what is a cdp

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a collection of software that creates a persistent, unified customer database that is accessible to other systems. It pulls data from multiple sources, cleans and combines it to create a single customer profile. A CDP is fundamentally different in design and function when compared with marketing automation systems, though CDPs provide some of the functionality of marketing systems and customer engagement platforms. A CDP is packaged software that creates a comprehensive customer database accessible by other systems to analyze, track, and manage. The CDP creates a comprehensive view of each customer by capturing data from multiple systems, linking information related to the same customer, and storing the information to track behavior over time. The CDP contains personal identifiers used to target marketing messages and track individual-level marketing results. A CDP can collect data from a variety of sources (both online and offline, with a variety of formats and structures) and convert that disparate data into a standardized form. Some of the data types a standard CDP should work with include website data, customer service system data, in-store behavior from beacons or IoT devices, and more. In addition, some CDPs provide additional functions such as marketing performance measurement analytics, predictive modeling, and content marketing.