04-15-2025
It’s easy to confuse CDPs, CRMs, and DMPs — each platform touches customer data in some way, and the acronyms themselves are similar. Each has its own role to play in a business, so it’s essential to examine the similarities, differences, and advantages of each platform.
A quick overview and analysis of these three platforms will help you understand:
The primary difference between a data management platform (DMP), a customer data platform (CDP), and a customer relationship management platform (CRM) lies in the purpose for which customer data is stored and organized. Between managing existing customers, marketing to potential customers, or integrating that information to create a unified customer profile, each platform uses data in different ways.
A data management platform pulls user data from third parties to target audiences more efficiently and segment key attributes. It captures user data, anonymizes it, and then exchanges it with other companies for targeted advertising. This can make digital marketing efforts more efficient.
The anonymous nature of a DMP, which collects pseudonymous data on a large scale, also means there is no ability to connect the data to existing user information. Still, it’s important to note that change is on the horizon for DMPs — with the upheaval of online tracking strategies across the internet, Google’s changing approach to third-party cookies, and many companies offering higher levels of tracking protection, it remains to be seen how DMPs will evolve to deliver third-party data for advertisers.
A customer data platform creates a comprehensive, diverse picture of customers by collecting data from a wide range of sources. A customer data platform combines customer data from various sources, including visits to your website, customer service interactions, mobile app visits, in-store visits, and even a customer relationship management platform or data management platform.
A customer data platform only deals with first-party data. Still, it takes those otherwise disparate data points and uses them to create a complete, unified, and actionable portrait of each customer. These detailed, cross-platform pictures of buyers offer valuable insights into how to effectively reach everyone at every stage of the sales pipeline.
The focus of a customer relationship management platform is managing relationships with existing customers and leads. It helps organize data, such as purchase history, customer contact information, and any communications that may have occurred with that individual.
Customer relationship management platforms are commonly used by customer service and sales reps since this data can be useful in projecting a sales pipeline. This can help align sales, marketing, accounting, and customer service departments by giving them a central tool for accessing customer information.
Although all three platforms share similar goals of creating customer profiles, they each approach this task in different ways, relying on distinct data points.
First things first. Details that customers share with you directly, such as contact information or survey responses, are referred to as first-party data. This information is of the highest quality and is invaluable for understanding customers.
Marketers can easily trace first-party data back to users who generally provide reliable information voluntarily. Cutting straight to the source prevents the spread of misleading information and is less likely to raise privacy concerns.
Customer data platforms mainly use first-party data to build user profiles, which store and update customers’ traits, interactions, and behaviors in real-time. Some DMPs can ingest first-party data; however, these tools are generally better suited for managing third-party data.
Second-party data refers to first-party data that you purchase or obtain from another organization. While getting information from another company can help expand your reach and provide new insights, you should also consider a few drawbacks.
Although partners or advertisers collect this information directly from customers, they can’t always guarantee accuracy. For this reason, you assume a greater risk of violating privacy regulations or working with faulty information.
Customer data platforms and data management platforms both handle second-party data. Data management platforms often feature data exchange capabilities to streamline the sharing and selling process between companies.
Finally, third-party data is data gathered and sold by companies that don’t directly connect with the data sources.
Although getting information from a data collection company can broaden your access to anonymized data, third-party data is less valuable because anyone can purchase it. Competitors might use the same information, so it won’t necessarily give you a better advantage. This data type is also inherently riskier, as data collection companies can’t ensure that all the data meets privacy standards.
Data management platforms primarily use third-party data to generate insights about unfamiliar audiences and build targeted advertising campaigns.
The key differences between CRMs, CDPs, and DMPs mean that, while the three platforms are related, individual use cases are well-defined. Each type of platform has a range of capabilities, but here are a few examples of what they can do.
Turning leads into customers can be a lengthy and sometimes complex process from start to finish. Nurturing each lead appropriately, based on its stage in the sales funnel, can quickly become challenging, especially with a large list and a lengthy buying cycle.
A customer relationship management platform makes this less complex. You can adjust your treatment of each contact based on the stage of each lead in the journey. Emails can be triggered in large batches based on specific behaviors. Or leads can be assigned scores to move them from cold to warm to hot — initially based on parameters such as company size or job title — and ultimately triggered by an action like an opened email or an answered phone call.
Back in the heyday of billboards and magazine ads, marketing took a somewhat shotgun approach — with wide funnels and unreliable analytics. Web analytics and digital advertising have changed that.
But what if you want to match online information to a customer when they’re away from the digital space? What if a company wants to bring the precision of online analytics into their stores or other points in a customer’s experience?
For example, if a customer makes a specific query or views a product on the company's website, real-time feedback from a customer data platform can make that information available to sales representatives, customer service, or even in-store employees. This can make each interaction feel connected and like it’s coming from a unified brand. It can also create a customer profile that is far more precise and actionable, moment–to–moment.
DICK’S Sporting Goods, America’s largest sporting goods retailer, integrated a customer data platform to personalize the customer experience and expand its loyalty program ScoreCard, which now boasts more than 20 million members.
DICK’S uses Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform to gather insights about customer interactions across channels and update its marketing playbook in action. The retailer utilizes profiles and segments to tailor the buyer’s journey based on their favorite sports and products, and offers personalized perks to ScoreCard members.
Strategically finding new audience segments to break into is no easy task. There is a seemingly endless number of options to consider and analyses to run. This is where an AI-powered data management platform can step in.
With lookalike modeling — an algorithmic process of finding new audiences that look and act just like your current customers — a data management platform can recognize what aspects of your best customers might be shared with other segments. With these lookalike segments identified, a data management platform lets companies maintain targeted advertising while also discovering new audiences.
Princess Cruises, the third largest cruise line in the world, deployed a data management platform in its advertising strategy to understand guest preferences and encourage more people to explore new destinations through cruises.
The cruise line uses Adobe Audience Manager to develop audience segments based on information from booking data, customer relationship management databases, and even staff notes. These insights about which groups take cruises and enjoy popular activities, experiences, and services help Princess Cruises to target high-value prospects and streamline campaigns.
For example, after managing advertising with a data management platform, Princess Cruises achieved a 65% reduction in the cost per landing page across properties and increased identifiable audiences by 300%.
Which platform is best for your team will depend on your business needs and goals. Consider what problems you need to solve or which processes you need to improve.
If your marketing team is ready for a customer data platform that will enable truly unique customer experiences at every stage of the journey, check out Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform. Providing the very best customer experiences requires real-time insights, and Adobe does it with best-in-class data governance as well.
If you’re not sure which platform to use, start with the end goal in mind. Rather than asking what each platform does, ask what your team needs. (You may find that you need more than one platform.) Once you clarify what capabilities and tools you need, you’ll be ready to make the best move for your business.
