Table of Contents
Overview
As the Identity landscape in AdTech continues to evolve, email addresses are emerging as a primary key for identity integrations across the board. One example to illustrate this is the prevalence of an email address as the primary key of many universal ID solutions, such as TTD's UID2.0, LiveIntent, ID5, and many others. As a result, buyers in the AdTech space have started to center their first-party Identity strategy around scaling their programs to collect or license email addresses. In response, Beeswax has added Hashed Email Addresses (HEMs) to the FreeWheel Identity Network. This solution offers a shortcut for clients to skip Personal Identifiable Information-based (PII) segment onboarding, and go straight to segment uploading and clean-room-based measurement. Identity Network has a total of 399 Million distinct hashed emails at both the person and household levels. This page will focus on new information due to adding Hashed Email Addresses into the FreeWheel Identity Network.
Use Cases
There are a number of use cases in which email-based audiences or identity data can unlock the value of data faster and cheaper than current available options. Below are two use cases for Hashed Emails in FreeWheel Identity Network:
- Segment extension: Upload email-based segments directly instead of relying on a traditional onboarder's time and cost requirements.
- Conversion/Attribution: Tie email-based conversion events directly with their ad-exposures.
Client Enablement
This feature is available for all Beeswax customers. Please reach out to your Beeswax representative to have this feature onboarded.
FreeWheel Identity Network fees will apply, there is no fee to use Hashed Emails.
FreeWheel Identity Network must be enabled, along with additional feature flags per specific use case. Please reach out to your account team for more information on feature flag enablement.
In order for proper enablement, emails addresses being uploaded must be hashed via the following parameters:
- Encryption type: SHA-256
- Salt: A 64-character string shared to customers for use in generating compatible HEMs.
Tip: For client enablement, please reach out to your CSM to have the Salt delivered via email to the required individuals.
Step for Enablement
- Ask your Beeswax account representative to be enabled/setup for FreeWheel’s Identity Network.
- Apply the FreeWheel salt to the email address. See below for example:
SELECT
SHA2(CONCAT(email,'{FW SALT}'), 256) AS email_sha256
FROM customer_crm_data
Segment Uploading
- Prepare a process to upload segments to Beeswax, in addition to the regular instructions, this process should also include the following:
- Key the segment deliveries on email addresses
- Hash the email address with the salt shared by FreeWheel/Beeswax
- Deliver the segments to Beeswax as usual
Reporting and Logs
As with other graphs, Beeswax will include the Hashed Emails alongside other graph data in internal logs, but they are unavailable in customer logs, bidding agents, and augmenters. Clients who require Hashed Emails in their ad exposure or other logs will be made available via AIM’s 1P ID Enriched LLD via the Clean Room solution.
Clients using this solution will only receive a singular ID mapped via the FreeWheel Identity Network.
FAQs
What are HEMs?
- Hashed Email addresses are encrypted email addresses used for identifying and targeting users while maintaining consumer privacy. They are built from clear-text email addresses. They are used to enable personalized advertising without exposing raw email addresses.
Is there any additional cost for HEMs?
- FreeWheel Identity Network fees across use cases apply. Beeswax will not charge customers extra for using HEMs versus other identifiers.
How are HEMs tied into the FreeWheel Identity Network?
- The FreeWheel Identity Network is a PII-Anchored graph. One of those PII signals are email addresses. We have used the PII-Anchored core to create and add HEMs into the Identity Network.
Are there any restrictions on what type of Email Service Providers are supported?
- None; we support all service providers.
Is this available globally?
- Similar to the FreeWheel Identity Network, this is currently available in the US.
How can a customer use their HEM keyed segments?
- Segment Extension via the Identity Network must be turned on at the campaign or line item level for HEM keyed segment targeting.
What kind of email addresses will my client need?
- Customers should already have email addresses at scale in clear text.
Can this be used in RUF or segment filter?
- RUF can currently use it by enabling Identity Network in the targeting template. Segment filter does not support graph expansion.
Can we provide HEMs to customers?
- We will only provide HEMs to customers via an upcoming feature.
Do we expect to see HEMs on incoming requests?
- No, we do not expect to see FreeWheel Identity Network-style HEMs on incoming auctions. As a result, HEMs can only be leveraged when utilizing the FreeWheel Identity Network extension at the campaign and line item level.
What is a Hash?
- A technical method to encrypt personal data while allowing for targeted advertising. It is one-way and secure, making it extremely difficult to reverse-engineer. This approach allows us to offer an email-based identity solution in an ethical and privacy-preserving manner.
Why SHA256?
- It is a part of the Secure Hash Algorithm 2 (SHA2) family of cryptographic hash functions known for its strong security and performance characteristics. It is widely trusted in various industries and was recommended by our partners in the FreeWheel and Comcast Information security departments.
What is a salt?
- A “salt” in the context of cryptography and data security is a random data string added to an input before hashing. This technique enhances security by making common attacks less effective.
Does everyone get the same Salt?
- Yes, due to the high security standard employed via combining SHA-256 and a “salt”, this allows us to simplify our tech stack while maintaining extremely high-levels of security.
Do customers need to sign the Identity Network Attachment?
- No, HEMs are considered a part of the core Identity Network. The attachment is required for customers wishing to employ first-party ID Onboarding.
When should a customer use First-Party ID Onboarding via PII vs via HEMs?
- Generally, if a customer has more than HEMs (names, postal addresses, phone numbers), they will have higher quality and greater matching scale than just using HEMs. Also, using the PII onboarder offers additional flexibility in the types of matching we can do with emails vs the character based match that HEMs are limited to.