What is identity resolution in lead management?

Identity resolution is the process of matching multiple data points from different sources to a single person. When someone submits a form on one site, clicks an ad on another, and calls from a third number, identity resolution connects all three interactions to the same individual — giving you one unified profile instead of three separate records. This eliminates duplicate leads, prevents paying for the same person twice, and lets you measure the true cost of acquiring each customer.

Why lead generation needs identity resolution

Every lead generation business faces the same problem: people interact with your properties multiple times, through multiple channels, using different contact information. Without identity resolution, each interaction creates a new record. You end up paying for duplicates, delivering the same person to buyers multiple times (which gets your leads rejected), and losing the ability to track how much a customer is actually worth.

According to Gartner's 2025 Customer Data Platform market guide, businesses without identity resolution overcount their leads by 15-25% on average, with some high-volume operations running duplication rates above 30%. That means up to a third of what looks like new leads are actually repeats — waste that flows straight to the bottom line.

How it works technically

PRJ-01 uses a three-tier deterministic matching system: first by unique identifier (UUID), then by email, then by phone number. When a new lead enters the system, it checks all three tiers against existing records. If it finds a match at any tier, the new data merges into the existing profile using recursive JSON merging — meaning new information adds to the profile without overwriting what was already there.

The system also performs contact point consolidation with verification tracking. A single person might have 2 emails, 3 phone numbers, and multiple addresses over time. Identity resolution links all of these to one unified record while tracking which contact points have been verified and which have not. Across production data, PRJ-01 has resolved 958,937 contact points for 616,543+ leads — approximately 1.55 contact points per lead, which means real-world consumers are consistently providing multiple contact vectors that need consolidation.

Orphaned event linking is another critical function: when a lead activity event arrives before the lead profile exists (common with asynchronous webhook-based systems), the identity resolution layer holds that event and links it once the matching profile is identified.

The business impact

According to Experian's 2025 data quality report, businesses that implement identity resolution see a 20-30% reduction in cost per acquisition because they stop paying for duplicates and can attribute revenue accurately to the traffic sources that actually generate customers.

The practical impact at scale: PRJ-01's blacklist contains 306,676 entries. Without identity resolution, a meaningful portion of those blacklisted identities could re-enter the system under a different contact point. The three-tier matching catches this by linking the new contact point to the existing (blacklisted) profile, preventing bad leads from reaching buyers. Across 530,077 lead activities and 503,412 lead events, identity resolution is what makes the difference between a database of records and an actual understanding of who your customers are.

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Related: What makes a lead 'qualified' in lead generation?

References

1. Gartner (2025). "Customer Data Platform Market Guide." CDP adoption and lead deduplication benchmarks.
2. Experian (2025). "Data Quality Report." Customer data accuracy and duplication rates.
3. Keating, M.G. (2026). "The Compounding Execution Method: Complete Technical Documentation." Stealth Labz. Browse papers