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

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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:

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            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:

markdown

## 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

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Customers who purchased in Black Friday 2025

Dynamic Segments: Updates as data changes

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

Predictive Segments: ML-based predictions

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

Lookalike Segments: Similar to seed audience

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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)