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Merging profiles on multiple unique identifiers

The process of merging profiles based on multiple unique identifiers is at the center of how BlueConic creates a single source of truth for each customer.

When a profile property value in a profile changes, and that profile property is being used for profile merging, BlueConic determines whether there are other profiles among your profiles that match this new value.

To ensure that profile merges happen accurately, in real time, and at scale, BlueConic has some guardrails in place, which are:

Look-up maximum

Profiles merge based on configured merge rules for profile properties. BlueConic can have many of these rules, and profile properties can have multiple values.

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BlueConic imposes a limit of 24 look-ups to check if a profile must merge with another existing profile. This is best explained in a few examples:

Example 1: Merge rule is purely based on "Email address".
The email address property can hold up to 24 addresses that could lead to successful merges. The 25th address would not be processed by BlueConic to find potential merges, because it is above the limit of 24 look-ups.
Example 2: Merge is based on "Email address" and "Customer ID".
To lead to successful merges, the multiplication of assigned values in both properties must not exceed 24. For example:
  • A profile with 4 email addresses and 6 customer ids (4 * 6 = 24) would lead to successful merges on all values.
  • A profile with 3 email addresses and 7 customer ids (3 * 7 = 21) would lead to successful merges on all values.
  • A profile with 5 email addresses and 5 customer ids (5 * 5 = 25) would only lead to successful merges on 24 out of 25 available values. There is no telling beforehand which of the values will not be processed.
Example 3: Merge rule is based on "Email address", "Customer ID", and "City".
Same as above: Multiply the number of values for the profile properties involved in the profile that changes. The outcome must not exceed 24.
  • 4 email addresses, 2 customer IDs, and 3 city values (4 * 2 * 3 = 24) would lead to successful merges on all values.
  • 2 email addresses, 5 customer ids, and 2 city values (2 * 5 * 2 = 20) would lead to successful merges on all values.
  • 10 email addresses, 1 customer id, and 3 city values (10 * 1 * 3 = 30) would only lead to successful merges for 24 values out of 30. There is no telling beforehand which of the values will not be processed.

Maximum 1,000 merges for a single profile

BlueConic imposes a limit of 1,000 merges for a single profile.

If a matching profile if found based on a merge rule and that profile has already been merged 1,000 times, no merge will happen.

Merge only on values with at least 4 characters

Any profile property value that is used in a merge rule will only be considered for merging if it is at least 4 characters long. For example:

  • The value abcd will be used for finding matching profiles to merge.
  • The value abc has only 3 characters and therefore will not be considered for merging.

Maximum 20 matching profiles

BlueConic will try to find matching profiles for a merge rule. A merge will only take place if there are up to 20 matching profiles for the merge rule.

If there are 21 or more matching profiles, a merge will not take place.

 

 

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