Customer Profiles
What the domain covers
A customer profile is the consolidated, unified record of a contact: identity attributes, contact preferences, channel addresses, consent state, and derived traits. The candidate must understand identity resolution (matching and merging records from multiple sources), profile completeness, consent and preference management, and how profile data feeds segmentation and orchestration.
Concepts to master
- Identity keys: email, phone, customer ID, and device identifiers; how deterministic matching differs from probabilistic matching.
- Merge rules: which source wins when two records conflict (source priority, most-recent, or most-trusted).
- Consent as an attribute: opt-in/opt-out per channel, lawful basis, and timestamping.
- Derived vs. declared attributes: a computed lifecycle stage vs. a self-reported preference.
- Profile hygiene: duplicates, stale attributes, and suppression lists.
Traps in questions
A frequent trap is assuming a merge always keeps the newest value - many systems use source priority instead. Another is treating a missing attribute as "false" rather than "unknown." Questions may also blur consent (permission to contact) with preference (how the contact wants to be reached); these are distinct. Finally, watch for the assumption that a unified profile is automatically complete - unification does not fill gaps.
Worked example
Two records exist for the same person: one from a webinar form (email verified, phone blank) and one from a support ticket (phone present, email unverified). Rule of thumb: match on the verified email as the anchor, merge the phone in as an additional identifier, and mark the email as verified while flagging the phone as unconfirmed. Do not overwrite a verified field with an unverified one.
Key points
- Identity resolution merges records via matching keys.
- Merge conflicts resolve by source priority, not always recency.
- Consent and preference are separate concepts.
- Missing data means unknown, not negative.
- Unification does not guarantee completeness.
- Verified identifiers outrank unverified ones.