CDP Domain Knowledge Skill

Purpose

Provide comprehensive CDP domain knowledge for analyzing requirements in customer data unification, segmentation, and marketing activation.

What is a CDP?

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a packaged software that:

• Collects customer data from multiple sources

• Creates unified customer profiles (360-degree view)

• Enables segmentation and audience building

• Activates data to marketing channels

CDP vs DMP vs CRM

Capability CDP DMP CRM

Data Type First-party + Third-party Third-party cookies First-party

Identity Known + Anonymous Mostly anonymous Known customers

Data Persistence Long-term Short-term (90 days) Long-term

Primary Use Personalization, Analytics Advertising Sales/Service

User Management Individuals Segments/Audiences Accounts/Contacts

CDP Architecture

Data Flow

Data Sources → Ingestion → Identity Resolution → Profile Unification → Segmentation → Audience Building → Channel Activation

Core Components

1. Data Collection:

• Website/app events (page views, clicks, transactions)

• CRM data (contacts, accounts, opportunities)

• Transaction data (orders, returns, support tickets)

• Marketing data (email opens, campaign responses)

• Offline data (in-store purchases, call center)

• Third-party data (demographics, intent)

2. Identity Resolution:

• Deterministic matching (email, phone, customer ID)

• Probabilistic matching (device fingerprinting, behavior)

• Cross-device stitching

• Household linkage

• Anonymous to known conversion

3. Profile Unification:

• Golden record creation

• Attribute standardization

• Conflict resolution (which source wins?)

• Profile enrichment

• Historical event storage

4. Segmentation:

• Rule-based segments

• AI/ML-based segments

• Dynamic vs. static segments

• Lookalike audiences

• Predictive segments

5. Activation:

• Real-time personalization

• Email/SMS marketing

• Advertising platforms

• Customer service systems

• Analytics/BI tools

Key CDP Concepts

Identity Resolution

Matching Keys:

• Email address (primary)

• Phone number (hashed)

• Customer ID / Loyalty ID

• Device IDs (IDFA, GAID, cookie)

• Address + Name combination

Identity Graph:

        Cookie_A
           ↓

Email_1 ← Customer_123 → Device_B ↓ Phone_555

Confidence Levels:

• High: Email match, customer ID

• Medium: Phone + first name

• Low: Cookie + behavior patterns

Customer Profile

Profile Attributes:

John Smith - Customer Profile

Identity

• Customer ID: CUST-123456
• Email: john.smith@email.com
• Phone: +1-555-123-4567
• Device IDs: [device_a, device_b]

Demographics

• Age: 35
• Gender: Male
• Location: San Francisco, CA
• Household Income: $100-150K

Behavioral

• First Purchase: 2024-01-15
• Last Purchase: 2026-01-10
• Total Orders: 12
• LTV: $1,245
• Average Order Value: $103.75
• Favorite Category: Electronics
• Last Page Viewed: Laptops
• Email Engagement: High (45% open rate)

Segments

• VIP Customer
• Tech Enthusiast
• High Email Engager
• Likely to Churn (ML score: 0.65)

Consent

• Email Marketing: Opted In
• SMS: Opted Out
• Third-party Sharing: Opted Out
• Last Updated: 2026-01-01

Segmentation

Segment Types:

Static Segments: Fixed list, doesn't update automatically

Customers who purchased in Black Friday 2025

Dynamic Segments: Updates as data changes

Customers who purchased in last 30 days AND total spend > $500 AND category = "Electronics"

Predictive Segments: ML-based predictions

Customers with churn risk > 70% Customers likely to purchase in next 7 days

Lookalike Segments: Similar to seed audience

Customers similar to "VIP Customers" segment

Data Activation

Activation Channels:

• Email: Personalized campaigns, triggered emails

• SMS/Push: Time-sensitive notifications

• Advertising: Facebook, Google, programmatic

• Website: Real-time personalization

• Customer Service: Agent context

• Analytics: Reporting and insights

Real-time vs Batch:

• Real-time: Website personalization, triggered emails

• Batch: Daily email campaigns, weekly reports

Privacy & Consent

Consent Management

Consent Types:

• Marketing email opt-in/out

• SMS opt-in/out

• Third-party data sharing

• Cookie consent

• Cross-site tracking

Consent Requirements:

• GDPR (EU): Explicit opt-in required

• CCPA (California): Opt-out right

• LGPD (Brazil): Consent required

• PDPA (Thailand/Singapore): Consent required

Data Rights

User Rights (GDPR/CCPA):

• Right to access (what data do you have?)

• Right to rectification (fix incorrect data)

• Right to erasure (delete my data)

• Right to portability (give me my data)

• Right to opt-out (don't sell my data)

Key Metrics

Data Quality

• Profile completeness (% fields populated)

• Identity match rate

• Data freshness (recency of updates)

• Duplicate rate

Engagement

• Segment size and growth

• Activation success rate

• Channel reach

• Personalization lift

Business Impact

• Revenue influenced by CDP

• Customer lifetime value improvement

• Campaign ROI improvement

• Reduced customer acquisition cost

Common CDP Requirements

Data Collection

REQ-001: System shall collect website events including page views, product views, add-to-cart, and purchases REQ-002: System shall ingest CRM data via API daily REQ-003: System shall capture email engagement events in real-time

Identity Resolution

REQ-010: System shall match profiles using email as primary key REQ-011: System shall stitch anonymous cookie to known profile on login REQ-012: System shall maintain identity graph with confidence scores

Segmentation

REQ-020: System shall support dynamic segment creation using AND/OR logic REQ-021: System shall recalculate segment membership daily at minimum REQ-022: System shall support audience size estimation before creation

Activation

REQ-030: System shall sync audiences to Facebook in near real-time REQ-031: System shall trigger email via Klaviyo when user enters segment REQ-032: System shall provide personalization API for website with < 100ms latency

Questions for Stakeholders

• What data sources need to be connected?

• How do you identify customers today?

• What segments do you need?

• Which marketing channels for activation?

• What personalization use cases?

• Privacy/consent requirements?

• Real-time vs batch needs?

Popular CDP Platforms

• Segment: Developer-friendly, data infrastructure

• mParticle: Mobile-focused, SDK expertise

• Treasure Data: Enterprise, data lake integration

• Tealium: Tag management heritage

• Adobe Experience Platform: Adobe ecosystem

• Salesforce CDP: Salesforce ecosystem

References

• CDP Institute Resources

• First-party Data Strategy

• Privacy Regulations (GDPR, CCPA)