A customer data platform (CDP) is software that combines customer data from multiple sources into unified profiles and makes that data available for segmentation and activation in other systems. Typical inputs can include website, product, CRM and messaging data.

What a CDP does

A CDP can collect data from multiple systems, resolve records into profiles, build audiences or segments and pass selected data to downstream tools. The exact capabilities vary by platform.

CDP vs CRM

A CRM is primarily used to manage known contacts, accounts and sales activity. A CDP is designed to unify customer data from a wider set of sources and make it available for segmentation and activation. The two systems often work together.

See also Segment and Reverse ETL.