Formatting Identifiers

Follow the guidelines listed below when formatting identifiers (whether known or anonymous identifiers).

For a list of identifiers that can be hashed, see "Hashing Identifiers".

Note

Known identifiers and PII identifiers are sometimes referred to as "offline identifiers". Anonymous identifiers and device identifiers are sometimes referred to as "online identifiers". See "Identifier Data" for more information.

Warning

Do not combine known identifiers and anonymous identifiers in a single file.

Formatting Name and Postal Addresses

When Formatting File Data, you may include as many plaintext postal addresses per individual as you know, but if you have multiple addresses for the same person, place each on a separate row along with the same "first name" and "last name" info (but segment data values do not need to be duplicated/included on those additional rows).

Note

Because postal addresses are comprised of multiple fields, including only one per row ensures there are no accidental mismatches of elements from the different address fields. If you need to include multiple addresses per row, contact your LiveRamp representative for details.

Each of the elements listed below is required for name and postal address identifiers, and each element must be in a separate column:

Caution

Make sure to separate names into first and last name fields. Do not include middle name(s) or initials.

Element

Header(s)

Notes

First name

FIRSTNAME

Last name

LASTNAME

Street address

ADDRESS1

ADDRESS2 (optional)

A single full address field should not contain a newline character. This tends to occur when you generate the data in a spreadsheet application like Excel and place two lines inside one cell.

City

CITY

State

STATE

ZIP code

ZIP

You can include either 5-digit or 9-digit (ZIP+4) values. If sending 9-digit values, do not include hyphens. Note: Matching using only ZIP+4 is available for certain use cases. Contact your LiveRamp representative for details.

Caution

LiveRamp cannot accept hashed name and postal address data. Unfortunately, there is too much variation in casing and whitespace to do this reliably.

Formatting Phone Numbers

LiveRamp accepts plaintext and SHA-1 hashed phone numbers (see Hashing Identifiers for more information).

Caution

EU data files cannot contain hashed phone numbers. Email addresses are the only identifiers that can be hashed in EU data files.

You may include as many phone numbers per individual as you know. Place all phone numbers for the same person in the same row, with each phone number in its own distinctly-labeled column. This minimizes file size and ensures there are not conflicting segment values tied to the same identifier.

Note

If including multiple phone numbers, be sure to use unique field names (for example, "HOME_PHONE" and "MOBILE_PHONE").

Use one of the allowed formats listed below:

  • +1XXXXXXXXXX

  • +1 (XXX) XXX-XXXX

  • (XXX) XXX-XXXX

  • XXX-XXX-XXXX

  • XXX XXX XXXX

  • XXXXXXXXXX (this format must be used if hashing)

Formatting Email Addresses

LiveRamp accepts plaintext and SHA-256, MD5, or SHA-1 hashed email addresses (see " Hashing Identifiers" for more information).

Note

Want the highest match rates? Your match rates might be slightly lower with hashed email addresses than with plaintext emails. To maximize the match rates for hashed email addresses, send all three hash types, each in a separate column.

You may include as many email addresses per individual as you know. Place all email addresses for the same person in the same row, with each email address in its own distinctly-labeled column. This minimizes file size and ensures there are not conflicting segment values tied to the same identifier.

Note

Make field names unique: If including multiple email addresses, be sure to use unique field names (such as "EMAIL1", "EMAIL2", etc.).

Formatting Cookies

When formatting file data before uploading files, do not modify (e.g., by changing casing) cookie values.

Formatting Mobile Device IDs

LiveRamp accepts the following plaintext or SHA-1 hashed mobile device IDs (see Hashing Mobile Device IDs for more information):

  • Identifier for Advertisers (also known as IDFA) (Apple/iOS devices).

  • Android Advertising ID (also known as AAID) (Android devices).

Plaintext mobile device IDs should be downcased and hyphenated. For example: 1f4d256c-1f08-41f6-a108-bbe511de9497.

Plaintext AAIDs ( Android device IDs) and IDFAs ( iOS device IDs) can be included together in the same file. LiveRamp can match off of both IDs at the same time as long as they are in plaintext. All IDs should be in a single mobile device ID column, regardless of whether the ID is an AAID or an IDFA.

Caution

Have both types? Hashed AAID IDs and hashed IDFA IDs cannot be accepted in the same file. To send both types of hashed mobile device IDs, put them in separate files.

Hashing Mobile Device IDs

LiveRamp accepts SHA-1 hashed mobile device IDs. See "Formatting Mobile Device IDs" for more information.

Before hashing:

  • AAIDs must be downcased and hyphenated

  • IDFAs must be upcased and hyphenated

Caution

Hashed AAID IDs and hashed IDFA IDs cannot be accepted in the same file. To send both types of hashed mobile device IDs, put them in separate files.

Formatting Custom IDs

When formatting file data before uploading files, do not modify (e.g., by changing casing) custom ID (CID) values.

In this section:

Identifiers which have been derived from, and/or can be associated with, PII (and are therefore considered PII) and have not been anonymized yet. In addition to PII-based identifiers (such as name and postal address or email address), known identifiers also include AbiliTec IDs, client customer IDs, and (in some cases) custom IDs and IP addresses. Sometimes referred to as "offline identifiers".

Identifiers that can't be tied back to an individual.

Usually refers to device identifiers such as cookies and mobile device IDs. These identifiers are also referred to as "anonymous identifiers".

Data that has not been encrypted or hashed.

A cryptographic operation that is performed on variable-length data strings, such as email addresses or phone numbers, to convert them from plaintext to bit strings of a fixed length through the use of a specific algorithm. Hashing of a particular data string with a particular algorithm always produces the same result. Hashing is designed to be a one-way function, so that it is very difficult to reverse. Common hashing algorithms include MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256.

Data that has not been encrypted or hashed.

A cryptographic operation that is performed on variable-length data strings, such as email addresses or phone numbers, to convert them from plaintext to bit strings of a fixed length through the use of a specific algorithm. Hashing of a particular data string with a particular algorithm always produces the same result. Hashing is designed to be a one-way function, so that it is very difficult to reverse. Common hashing algorithms include MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256.

Data that has not been encrypted or hashed.

A cryptographic operation that is performed on variable-length data strings, such as email addresses or phone numbers, to convert them from plaintext to bit strings of a fixed length through the use of a specific algorithm. Hashing of a particular data string with a particular algorithm always produces the same result. Hashing is designed to be a one-way function, so that it is very difficult to reverse. Common hashing algorithms include MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256.

Data that has not been encrypted or hashed.

Unique identifiers given to mobile devices. This category of IDs is sometimes referred to as Mobile User IDs (MUID) or Mobile Advertising IDs (MAID).

AAIDsIDFAsAAIDsIDFAs

Identifiers that are assigned to users by a specific platform, such as Google or Facebook.

LiveRamp's universal identifier that is tied to devices in the LiveRamp Identity Graph.