From deduplication to integration: How to unify scattered customer information into a complete user profile through the deduplication process of phone numbers?

I.understand why deduplicating phone numbers is the foundation for building user profiles.

(I) Three core issues solved in number deduplication

1. Avoid duplicate information: Having the same customer's number multiple times can lead to duplicate statistics on purchase records and inquiries, such as recording a single purchase as two separate transactions, distorting customer profiles. Number deduplication ensures that each customer corresponds to a unique core identifier, resulting in more accurate information aggregation.
2. Unblocking fragmented information channels: Customers may leave information on multiple channels such as official websites, offline stores, and mini-programs. The phone number is the only "key" that can connect the data from these channels. By deduplicating phone numbers, information about the same customer from different channels can be integrated together, avoiding information fragmentation.
3. Reduce interference from invalid information: Scattered customer information may contain not only duplicate numbers, but also invalid or incorrect numbers. The deduplication process can simultaneously clean up this invalid data, making subsequent information integration more efficient and avoiding wasting time on useless data.

(ii) The correlation logic between number deduplication and user profile

1. Step 1: Deduplicating Numbers to Identify "Unique Customers": First, deduplicating numbers removes duplicate and invalid numbers, keeping only one valid number for each customer as the core identifier for integrated information.
2. Step 2: Information integration based on phone numbers: Using the deduplicated phone numbers as the core, collect corresponding customer information from various channels, such as name, contact information, consumption records, and inquiry content.
3. Step 3: Integrate Information to Create a User Profile: The aggregated information is sorted and categorized to extract customer consumption habits, needs, preferences, and other characteristics, ultimately forming a complete user profile. Simply put, without deduplication of phone numbers, there is no accurate information integration; without accurate integration, there is no high-quality user profile.
   
   

II. Practical Exercise: 4-Step Number Deduplication Process and Information Integration

Step 1: Data Preparation – Summarizing scattered data and standardizing the format

1. Aggregate all customer data: Aggregate all customer data scattered across Excel, CRM systems, marketing platforms, and other channels into a unified spreadsheet or system to ensure that no valid information is missed.
2. Standardize number format: Numbers from different channels may have different formats, such as "138-xxxx-xxxx", "138xxxx4567", and some may include international country codes. First, adjust all numbers to a uniform format, removing spaces, hyphens, and other special characters to facilitate duplicate identification later.
3. Label the source of information: Clearly label the source channel of each piece of data, such as "register on the official website", "register at an offline store", "order placed through a mini program", so that customer behavior can be more clearly analyzed when integrating information later.

Step 2: Core Deduplication – Eliminate duplicate numbers using appropriate methods.

1. For small datasets (hundreds of records): Manually remove duplicates using Excel or WPS. Open the summary spreadsheet, select the number column, and click "Data—Remove Duplicates." The system will automatically identify and delete duplicate numbers. Remember to manually check the data after deduplication to avoid accidental deletion.
2. For large datasets (thousands or more): Use tools to automatically remove duplicates. For example, use the built-in deduplication function of a CRM system, or a professional data cleaning tool. After setting the deduplication rules, the system will automatically remove duplicate numbers and generate a deduplication report that clearly shows the deleted duplicate data.
3. Special case handling: Some numbers may appear different but actually belong to the same customer, such as "010-12345678" and "12345678". These need to be manually checked and confirmed before deduplication to ensure that no such hidden duplicate data is missed.

Step 3: Data Cleaning – Synchronously Remove Invalid Data

1. Clean up invalid numbers: After deduplication, simultaneously check and delete empty or incorrect numbers, such as obviously invalid numbers like "11111111111" and "00000000000", to reduce interference in subsequent information integration.
2. Supplement basic information: For the retained valid numbers, supplement the corresponding basic information, such as the number's location and number type (mobile/fixed), to provide more reference for subsequent information integration.
3. Correcting errors: Check the customer's name, contact information, and other details corresponding to the number. If there are obvious errors (such as missing characters in the name or incorrect address), correct them promptly to ensure the accuracy of the information.

Step 4: Deduplication Verification – Ensure deduplication quality and seamless integration.

1. Clearly define the dimensions of the integrated information: mainly integrate four types of core information, including basic information (name, gender, age, contact information), consumption information (products purchased, amount spent, frequency of purchase), behavioral information (browsing history, consultation content, number of interactions), and demand information (feedback questions, products of interest, potential needs).
2. Information aggregated by number: Using the deduplicated number as a unique identifier, information from the same number across different channels is aggregated together. For example, if a customer's number has left their name and browsing history on the official website, and has left purchase records at a physical store, all this information is linked to the customer profile corresponding to that number.
3. Organize information logically: Classify and organize the summarized information according to the logic of "basic information - consumption information - behavior information - demand information" to form a clear customer information file, which will facilitate the subsequent extraction of profile features.
4. Sampling inspection: Randomly select a portion of the deduplicated data to check for any duplicate numbers and whether invalid data has been cleaned up, ensuring the quality of deduplication.
5. Data backup: Back up the deduplicated and valid data to avoid data loss due to subsequent operational errors.
6. Information integration: Using the deduplicated phone numbers as the core, establish a correspondence between "phone number and customer information" to prepare for the subsequent integration of customer information from different channels.
7. Extracting core characteristics: From the integrated information, extract the customer's core characteristics. For example, determine the customer's spending power (high/medium/low) through spending amount and frequency; determine the customer's preferences (e.g., liking beauty products, paying attention to maternity and baby products) through browsing and purchase records; and determine the customer's activity level (high/medium/low) through the number of interactions.
8. Supplement the tagging information: Tag the customer accordingly, such as "25-35 year old woman", "high spending power", "beauty preference", "high frequency of interaction". The tags should be concise and clear and accurately summarize the customer characteristics.
9. Creating a complete user profile: Integrate the extracted features and tags to form a complete user profile. For example, "28-year-old female, living in Shanghai, with high spending power, frequently purchases high-end beauty products, interacts with customers 3-5 times per month, and has a potential need to try new beauty products." Such a profile clearly reveals the customer's core situation, providing a clear direction for marketing and services.
   
   

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