• MarTech Today
  • Sections
    • Ads
    • Marketing
    • Content
    • Sales
    • Analytics
    • Management
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Follow Us
    • Follow
  • MarTech Today
  • Ads
  • Marketing
  • Content
  • Sales
  • Analytics
  • Mgmt
  • Resources
  • More
  • Events
    • Follow
  • SUBSCRIBE

MarTech Today

MarTech Today
  • Ads
  • Marketing
  • Content
  • Sales
  • Analytics
  • Management
  • Resources
  • More
  • Events
  • Newsletters
  • Home
Martech: Analytics & Data

Here’s how & why CDPs differ from CRMs & DMPs

We asked an executive from RedPoint Global if existing customer data systems do the same thing as Customer Data Platforms.

Barry Levine on March 2, 2017 at 12:30 pm
  • More

Even if you don’t have one, you might have heard about Customer Data Platforms (CDPs).

It’s a “marketer-managed system that creates a persistent, unified customer database that is accessible to other systems,” according to an institute set up to promote and research them.

And you may be looking at that Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system you have, or thinking about the Data Management Platform (DMP) you use, and asking yourself, “They each have a lot of data about my customers, prospects and targets. Aren’t they essentially the same?”

Glad you asked. So we pinged Buck Webb, VP of Cloud Solutions at RedPoint Global, for his perspective, since his company offers a Customer Data Platform.

The three systems — CRMs, CDPs and DMPs — each have different characteristics and strengths, he told me.

A CRM is designed to record transactional data, he said, like when User X makes a purchase on your website and becomes a customer. Or when another user calls the contact center with a complaint.

Those can be connected together as being the same user through a “hard key,” like the same phone number or same email, so you know they are the same person.

But CRMs, Webb added, are not designed to do all kinds of identity matching.

“It’s quite common to have duplicates” in CRMs, he said. The companies behind them “are not being disingenuous or deceptive,” he said, since that’s how CRMs have largely operated.

Part of channels

Webb contrasted that to CDPs, which he said “brings a data management layer to the table” that CRMs don’t have.

It uses this layer to link different pieces of customer/prospect info into single identities, he said, either deterministically (a hard key, like a phone number) or probabilistically (a likelihood based on common attributes, like the same physical location of the device at night as detected by IP addresses). It’s not just based on matching through a clear connector.

And “not all customer information is transaction based,” he pointed out.

Customer info can come in streams of data, some of which are purchases or calls to contact centers, while some are visits to websites, activities in an app or demographic information. CDPs are built to accommodate continual flows of information from any source, structured or not, and turn them into single identities.

While a CRM is oriented around transactional data, Webb said, a DMP is built for big batches of audience data that are used to target ads, not for absorbing continual streams. While CRMs and DMPs can both do segmentation, Webb said that CDPs can generate them continually and with more sophistication, such as “finding customers with a lifetime value greater than X,” where X is a continually changing value.

Can a CRM be tuned into becoming a CDP?

Perhaps, he said, but “it’s better to use a CRM and a DMP” as part of channels.

He suggested looking at the CDP “as the central core database” of customers, where all data flows and where the master file of identities is managed and kept.

“When somebody buys something, send out an email via the CRM,” he said, since it is likely already connected to an email campaign tool. It’s also the repository that is integrated with the call center, so keep that connection.

And the DMP, he noted, is part of the ad targeting channel, and is connected to an ad-buying demand-side platform.

“In an ideal world, they’re all synched up,” he suggested.



About The Author

Barry Levine
Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.

Related Topics

Channel: Martech: Analytics & DataCRM: Customer Relationship ManagementDMP: Data Management PlatformsMarketing ToolsMarketing Tools: Analytics

Subscribe to receive daily martech news and expert insights. See terms.


We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.
See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

MarTech 2021: March 16-17

MarTech 2021: Sept. 14-15

MarTech 2020: Watch On-Demand

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

White Papers

  • 6 Powerful Ways Experience Analytics Can Help Your Business Now
  • Email Tune-Up: A 5-Point Inspection to Get Your Program in Gear
  • Digital Marketing Report Q4 2020: Benchmarks and Insights for 2021
  • Data SEO – The Next Big Adventure
  • Getting Started with Email Marketing Automation
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • The Secret Behind SEO Success: Predict Rank with the Power of Data Science
  • How to Avoid the Digital Transformation Trap
  • How to Build a Marketing System of Record
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

Receive daily martech news and analysis.
Martech Today
Download the Martech Today app on iTunes
Download the Martech Today App on Google Play

Channels

  • Advertising
  • Marketing
  • Content
  • Social
  • Commerce
  • Sales
  • Analytics
  • Management
  • Home

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • SMX

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • MarTech Conference

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff
  • Connect With Us

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • iOS App
  • Google Play

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Your privacy means the world to us. We share your personal information only when you give us explicit permission to do so, and confirm we have your permission each time. Learn more by viewing our privacy policy.Ok