Data Onboarding

The identity resolution and LUID (e.g., Living Unit ID representing a household) synchronization process allows you, as our partner, to resolve your consumer identifiers to an Experian LUID separate from the data onboarding process.

The Experian LUID is then used as the consumer identifier in the audience data file(s).

Benefits:

• The LUID sync process can occur anytime and on your schedule.

• Data onboarding for your audience segments will occur faster.

• You will manage the match key (LUID) within your environment.

• You will be able to understand audience counts before segment creation.

Restrictions:

• LUID sync is not available to all partners; discuss eligibility with your Project Manager (PM).

• LUID sync is not available to partners who will resolve PII and digital identifiers.

• LUIDs can only be used during the term of the agreement.

• LUIDs are provided solely to support the onboarding services. Partner shall not use the LUID for any other purpose unless agreed to in writing. 

Discuss this option with your Project Manager if interested and to determine eligibility.

• Your Experian Project Manager (PM) will be your main point of contact during data onboarding. Once contracts are finalized, a PM will be assigned to your account. They will walk you through the requirements, help facilitate the data transfers and answer any questions you have about the process.

• Experian Account Executive or Relationship Manager. You will work with your Account representative if you are already using or interested in other products and services. 

• General questions about data onboarding. Please email us at EMSDataOnboarding@Experian.com.

Below are the steps for the sync process.

1. You will create a file with consumer identifiers tied to a unique client ID in the required format (refer to this section).

2. You will upload the file using an agreed-upon file transfer method.

3. Experian will resolve the identities to an Experian LUID.

4. Experian will return the matched population with the Client ID and LUID.

5. You will use the LUIDs as the consumer identifier within the audience data file.

We support the standard delivery locations below. Your PM will work with you on any additional steps/approvals needed.

• Amazon (AWS) S3 Data Provider Bucket (preferred). 

• Secure Transport (aka Data Provider SFTP, STS).

• Full consumer file: After the initial sync, we recommend that you send your full consumer file quarterly.

• New consumer additions or changes to consumer data can be sent monthly, in between the quarterly full file sync.

• US Records only

• Record count < 300MM 

• Max file size < 20 GB

• GZIP (.gz) compression files are preferred 

Experian supports receiving the following offline and digital identifiers. 

Offline: Known Identifiers, including Personally Identifiable Information (PII) 

• Name

• Postal Address

• Email: plaintext or hashed with MD5, SHA-1 or SHA-256  

• Phone: plaintext or hashed with MD5, SHA-1 or SHA-256

Digital: Device Identifiers

• Mobile device ID (MAID): plaintext or hashed with MD5, SHA-1 or SHA-256 

• Internet Protocol address (IP) – plaintext or hashed with MD5, SHA-1 or SHA-256  

• Email: hashed with MD5, SHA-1 or SHA-256 

Client ID that is unique to each record.

Please refer to the Metadata Column/Keywords in this section for the identifier fields available and the specific requirements for field length, type, and character restrictions.

Each column represents an identifier type. 

• Column-based delimiter – Pipe (|) or Comma (,).

• The header includes column keywords for each identifier that will be included in the file, in addition to a client ID. For the column keywords, refer to Section 4.

• Column keywords that can be in any order.

• The contents of each column must match the column keyword.

• A file can only contain one column keyword; it cannot contain two columns with the same column keyword.

• Do not include column keywords for identifiers not present in the file; leave an empty string (,, or ||).

• The Column/Keyword table outlines the field-specific requirements (e.g., character length, special character use, etc.). Data input that does not comply with the field requirements will result in an error.

• Do not include a Byte Order Mark (BOM).

The client ID is a required column.

• It must be unique to each row.

• It cannot be duplicated across files.

• It can be sequential.

Each row represents a consumer with offline or digital identifiers and a client ID. 

Formatting offline data:

• Only one address is allowed per row. If you have multiple addresses for the same person, each address must be in separate rows.

• If you have multiple emails for a consumer, you can include them in the same row; however, each email must be in its own column. Up to four plain text emails and four hashed emails of each type can be included in one row. Each email must appear in a separate column and correspond to the column keyword.

• If you have multiple phones for a consumer, you can include them in the same row; however, each phone must be in its own column. Up to four plaintext phones and four hashed phones of each type can be included in one row. Each phone must appear separately and correspond to the column keyword. 

• If you are unsure if an email or phone belongs with other consumer identifiers, place it in a separate row.

• If there is an embedded delimiter in the field, the field must include double quotes.

• 123 Main St., Apt B within a comma delimited file should appear as: “123 Main St., Apt B”

• If there are special characters in the field, it is recommended that you use double quotes.

Formatting digital data:

• Plaintext and hashed digital IDs can appear in the same file. 

• If sending both plaintext and digital IDs, ensure that the identifier appears in the correct column based on the column keyword.

• If you have multiple digital identifiers for a consumer, each row can contain one plaintext, one MD-5, one SHA-1, and one SHA-256 for MAID and IP.

• If you have multiple digital HEMs for a consumer, each row can contain 1 MD-5, 1 SHA-1, and 1 SHA-256.

• If you are unsure if a digital identifier belongs to the same consumer, place it in a separate row.

Hashing data: Please hash identifiers using lowercase and trim prior to hashing.

Specific file naming is required for the system to process correctly. 

Name format:

AudienceFile_clientfilename_version_ccyymmdd_SyncFile_#

Name example if the partner sends in 3 files in a comma delimited file type.

AudienceFile_ABCresolution_1_20241024_SyncFile_1.csv

AudienceFile_ABCresolution_1_20241024_SyncFile_2.csv

AudienceFile_ABCresolution_1_20241024_SyncFile_3.csv

For visual purposes only. The below shows how the data is organized in Excel before converting to a delimited file (do not send data in Excel)

Upon completing the identity resolution process, we will remove consumer identifiers and return the matched records with the client ID and encrypted Experian Living Unit ID (LUID).

It is important to note that the number of files returned will vary and will not always match the number of files sent.

• Pipe delimited and GZIP compressed (psv.gz)

• clientId|LUID 

The returned file will follow the below naming convention.

aaaW_J1111111_Audience_LUID_Append_ccyymmdd.psv