Skip to content

Merging

There are two types of merging processes.

  • Automatic Profile Merging: Automatic profile merging in Tracardi is a process designed to unify multiple profiles that represent the same user. Merging is a background process that looks for the profiles wth the same merging key, e.g. email.
  • Identification Points: This a realtime process that merges profiles when a defined event was sent e.g. Identification and it contains data that can be used for mering. Identification Points are connected with the other process called identify verification.

Example of Profile Merging

  1. Initial Interaction:

    • A user visits a website and signs up with the email address user@example.com. Tracardi creates profile-id-123 for this user.

  2. Subsequent Interaction on a Different Device:

    • The same user visits the website on a different device and signs up again with the same email address user@example.com. Tracardi creates a new profile-id-456.

  3. Identification Point Match:

    • If the Identification point is created for a sign up event then Tracardi detects that both profiles have the same email address. It identifies this as a match and proceeds to merge profile-id-456 into profile-id-123. Identification point deliver the information that can be used for merging (in this case e-mail). Please make ure that you use verified data in identification points
    • If there is no identification point for this event, two profiles with the same email will be detected with the Automatic Profile Merging (APM) and the profile will be merged.

  4. Data Merging:

    • The system combines the data from both profiles, updating profile-id-123 with any new information from profile-id-456 and retaining all historical data.Is updates events and sessions to link to the new merged profile.

  5. Conflict Resolution:

    • Conflicting data inf profiles is resolved using predefined set of merging strategies. For example there are 3 different lastnames in the profile.

  6. Unified Profile:

    • The final unified profile under profile-id-123 now contains data from both interactions, providing a complete view of the user's behavior and attributes across both devices.

Why my profile ID in the response from Tracardi is different from the one I have sent?

The profile ID you send in the tracker payload might be different in the response from Tracardi due to several reasons related to identity resolution, merging profiles, or system updates. Here are the key reasons why this might happen:

  1. Identity Resolution:

    • Tracardi performs identity resolution to merge profiles with matching identifiers (like email or phone number). If the system detects that the profile you sent should be merged with an existing profile, it will return the ID of the merged profile.

  2. Profile Merging:

    • When Tracardi background processed identifies that two profile should be combined with an existing one, it creates a unified profile. As a result, the returned profile ID will reflect the consolidated profile rather than the one originally sent.

  3. Session-Based Profile Retrieval:

    • If the session information provided in the payload is linked to a different profile, Tracardi might return the profile ID associated with that session. This ensures continuity in tracking user activities across sessions. This usually happens when the Profile ID is corrupted.

  4. New Profile Creation:

    • In some cases, if the profile information sent in the payload does not match any existing profiles or the system is configured to automatically create new profile for not existing ones then a new profile will be created, and the response will include a newly generated profile ID.

  5. Data Consistency and Updates:

    • Tracardi continuously updates and maintains profiles based on the latest interactions and data. If there have been changes or updates to the profile since the payload was sent, the response might reflect the most current profile ID.

Example Scenarios

  • Scenario 1: Identity Resolution

    • You send a payload with profile-id-abc123 and an email. Tracardi identifies that this email already exists under profile-id-def456. The system merges the profiles and returns profile-id-def456.

  • Scenario 2: Session Linking

    • You send a payload with a session ID session-id-1 that was originally associated with profile-id-xyz789. The system returns profile-id-xyz789 to maintain session continuity.

  • Scenario 3: New Profile Creation

    • You send a payload with an unknown profile ID. Tracardi creates a new profile and returns the new profile ID generated for this interaction.

Profile ID maintenance

The above scenarios show that your client software should always save the newest returned profile ID. If the Profile ID changes it is a sign that the client should update the local Profile ID.

Configuring Auto Profile Merging in Tracardi Version > 1.1.0

In Tracardi version 1.1.x, Selective Profile Merging (APM) was introduced to allow more granular control over how profiles are merged based on available data. This ensures flexibility in managing customer profiles by setting specific conditions for when and how profile merging occurs.

Key Concepts

  1. Identification Points: These are specific points where a profile can be marked for merging. This feature ensures that profiles with similar or matching data can be merged based on specific criteria.
  2. Identification Properties: A set of profile attributes that are evaluated for merging. Profiles with matching values in these fields are merged.

Configuration Steps

1. Auto Profile Merging Based on Data Fields (Open-source)

You can configure Tracardi to merge profiles based on specific fields that hold identifying information such as email, phone numbers, or other unique identifiers. This configuration is controlled by the environment variable IDENTIFICATION_EVENT_PROPERTY.

Example:
IDENTIFICATION_EVENT_PROPERTY = data.identifier.pk,data.identifier.id,data.contact.email.business,data.contact.email.main,data.contact.email.private,data.contact.phone.business,data.contact.phone.main,data.contact.phone.mobile,data.contact.phone.whatsapp

In this configuration:

  • IDENTIFICATION_EVENT_PROPERTY lists the fields that Tracardi will use to compare profiles and merge them if the same value is found.
  • For example, if a profile contains data.contact.email.main, and another profile contains the same email, Tracardi will merge these profiles.
Use Case:

Imagine a user subscribes to a newsletter using their email address. If this email address is copied to the profile, it will be used to identify and merge profiles if the email is found in other profiles.

Important Notes:
  • Even if the email is incorrect or unverified, merging will still occur if the values match, so care should be taken with the data used for identification.

2. Limiting Fields for Merging

If you want to limit the fields that are considered for merging, you can modify the IDENTIFICATION_EVENT_PROPERTY variable to include only the fields you want to compare. Setting this variable to an empty string will disable merging based on fields altogether.

IDENTIFICATION_EVENT_PROPERTY = ""

3. Restricted Merging Based on Event Type (Commercial Version)

In the commercial version of Tracardi, you can restrict profile merging to specific event types. This allows you to ensure that merging only occurs when certain trusted events are triggered, such as a verified user login or identity confirmation.

For example:

  • You can issue an "identify" event when a user successfully identifies themselves with a verified email.
  • Tracardi will only merge profiles if the event type is "identify" and the data fields match.
Configuration:

Set the environment variable IDENTIFICATION_POINT_TYPE to "restricted".

IDENTIFICATION_POINT_TYPE = "restricted"

This restricts merging to specific events, preventing accidental merging of profiles based on unverified or incorrect data.

4. Merging Anonymous Profiles After Identification (Broad Merging)

If you want to merge all profiles, including anonymous ones, that share the same merging key (e.g., an email), you can configure Tracardi to do so. This is useful when you collect data from anonymous users without verifying it at first. Once the user verifies their identity, for example by confirming their email, all profiles (including those with unverified data, such as an email) will be merged into a single profile. This broadens the merging scope beyond restricted identification points, allowing any matching profiles to be combined when verification occurs.

Configuration:

Set the environment variable IDENTIFICATION_POINT_TYPE to "anonymous".

IDENTIFICATION_POINT_TYPE = "anonymous"

In this mode, when a user identifies themselves, Tracardi will merge all matching profiles, even if those profiles were created anonymously.

Summary of Configuration Options

  • IDENTIFICATION_EVENT_PROPERTY: Defines which fields are considered for merging. Leave empty to disable field-based merging.
  • IDENTIFICATION_POINT_TYPE:
    • "restricted": Only merges profiles when specific event types (e.g., user identification) are triggered.
    • "anonymous": Merges all matching profiles, even anonymous ones.

By configuring these environment variables, you can control the profile merging behavior in Tracardi to suit your business needs, from broad merging based on any matching data to highly restricted, event-driven merging.