The consolidation rate is a metric that measures the amount by which source profiles are combined to produce unified profiles in Data Cloud, calculated as 1 - (number of unified profiles / number of source profiles). A higher consolidation rate means that more source profiles are matched and merged into fewer unified profiles, while a lower consolidation rate means that fewer source profiles are matched and more unified profiles are created. There are two likely explanations for why the consolidation rate has recently increased for a customer:

New data sources have been added to Data Cloud that largely overlap with the existing profiles. This means that the new data sources contain many profiles that are similar or identical to the profiles from the existing data sources. For example, if a customer adds a new CRM system that has the same customer records as their old CRM system, the new data source will overlap with the existing one. When Data Cloud ingests the new data source, it will use the identity resolution ruleset to match and merge the overlapping profiles into unified profiles, resulting in a higher consolidation rate.

Identity resolution rules have been added to the ruleset to increase the number of matched profiles. This means that the customer has modified their identity resolution ruleset to include more match rules or more match criteria that can identify more profiles as belonging to the same individual. For example, if a customer adds a match rule that matches profiles based on email address and phone number, instead of just email address, the ruleset will be able to match more profiles that have the same email address and phone number, resulting in a higher consolidation rate.

 Identity Resolution Calculated Insight: Consolidation Rates for Unified Profiles, Configure Identity Resolution Rulesets