An identity graph is a database that links all the different identifiers associated with a single customer (like email addresses, phone numbers, device IDs, and cookies) into one unified profile. It helps you recognize that the person who clicked your email last week, texted a keyword to join your SMS list, and just abandoned a cart on your mobile app is actually the same customer.
Without an identity graph, it's easy to treat each of these interactions as the actions of separate people. An identity graph helps connect these dots, giving you a more complete view of each customer's journey across channels and devices.
How an identity graph works
An identity graph connects customer identifiers from every touchpoint with your brand, like email addresses, phone numbers, browser cookies, and mobile app IDs. It's the foundation of identity resolution: the process that determines if different identifiers belong to the same person.
For example, say someone subscribes to your email list, then later texts a keyword to join your SMS list. At first, these look like two separate people. But when that customer makes a purchase and provides both their email and phone number at check-out, the identity resolution process links the records and consolidates them into a single profile based on the connections in your identity graph.
This process typically follows a hierarchy of identifier strength. A profile ID or email address is generally treated as more reliable than a phone number, which is typically treated as more reliable than an anonymous cookie. When an identity graph sees identifiers linked together, it consolidates activity under the strongest identifier available.
Key features of an identity graph
An identity graph brings together several capabilities to maintain accurate, unified customer profiles. The core elements include:
- Deterministic matching: The system merges profiles based on exact identifier matches, like when the same email and phone number appear together. This approach prioritizes accuracy over guesswork.
- Cross-device tracking: Customers switch between phones, tablets, and computers frequently. An identity graph connects activity across these devices so you see one customer journey in the same profile, not fragmented touchpoints.
- Anonymous activity backfill: Before someone provides their email address, they're just a cookie. An identity graph can capture that anonymous browsing activity and backfill it to their profile once someone identifies themselves by logging in or signing up for your marketing lists, for example.
- Real-time updates: As new data comes in—a form submission, a purchase, a support interaction—the identity graph updates profiles immediately so teams can work with current information.
Benefits of an identity graph
An identity graph can provide several practical advantages for your marketing team and customer experience:
- More accurate personalization: When you know a customer's full history across channels, you can personalize messages based on their actual behavior, not just what happened in one channel.
- Less duplicative outreach: Identity resolution helps prevent sending the same message to someone across multiple channels or showing acquisition ads to existing customers, leading to clearer, more considerate communication.
- Cleaner data: Duplicate profiles create noise in your analytics and segments. Merging them provides more accurate customer counts and more reliable reporting.
- Better customer experiences: When your support team can see a customer's full history—purchases, email opens, recent browsing—they can provide faster, more relevant help without asking customers to repeat themselves.
- Smarter segmentation: With more accurate data, you can build customer segments based on cross-channel behavior, like customers who subscribe to both email and texts but only engage with texts.
An identity graph turns scattered customer interactions into a coherent picture, helping you deliver consistent, personalized experiences.
Ready to unify your customer data? Get started with Klaviyo Data Platform today.