Understand and resolve data conflicts to ensure accurate, unified supporter profiles.
⚡️ Understanding Collisions in Profile Golden Records
In the process of creating unified supporter profiles—also known as Profile Golden Records—collisions refer to situations where the system detects potential duplicate entries but cannot confidently determine how they should be merged. These often arise when the same identifier (such as an email address) is associated with differing or ambiguous attribute values across multiple sources.
What Causes a Collision?
A collision typically occurs when:
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One source contains a single profile with attributes and values used to create the Golden Record, e.g. unique email and associated data (e.g., first name: Peter).
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Another source contains multiple entries sharing the same email but with different details (e.g., first names: Peter and Paul). This is possible to happen in cases where email is not the unique identifier in a source system.
In such a scenario, the system cannot deterministically resolve whether the original record should be merged with Peter or Paul from the second source. This ambiguity halts the merge and temporarily blocks the Golden Record (profile) creation, leading to what may appear as deflated profile counts.
A common real-world example is seen when using both Buyer and Holder data from a ticketing platform — where the same email may appear for different individuals involved in the transaction.
How Are Collisions Handled?
The CDP includes an automated collision resolution process that periodically evaluates and cleans up these ambiguous merges. The collision handling logic is configured jointly by the user and their Customer Success representative during the onboarding process. It applies deterministic logic based on updated data, source priority, and identity resolution rules to decide the correct match over time.
As a result, it’s normal to observe:
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A temporary discrepancy with initial data loads, typically less profiles are available in the CDP compared to the source until the Collisions are resolved
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An increase in the count after the background collision resolution job has run.
This means what initially looks like a collision or duplication may self-resolve within a short window, ensuring your supporter database stays clean and accurate without manual intervention.
