Understanding the Match Grade String
The Match Grade string determines how alike, or similar, each of the seven customer record elements are to the elements of the master reference record. The outcome for comparing each field, when combined, creates the Match Grade — a string consisting of seven characters.
For example,
- If each of the seven fields from the customer record compare exactly to the seven fields in the master reference record, the Match Grade is AAAAAAA.
- Whereas, if each of the comparisons fails, the Match Grade is FFFFFFF.
Most often a match is neither all perfect A’s nor all failed F’s, but somewhere in between. With seven fields and one of four possible outcomes per field, there are 16,384 Match Grade string combinations. Each unique Match Grade string is assigned a Match Percentage, which is a value from 0 to 100, and a Confidence Code, which is a number from 1 through 7.
NOTE: When you include the eighth field Secondary Address, the Match Grade string will have eight characters. For more information about the 8th field, see Overview of Matching.
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