Engage offers several channels to contact your audience. Each channel uses different contact data to send messages. For example, a mobile number, an email address, or a mobile app alias.

Although there are several sendout channels in Engage, each contact in the system should only have one profile. If Engage cannot recognize that different channel-specific contact information belongs to the same contact, more than one profile is created for the contact.

As soon as Engage identifies that different channel data belongs to the same contact, it tries to combine the data into one profile that contains all the contact information. You need to define which value Engage uses to identify duplicate profiles. The attribute must contain a unique identifier that all channels can transfer.

You can designate one of the following attributes as the merging attribute:

  • Identifier: user['Identifier']

  • Email address: user['Email']

  • Mobile number: user['MobileNumber']

  • Mobile app alias: user['FaxNumber']

If possible, use the identifier. If the identifier is already in use for other setups, you can use the mobile app alias to enter the global ID. However, this requires the mobile app to provide ID data that is valid in different channels.

Most countries require an opt-in process for email and SMS. This means each contact must actively consent to receive marketing messages from you.

Mobile push does not include an opt-in process for email. In some cases, contacts who register their app share their email address with you but do not give you consent to contact them with an SMS or email message.

When you send email and SMS messages to a selection in Engage (for example, a birthday selection), Engage does not check whether there is a confirmed opt-in for every email address in the selection. This means that the selection can include email addresses of contacts who want to receive mobile push notifications, but who do not want to receive email or SMS messages.

To prevent sendout to unconfirmed email addresses, keep your email and SMS groups up to date and send messages within the groups. Do not send messages to system-wide selections. This ensures that you only send email and SMS messages to contacts who have opted-in to these channels.

Which Attribute is the Merging Attribute?​

When you set up mobile push notifications, you need to decide whether to contact everyone who downloads your app, or only those people who register for the app. Registered users need to log in to a service within your app.

If you decide not to require registration, you must use the mobile app alias (user['FaxNumber']) or Identifier (user['Identifier']) as the merging attribute.

If you require registration, you can use any attribute that contains address information.

If you add MobileApp Manager to an existing Engage system, make sure that the merging attribute is correctly filled for all contacts.

If you are not sure if the attribute is filled, update all profiles before you start to enter new mobile app contacts.

Forward your choice of merging attribute to Mapp. A clean-up because you did not update the contacts is complicated and leads to additional profiles for the same contact or data loss because you must manually delete and re-import existing profiles.

Transfer the Attribute Value​

The attribute value that triggers profile merging, must be transferred whenever you know the value for a contact.

If you decide to use the email address, you have to transfer the email address with your mobile number or mobile app alias as soon as the contact subscribes.

If you decide to use an Identifier that is saved in your CRM system, you must set up processes that transfer the value with your email and mobile app subscription.

The merging of the different profiles is only possible with the merging attribute value and missing information will lead to double and inadequate profile information.

The merging attribute must be entered in your SDK integration. The app owner needs to integrate the attribute as the alias.

Example

Someone starts interacting with your brand with an app downloaded from the Google Play Store. Once they install the app on their mobile device, you can contact them with push notifications. If they do not want to receive your push notifications, they need to manually disable the function on their device. Engage creates a new contact profile based on the minimum data that it needs to send messages to the contact.

The MobileApp Manager sends profile information to Engage.

If you do not forward a unique identifier for the contact to Engage, each app and device on which the app is installed creates a profile.

The following circumstances can cause the creation of multiple contacts:

  • You allow users to use your app without asking them to log in with a social network profile (for example, a Facebook account) or other unique address data.

    • A contact installs your app on several devices and creates a new contact profile in Engage for every device.

    • A contact installs your app and signs up to receive messages from you on another channel (SMS or email).

    • You provide more than one app. A contact creates a profile for each app installed on their device.

  • You provided your app and the contact did not log in yet. The contact creates a new profile until the log-in provides the relevant information for merging profiles.

Once you are able to identify a contact, you want to merge the different mobile app contacts you created for him to one single profile. Or you may want to merge new contacts with an existing email or SMS contact profile.

The full capability of Engage as a multi-channel marketing tool is only usable if you provide a possibility to merge user data and to combine it to one profile with all information that is available. This allows you to explicitly select the contact channel (SMS, email, different mobile apps) and the contact time that performs best. You collect data about your contact in all possible channels which helps you to enrich your messages with the most relevant information for the contact.

To merge the different profiles to one single contact you need to select which information Engage uses as the unique identifier for merging. In this example, the contact is managed in a CRM system. The ID of the CRM contact is transferred to MobileApp Manager whenever the app is registered via a login.

Engage does the following:

  • For every incoming contact, the system checks whether an identifier already exists.
    If yes, Engage adds the data to the existing profile.
    If not, Engage creates a new contact.

  • Whenever Engage receives a contact ID, Engage checks if any data for the contact already exists.
    Engage automatically merges the existing email address, mobile app ID or mobile number to this contact profile. Data for one contact are merged to one single contact profile.