I was talking with a Frakture client last week, strategizing around some data challenges they were facing. It was one of those conceptual, “big picture” conversations; oh, wouldn’t it be great if we had a database that had table A and B and could merge and filter them to tell us how much X we’ve done over Y. Anyone who’s worked in analytics has been there, probably more than once. We stumbled on a great way to think about our approach to data management, but first, let me back up.

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As we were batting my client’s problem around, I started talking about our newest product, engine9, and how we might be able to use it to help. But before we could get there, I had a little education to do: my client was familiar with a CRM, but the idea of a customer data platform (CDP) was new. Now, CDPs are not a new concept, but they live in the world of technologies that are widely used in the commercial and corporate sector, but aren’t widely used in advocacy and public-sector IT. 

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The idea of a CDP is to bring together data from multiple platforms to give a fuller picture of people’s behavior than would otherwise be possible. A CRM tracks people, and the data attached to that person is pretty simple: name, address, phone, maybe some demographic info, maybe they’re flagged as a donor or volunteer or subscribed to an email newsletter. Beyond that top layer of data though, is an entire universe. Each person has a history of contacts: events attended, emails opened, donations made, surveys answered. 

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Beyond each of those data points is another universe of data: feedback on individual events attended, email click through rates and forwards, a count of recurring transactions. Not all of this data is high-value, but I’ll bet some of it is. 

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It’s a lot to think about, so let’s talk about it another way. Back to my client.

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So my client and I are talking through these concepts and while they get the gist, I can tell they’re trying to understand the implications. Ok, we’ve got all this additional data, so what?

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As it turns out, my client and I are both fans of computer RPGs, or role-playing games. A key feature of RPGs is usually a character that the player controls, which comes with a set of attributes (data) that determine how that character can interact with the world. Characters with high strength can move heavy things, characters with high dexterity can dodge attacks, and so on. That information is tracked on a character sheet, which usually also includes things like their inventory (items they’ve collected), and equipment (tools or weapons that they regularly use). 

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But once that player character ventures out into the game world and starts doing things, an entire new set of data is created. How many creatures has the character slain, how many attacks have they dodged, how much treasure have they collected? You can imagine a million different questions you might want to ask about what the character has accomplished over the course of the game, all derived from the character’s initial attributes (and the player’s decisions). Neither the game nor the player may regularly need most of this data, but it might still be very important in the right situation, e.g. tracking progress towards a narrative milestone or a game achievement.

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What does any of this have to do with CRMs and CDPs? 

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Imagine a database system for the character in our RPG. Every time the player rolls the dice, they need to reference an attribute (strength, dexterity, intelligence), which tells them the likelihood of success. That information needs to be available immediately all the time. Front of the filing cabinet. That is your CRM. 

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All the metadata created by that player can’t live in your CRM. There’s too much, and most of it isn’t useful often enough to warrant storing in a real-time file system. Something has to go in the closet, and as any decluttering expert will tell you, you put the things you use least often in the back of the closet. 

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Your CRM will tell you that Dirk the Daring is a 25-year-old male who is registered to vote in Daventry and that is occupation is “dragon slayer”, but only the CDP can tell you that he has slain precisely zero dragons and that all his recent gold donations were in a currency from the neighboring kingdom. 

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There’s a ton of areas where we can dive deeper here. Structuring your database to produce the right information quickly, while allowing for more in-depth explorations of cross-channel and cross-platform data opens up a world of possibilities for targeting and engagement. 

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My client and I had fun chatting through their issues while pretending to talk about video games, but the metaphor holds up. Turns out, thinking about your supporters as heroes on an adventure can be a useful exercise. 

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Chat with us about your data challenges /engine9 or geeky nerd shit, we’ll be there either way.