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EnglishWhat Is a Customer Data Platform and What Can You Do With It?
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A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a system that brings customer data from every touchpoint — website visits, email engagement, in-store purchases — into one place, then shapes that data into audiences you can act on. You get value from it when you connect all relevant sources and use those audiences to personalise websites, emails, and product recommendations. Raptor describes its product as an "Agentic Customer Data Platform" built around exactly this: unifying customer data, building precise audiences, and automating personalised recommendations across emails and websites.
How a CDP turns scattered data into usable audiences
Customers generate data at every interaction. A CDP collects that data and organises it so it reflects who your customers actually are, rather than fragments spread across tools.
The mechanism has three parts:
- Collection — data flows in from browsing, email activity, and in-store shopping.
- Unification — records are brought together into one platform so a single customer isn't split across systems.
- Audience building — the unified data is shaped into groups that reflect real behaviour, which you can then target.
The output is not a report. It's a set of audiences and signals that other systems can act on immediately.
What you can actually do with it
Once data is unified, a CDP supports activation across channels. Raptor's platform lists four concrete capabilities:
| Capability | What it does |
|---|---|
| Website Recommendations | Personalises homepages, category pages, and product pages based on each visitor's browsing and shopping behaviour |
| Email Recommendations | Builds product recommendations for each subscriber, delivered through your existing email platform |
| Email Triggers | Sends automated emails when behaviour calls for it — abandoned cart, price drop — turning high-intent moments into conversions |
| Merchandising | Boosts specific products or builds curated product feeds, shown to the right audiences across websites and emails |
The common thread is activation: the data doesn't sit in a dashboard, it drives what each customer sees.
What results look like in practice
Raptor cites two customer examples that show how unified data and audiences translate into outcomes.
XL-BYG previously had product directors manually choosing recommendations across 200,000+ products. After adopting Raptor's personalisation engine and CDP, recommendations became automatic and real-time, and customer audiences sharpened targeting across the range. Helene Birk said recommendations are "much more accurate without spending any time on them" and have lifted conversion rate considerably.
Imerco unified purchase data from 165+ physical stores and its online shop, then combined those audiences with behavioural email triggers. Email became a core sales channel delivering personalised messages rather than a generic newsletter.
Reported results across Raptor's customers include a 102% increase in email revenue, a 52% purchase completion rate, +273% conversion rate with recommendations, and +37% average order value.
How a CDP differs from a generic data tool
A generic analytics or data tool helps you understand what happened. A CDP is built around activation — it focuses on pushing unified data into the channels where customers actually engage.
That distinction matters when you evaluate options. Ask whether the platform:
- Connects to your website and email systems directly, or only exports data
- Builds audiences you can target, or only segments you can view
- Automates recommendations and triggers, or leaves execution to you
Raptor's positioning is explicitly on the activation side: recommendations and triggers built into existing email platforms and websites.
What determines whether it works for you
Results depend on two conditions:
- Data quality — unified data is only as good as what flows in. Incomplete or inconsistent sources weaken audience accuracy.
- Source coverage — connecting all relevant touchpoints (web, email, in-store) is what makes audiences reflect real behaviour. Imerco's results came from unifying 165+ stores with its online shop, not from one channel alone.
If your customer data is fragmented across channels and you want to act on it rather than just report on it, a CDP is the category to evaluate. If you only need reporting, a standard analytics tool may be enough.