Let’s face it, Covid-19 and its associated risks and regulations have impacted the behavior of every consumer, and the tactics of every retailer, around the world. Customers who have always shopped in brick-and-mortar stores have moved online for the first time, while those who have always bought certain items online are e-shopping more frequently, if not exclusively. But, when restrictions allow, many people are relishing the chance to hit the high street to experience some form of normality!

Identity resolution can be a confusing concept to get your head around, with so many related terms such as identity graphs, probabilistic matching, deterministic matching and unique identifiers to understand. In this blog, we’ll look to simplify what identity resolution is and how marketing teams can use it to enable more accurate marketing and personalization strategies.

Traditionally, the lion’s share of online ad spend has ended up in the pockets of two of the biggest marketing services in the world, Google and Facebook. Google Display ads, which are targeted according to web content, theme and client preferences, and Facebook ads, targeted through location, demographic and profile information, have always had above-average marketing clout, since the two services boast such a colossal reach between them.

As we all know, the world changed with the outbreak of COVID-19 and that change has dramatically affected our customers’ buying behaviors. A recent survey found that 41% of respondents are now shopping online for things they would normally purchase in-store. While this change in behavior may be through necessity, it does however create many issues for marketers who are under increased pressure to keep up with these changing demands, and ensure they provide a personalized and meaningful customer experience, no matter the customer’s chosen engagement channel(s).

Last week a customer told me "you can’t serve a customer you don’t understand, and you can’t understand a customer without knowing their behavior". Now there is nothing controversial about this statement and I think that most marketing professionals would agree. But although these principles are central for marketers to provide a personalized and omnichannel customer experience, it doesn’t mean they are necessarily doing everything they can to adhere to them.