifiers with AI-driven probabilistic (pattern-based) matching when exact signals are unavailable. This balance can preserve the accuracy of confirmed connections while extending reach across fragmented identifiers. Ask how the provider validates match quality, measures false positives, sets confidence thresholds, and refreshes identities as consumer signals change.
- AI governance and responsible use: Providers should be transparent about how their AI models are developed, tested, monitored, and governed. Ask whether qualified experts review and validate model outputs, how performance or bias concerns are addressed, and what safeguards support responsible use.
- Privacy and compliance readiness: Compliance can’t be an afterthought. Your identity partner should maintain strong data governance and provide tools that help support applicable privacy requirements, including consumer opt-outs, corrections, and deletions.
- Integration flexibility: A good provider fits into your world, not the other way around. Look for pre-built integrations with your customer data platform (CDP), demand-side platform (DSP), and broader marketing tech (MarTech) stack so you can get up and running without the heavy IT lift.
- Measurement capabilities: Ask how the provider connects resolved identities, media exposure, and customer outcomes. Strong measurement capabilities should help you evaluate campaign performance across channels and use those insights to improve future planning.
How Experian enables enterprise-grade identity resolution
Experian identity resolution solutions give you the scale, accuracy, and compliance support required for complex enterprise environments. Our solutions are:
- Built on trust: Backed by 40+ years as a regulated data steward, so you can act with confidence.
- Powered by our proprietary AI-enhanced identity graph: Combining breadth, accuracy, and recency across more than 4.2 billion identifiers, continuously refined by machine learning for maximum accuracy.
- Seamlessly connected: Pre-built data integration with leading CDPs, DSPs, and MarTech platforms for faster time to value.
- Always up to date: Frequent enrichment and near-real-time identity resolution through Experian Activity Feed for timely personalization and more responsive customer engagement.
- Privacy-first by design: Compliance with GLBA, FCRA, and emerging state regulations baked in at every step, supported by rigorous partner vetting.
Turn connected identities into measurable growth
Identity resolution turns fragmented signals into connected, measurable, and compliant experiences. From retail to gaming, brands using it see stronger personalization, engagement, and ROI.
At Experian, we bring AI and identity resolution together with the data, trust, and innovation needed to make those connections work across every channel. Our approach applies AI to connect fragmented identities at scale, while data enrichment and predictive modeling help you understand audiences, prioritize opportunities, and support more relevant personalization.
If you’re ready to turn fragmented data into growth, now’s the time to start.
See how we can support identity resolution at scale
Identity resolution FAQs
The difference between deterministic and probabilistic matching is how they connect identifiers. Deterministic matching uses exact identifiers to create high-confidence connections, while probabilistic matching uses signals and algorithms to identify likely relationships. Leading providers typically combine both methods.
Yes, AI helps identity resolution by connecting identifiers when exact deterministic matches aren’t available. Machine-learning models evaluate patterns across signals and predict which identifiers likely belong together. We apply machine-learning clustering across more than 4.2 billion digital identifiers to resolve fragmented activity at scale.
Identity resolution can improve ROI by creating more complete customer profiles that support better targeting and personalization. Higher match rates can expand addressable audiences, reduce wasted spend, and boost ROAS.
Yes, identity resolution can work without third-party cookies by using first-party data and privacy-protected identifiers, such as hashed email addresses, to support addressability and personalization.
We differ from a CDP in the scale and depth we can add to your existing data. While a CDP primarily unifies data you already own, we can complement it by connecting customer records to our identity graph and providing identity resolution and data enrichment capabilities.
Yes, Experian is GLBA/FCRA compliant, GDPR/CCPA ready, and supports consumer opt-outs and corrections to ensure responsible personalization.
When comparing identity resolution tools, look for a provider that combines deterministic and AI-driven probabilistic matching, uses high-quality data with clear sourcing, validates match quality, and governs its models responsibly. The right tool should also support applicable privacy requirements and integrate flexibly with your existing marketing technology.
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Advertisers continue to increase their spending across addressable TV, connected TV (CTV), and digital. According to IAB’s “2021 Video Ad Spend and 2022 Outlook” report, digital video ad spending is expected to increase by 26% to $49.2 billion in 2022. Understanding who consumers are and how to best reach them in their preferred channel is becoming more complex. Damian Amitin and Colleen Dawe discuss how a seamless identity strategy can address the complexity of the emerging TV space. The evolution of identity resolution Around ten years ago, the idea of digital “identity resolution” or “Device Graphs” was born. This idea connected cookies and MAIDs to understand when many IDs were the same person or household. In more recent years, our industry began to connect that initial understanding to the CTV ecosystem. But, a large part of the TV ecosystem existed in silos, like first and third-party audience data, and the growing advanced TV market. The goal of identity resolution has always been to understand the consumer better. To achieve more accurate targeting and measurement in the CTV ecosystem, we must incorporate the following: What we know about the household and consumer from an ID perspective Who the consumer is as it relates to audience data, as well as the wealth of first-party data in the advanced TV space We know the cookie is a flawed way to collect data. While Google delayed the deprecation of third-party cookies, there are other challenges that we face right now. Such as the glaring gap in Safari traffic and the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) turning to “opt-in.” Understanding consumer behavior across devices and platforms continues to challenge marketers and publishers. These challenges are creating the need to find more stable identifiers. Though the cookie remains valuable, it has an uncertain future. This has led advertisers to place bigger bets on the combination of addressable and CTV. The overlap in addressable and CTV data leads to fragmentation Personally identifiable information (PII) makes up the majority of addressable TV households’ data. Part of the attraction to CTV is that their IDs remain universal, persistent, and stable. Analysts project that CTV ad spending will hit $23B in 2023. Consumers now have an average of 4.7 streaming subscriptions per household. It’s no surprise then, that Disney+, HBO, and Netflix released or announced ad-supported tiers. Addressable TV and CTV are often thought of as distinct markets across the industry. But, in the context of identity, we should look at them through the same lens. Millions of households still consume TV and video content via a set-top box or through apps on CTVs. This is in addition to what they consume on their laptops, tablets, and phones. Of the top 11 cable and satellite providers, 65 million U.S. households still have a box in their homes. On the other hand, approximately 96 million U.S. households have at least one or more Smart TVs and streaming services. With about 126 million total U.S. TV households, that’s a lot of overlap. There are still significant numbers of both addressable and CTV homes. How can we address fragmented TV consumption? Through a holistic and comprehensive approach to identity. An approach that captures addressable TV, CTV, and digital identifiers. An approach that captures all audience attributes inside of a single identity graph. This is the ideal approach for publishers, AdTech vendors, and brands. Discover how to unlock holistic identity How can we achieve a holistic identity? Through a three-pillared approach: First-party data onboarding Digital identifiers Consumer data First-party data onboarding Bringing offline data from a brand’s consumers is very valuable due to the quality of the data. Because the data is being collected right from the source, you know it’s accurate. It provides the foundation you can build your identity strategy from. Digital identifiers Once you create a foundation with first-party data, you need to connect it. Either with an internal or licensed digital ID graph. Then you can understand the connections between all devices within the household. Consumer data After you know which devices tie to a single consumer, you’ll want to act on that knowledge. The next step is to partner with a data provider that can help you understand your consumers. Establishing this partnership will help improve targeting, measurement, and the customer experience. To achieve a well-rounded customer view tomorrow, we need to start today The three-pillared approach bridges the gap between the offline and online worlds. This provides a well-rounded view of customers and audiences. However, the ability to tie these aspects of identity together still presents several challenges. To achieve the three-pillared approach today, you need to use many vendors and fragmented data sources. Often with conflicting data. As we look forward, the tools to do this are becoming more advanced and unified. The players in our ecosystem should adopt a seamless identity strategy. One that provides a privacy-safe yet full-picture solution. That means capturing and unifying all devices within a household. While also understanding the consumer behaviors and profiles behind those devices. Keep up with your customers and their data Once we create an informed identity strategy, we can begin to understand the makeup of each household and the individuals within. In this new world, personalizing the experience for an audience is key. Where do they prefer to spend their time? What type of content are they most engaged in? Only then can we as an industry provide an optimal experience for each consumer. All while driving greater ROI for advertisers and publishers. Are you ready to know more about your customers than ever before? Let’s get to work together to achieve your marketing goals. Contact us to learn how we can connect the complex dots of identity resolution. About our experts Damian Amitin, VP of Enterprise Partnerships, Experian Marketing Services Damian Amitin is the VP of Enterprise Partnerships and joined Experian during the Tapad acquisition in November 2020. Damian is a senior sales and partnerships executive, specializing in the identity resolution and marketing data ecosystem. Damian helps brands, publishers, and technology vendors enable enhanced ID resolution through The Experian/Tapad platform to attain a 360 view of the customer across targeting analytics, attribution, and personalization. Colleen Dawe, Senior Account Executive, Experian Marketing Services Colleen Dawe is a Senior Account Executive on the Advanced TV Team within Experian Marketing Services. With 15 years of experience working within the television ecosystem, Colleen works with clients to bring the value and expertise of Experian to support their objectives in the areas of data, identity, activation, and measurement. Get in touch
Brands can leverage non-clinical factors, like the social determinants of health, to gain a holistic view of their patients and increase access to care.
Next up in our Ask the Expert series, we hear from Sarah Ilie and Lauren Portell. Sarah and Lauren talk about the internet’s value exchange – what we gain and lose when it’s so easy to share our information. Is convenience hurting or helping us? The age of connectivity Today, it’s almost unimaginable to think about how your day-to-day life would look without the convenience of the internet, smartphones, apps, and fitness trackers; the list goes on and on. We live in the age of connectivity. We have the convenience to buy products delivered to our homes on the same day. We can consume content across thousands of platforms. We also have watches or apps that track our health with more granularity than ever before. The internet’s value exchange In exchange for this convenience and information, we must share various kinds of data for these transactions and activities to take place. Websites and apps give you the option to “opt in” and share your data. They also often let you know that they are collecting your data. This can feel like an uncomfortable proposition and an invasion of privacy to many people. What does it mean to opt-in to a website or app’s tracking cookies? What value do we exchange? What opting in means for you Opting in to cookies means that you are allowing the app or website to track your online activity and collect anonymous data that is aggregated for marketing analytics. The data provides valuable information to understand users better to create better online experiences or offer more useful products and content. Granting access to “tracking” offers several benefits to users such as a customized, more personal user experience or advertising that is more likely to be relevant. For example, let’s imagine you have recently been using an app or website to plan a camping trip. By sharing your data, the website or app has visibility into what is interesting or useful to you which can lead to related content suggestions (best campsites) or relevant advertising and product recommendations (tents and camping equipment). It’s important to know that the marketing data collected when you opt in is extremely valuable. The revenue that advertising generates is often very important to websites and apps because this is how they make money to continue providing content and services to consumers. Data privacy practices Privacy concerns regarding how companies and developers use tracking information have risen over the last couple of years and have resulted in additional protection for consumers’ privacy while still allowing companies to improve their products and advertising. One big step in this direction has been simply making people aware that their data is being collected, why it’s being collected, and providing users with the option to share this data for marketing analytics through opting-in or not. Other important steps to maintain online privacy include formal legal legislation and self-regulation. The right to privacy is protected by more than 600 laws between individual states and federal legislation and the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce recently voted to pass the American Data Privacy and Protection Act. Additionally, marketing organizations such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Association of National Advertisers regulate themselves with codes of conduct and standards given there is so much attention on privacy issues. Is the internet’s value exchange worth it? The data that we choose to share by opting in has a lot of benefits for us as consumers. There are laws in place to protect our data and privacy. Of course, it’s important to be aware that data is collected and used for marketing purposes, but it’s also reasonable to share a certain amount of data that translates into benefits for you as well. The best data unlocks the best marketing. Contact us to tap into the power of the world’s largest consumer database. Learn how you can use Experian Marketing Services’ powerful consumer data to learn more about your customers, drive new business, and deliver intelligent interactions across all channels. Meet the Experts: Lauren Portell, Account Executive, Advanced TV, Experian Marketing Services Sarah Ilie, Strategic Partner Manager, Experian Marketing Services Get in touch