Hello everyone, 

We've identified a missing feature within the contact management and deduplication process in SalesManago's CDP.

Currently, the only unique identifier for contacts is the email address. However, in today's world, and particularly in certain national markets, the mobile number could hold equal weight in uniquely identifying the customer, especially when multiple data sources feed into the CDP, where it may not always be possible to consistently request an email address (such as in loyalty plans, where the required contact data from the user includes email and/or mobile number).

Presently, to manage customers entering the User DB with only a mobile number (without an email), SalesManago's Customer Success Team recommends:

• Setting up a fake email like MOBILENUM@domain.org
• Properly inputting the user's mobile number

This way, SalesManago's requirement for having an email (even if fake) is met, and these users can be managed solely via SMS or Whatsapp channels.

If the user later provides their real email through another channel, or updates their profile with the correct email address from the same data source, SalesManago creates a new user that potentially has (almost) all the same user profile data as the previous one, with only the correct email address and, importantly, the SAME MOBILE NUMBER. 

The typical example is:

1. John Doe inputs his data into one of the data sources (e.g., the company's loyalty plan) flowing into the CDP, preferring to input only his mobile number (e.g., +393331234567) a user is created on SalesManago with a fake email like 393331234567@mobile.abc and the mobile number +393331234567
2. After 30 days, John Doe registers on the website and is required to input an email, so he inputs all his data including johndoe@salesmanago.com as his email and +393331234567 as his mobile number another new user is created on SalesManago with the real email johndoe@salesmanago.com and the mobile number +393331234567

However, what happens is:

• Completely contrary to the goal of a CDP, which is to orchestrate user data across all data sources and various contact channels
• Potentially burdens the management of the DB on SalesManago as user duplication is certain to occur unnecessarily
• Undermines the consistency of data analysis regarding unique users

What is necessary instead is for SalesManago to

• immediately recognize the presence of the mobile number
  • (another point, identifying the phone number with or without the international code +39) at the time of the event in the previous point 2)
• and thus the existence of the user, and then proceed to update the contact, as it's ALWAYS the same user.

Based on our experience with SalesManago, we consider this modification ESSENTIAL because it brings the CDP to the operational state that we, as merchants, expect in the correct orchestration of user data, marketing automation, and user analysis (in an aggregated and punctual manner).

I hope the above is shared by the community and can be taken into consideration for urgent CDP development.

I await responses and comments!