Martech, explained · Platforms side by side · 2:13
CDP vs CEP: what each one does
Where a customer data platform ends and a customer engagement platform begins
The short answer
A CDP lives close to your data: it collects it, works out who is who, builds segments and hands them to your channels. A CEP lives close to the customer: it sequences messages, applies consent and frequency, and delivers them, in your own channels first. If you run both, name which one owns the profile and which owns the segments.
Questions this answers
What does a CEP do?
It is the channel. It sequences the messages, remembers where each person is in a journey, applies consent and frequency rules, and gets the message delivered.
Do CDPs and CEPs overlap?
On paper, yes. CEPs built profile stores and segment builders, and CDPs added connectors, but they start at opposite ends.
How do a CDP and a CEP bill?
A CDP's cost grows with your data: the events you collect and the profiles you store. A CEP's grows with engagement: the messages you send and the people you can reach.
Should you run both?
Many stacks do: the CDP works out who the customer is, and the CEP runs the conversation. Name the owner of the profile and of the segments, or you pay for the same thing twice.
Transcript
Every chapter as text. Click a time to play the film from there.
0:00 Intro
Ask what a CEP does, and you'll often hear a description of a CDP. They overlap, but they start at opposite ends.
0:12 What a CDP does
A CDP lives close to your data. It collects it, works out who is who, builds the segments, and sends them to your channels. That's as far as it goes.
0:23 What a CEP does
A CEP lives close to the customer. It is the channel. It sequences the messages, remembers where each person is in a journey, applies consent and frequency, and gets the message delivered.
0:37 Your own channels first
A CDP sends segments to both your own channels and the paid ones. A CEP's home is your own: email, push, SMS and in-app. Some CEPs reach ad platforms too, but your own channels come first.
0:52 Closing the loop
And the loop closes on your site or app. Someone opens the email, taps the push or clicks the ad, and comes back. That visit is a new event, and the next message is built on it.
1:05 Where they overlap
The lines blur from both ends. CEPs built simple profile stores and segment builders. CDPs added more connectors. On paper, they tick the same boxes.
1:18 How they bill
They bill differently, too. A CDP's cost grows with your data: the events you collect and the profiles you store. A CEP's grows with engagement: the messages you send, and the people you can reach. Comparing the two is like comparing the price of storage with the price of electricity.
1:37 Running both
In a lot of stacks, you run both. The CDP works out who the customer is, and the CEP runs the conversation. More and more, the decision about who gets what moves to the warehouse, and the CEP keeps the sending.
Just name which one owns the profile, and which one owns the segments. Otherwise you pay for the same thing twice.
1:59 Map yours
Map yours at Martech Stack Builder, for free, or learn more about each piece there.
The CDP knows who. The CEP gets the message there.
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The articles this film is drawn from.