Customer Data Platform vs Customer Data Management

You might get confused when you read the term customer data platform and customer data management. These are similar terms, but they have different uses in your business. You can learn more about these terms, along with other important information to improve your customer’s experience by visiting Customer 360.

Here are the differences between customer data platform and customer data management:

1. Data Types

In terms of data types, the customer data platform works with the data types you get directly from your customers. The data you’re dealing with here is just the first-party data, and only the customers have the rights to access the data. It might include some confidential information related to your customer’s identity, which is important to use when you do business with them.

In contrast, the customer data management works with much broader data types you collect in your business. It deals with the data such as the browsers your customers use, the IP address they are using to access your website, how long they spend their time on your website, and so on.

It’s the type of data that you would share with the advertising platform you are using, while still keeping the anonymity of the data itself.

2. Primary Purpose

For the customer data platform, the primary purpose is to gather personal data related to the customers, meaning that you will need to gather information such as the name, address, payment information, and other personal data related to the customers. It will allow your customers to personalize their interactions with your business, and for your business, you can also use this data to personalize your offers to your customers. The data in the customer data platform remains private and secure for your customers.

In contrast, the customer data management works on gathering additional sources of data related to your customers to give better insights about their activity in your business. You can also share this data with third parties, such as advertising platforms, to make it easier for you to target your offers. The data included in the customer data management remains anonymous and must not include any private or identifiable information.

3. User Profiles

In the customer data platform, the data sources you gather will help the customers to create their own personalized profiles with your business. For instance, they can create their own account in your e-commerce site and personalize it in the ways they prefer, such as by adding their own profile photo, adding their interests, their wish lists, and so on. The user profile creation in the customer data platform is important to improve your customer’s experience when using your site.

In contrast, the customer data management works in creating the profiles of your audience. For instance, in your e-commerce website, you can find out that certain product categories appeal to certain customer demographics. Also, you will learn about additional information, such as most searched keywords, best-selling products, customer categorization based on gender and age, and so on. The data helps to improve your business, so you can offer better services and features to your customers.

Conclusion

These are the differences between customer data platform and customer data management. The data they are collecting and using differ from each other. However, they still carry the same goal, which is to provide better services to the customers by improving various aspects of your business.