People
In Salesforce Data Cloud (formerly CDP) or Marketing Cloud, a unified profile representing an individual contact or customer, consolidating identity data from multiple sources into a single actionable record.
Definition
In Salesforce Data Cloud (formerly CDP) or Marketing Cloud, a unified profile representing an individual contact or customer, consolidating identity data from multiple sources into a single actionable record.
In plain English
“People in Salesforce Data Cloud or Marketing Cloud is a unified profile representing an individual contact or customer. It consolidates identity data from multiple sources (CRM, marketing, e-commerce) into a single actionable record, so you have one true view of each person regardless of how many systems they appear in.”
Worked example
Pinnacle Athletics, a multi-channel retailer, ingests customer signals from its Shopify store, its Marketing Cloud email engagement, its Salesforce service Cases, and an in-store loyalty system. In Data Cloud, identity resolution stitches those signals together into one People profile per actual human - Sarah Chen has one People record that knows she shops in-store on weekends, opens 80% of email campaigns, and recently raised a service Case about a return. The marketing team segments off the unified People profile, not off any single source, so a "high-LTV at-risk" segment captures Sarah whether the at-risk signal shows up in Cases, in lapsed online activity, or in declining store visits.
Why People matters
In Salesforce Data Cloud (formerly CDP) or Marketing Cloud, People is a unified profile representing an individual contact or customer, consolidating identity data from multiple sources into a single actionable record. The People profile is the result of identity resolution: matching and merging records from CRM, marketing platforms, e-commerce systems, and other sources into one canonical representation per real-world person.
Unified people profiles are foundational to customer data platforms because the unified profile is what enables consistent personalization, accurate analytics, and coherent customer experience across channels. Without unification, every system has a partial view of the person; with it, decisions can be made on complete information. Mature CDP deployments treat people profile design carefully, with thoughtful matching rules and identity keys to ensure profiles are accurate and complete.
How organizations use People
Uses unified people profiles in Data Cloud to drive personalization across web, email, and in-app experiences.
Built personalization workflows on people profiles, with each customer's preferences and history available regardless of channel.
Treats unified people profiles as the foundation of their omnichannel customer experience strategy.
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
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