360° view of the customer
So far in this chapter, we've focused primarily on how to link individual records together to create a consistent view of a customer across systems. To understand your customer as an individual, however, a more holistic approach is required.
You must recognize that customers can and often do possess multiple profiles in various systems that represent them and that sometimes, they use inconsistent data points and that sometimes, customers share the same identifiers. One person can place an order as a guest user on the storefront, initiate a live chat with a service agent, create an account with their work email, and sign up for marketing communications with their email.
This progression from linking individual records together across systems to recognizing an individual supports experience delivery maturity. To get there, you'll have to start recognizing customers as humans, which we'll cover in the following sections.
