Traditional CDPs deliver on data unification. But when teams try to act on that data, they stumble. Launching a campaign requires IT to build integrations, creating a segment needs SQL knowledge, and connecting channels demands API work. The platform that was supposed to make teams faster creates a new dependency.
This defines the CDP vs engagement platform decision, but it’s more accurate to call it traditional CDP vs combined platform. Combined platforms like Netmera collect and unify customer data while also providing built-in engagement tools, campaign builders, and multi-channel communication. One stores your data. The other stores your data and launches campaigns across email, push, SMS, WhatsApp, and in-app channels immediately.
The cost of traditional CDPs: Trading one dependency for another
CDPs were built to solve fragmented customer data – the problem of information living in disconnected systems across mobile apps, websites, CRM platforms, and data warehouses. They succeeded at unification. Teams finally got that complete customer view they’d been promised.
Then came the activation problem.
Building a segment? That requires SQL. Launching a campaign across channels? You need custom integrations. Setting up behavioral triggers? API work. Every action that should take minutes stretches into days or weeks waiting for limited IT resources.
Source: Gartner Peer Community
Over half of marketers report budget restrictions as a primary challenge, according to Gartner’s 2024 Marketing Priorities research. When you buy a traditional CDP focused only on data storage, you add extra cost items to your stack. You still need separate platforms for email, push notifications, SMS, campaign automation, and analytics. Each tool requires its own license, integration work, and ongoing maintenance.
Combined platforms explained: Data collection, campaigns, and analytics together
Combined platforms bring together data collection, real-time activation, and analytics in one system.
Here’s what these combined systems deliver in practice: Automated data collection from mobile apps and websites. Built-in campaign builder with native channels for push notifications, email, SMS, WhatsApp, and in-app messages. No-code journey orchestration. Robust reporting and analytics that track every interaction.
Netmera aggregates customer data from mobile apps, websites, and backend systems in one place. That unified data powers personalized, cross-channel campaigns. Explore how Journeys work or see WhatsApp integration in action.
The traditional approach requires integrating a CDP with an analytics tool, then connecting an email platform, a push notification provider, and an SMS gateway. Each integration adds complexity, cost, and delay.
One customer engagement & growth platform with data management eliminates that chain entirely.
How Netmera solves both problems: Unifying data and cross-channel communication
Netmera combines customer data platform, engagement, and analytics in one product. AI-powered predictive segments identify churn risk and purchase intent from unified behavioral data. Teams build and launch multi-channel journeys based on real-time customer actions. Detailed reports track conversion and revenue impact, feeding insights directly back into campaign optimization.
Automated Data Collection from Mobile, Web, and Backend Systems
Netmera’s SDK integrates with mobile apps across Android, iOS, Flutter, Huawei, React Native, and Cordova platforms. Behavioral events (app installs, screen views, button clicks, purchases) and profile attributes flow automatically into the platform.
The platform provides flexible fields for Profile Attributes and real-time Events so you create precise segments for targeting without SQL knowledge or developer time.
Tagless Data Capture automatically collects behavioral data with minimal code. New features go live, and the data starts flowing immediately. No manual event instrumentation required.
Backend integrations work both ways. REST API and FTP connections move customer events, messages, and profiles between Netmera and your CRM, data warehouse, or third-party tools like Adjust. The platform pulls data from existing systems and pushes enriched profiles back out. This gives teams a complete, unified view of customer behavior without technical bottlenecks.
Create adaptive multi-step campaigns with no-code Journey tool
The no-code journey builder uses a drag-and-drop interface for creating multi-step, multi-channel campaigns with real-time branching logic. Marketing teams and product owners design flows that adapt to user behavior.
E-commerce example: A customer abandons their cart. With Netmera, you send a push notification after 30 minutes. Four hours later, an email with a discount code arrives. An SMS reminder follows if they still haven’t purchased. When they complete the order, a confirmation message arrives automatically, and the journey ends with a conversion recorded.
If they don’t purchase after all follow-up attempts, the journey reaches an exit point. The platform tracks which step they stopped engaging and flags them for analysis. You see exactly where customers drop off, then refine future campaigns based on those insights.
Turkcell Pasaj implemented a cart abandonment automation using push notifications and saw a 150% increase in monthly revenue. Their conversion rate doubled from 4% to 8%.
Compare that to a traditional CDP approach for a similar journey. The marketer will launch an SMS campaign. The data team writes SQL queries to create the target segment. An integration specialist connects the CDP to the SMS provider. Developers configure message triggers while IT approves access to the SMS gateway. What should take hours stretches into weeks, all because the CDP isn’t built for direct engagement or automatic data tracking.
Traditional CDP setup vs. Netmera implementation
| Capability | Traditional CDP | Netmera (Data + Engagement) |
| Data Collection | Requires custom integrations for each source | SDK + Tag Manager with automatic event capture |
| Segmentation | SQL knowledge required | No-code segment builder with AND/OR logic |
| Campaign Activation | Needs integrations to email/push/SMS platforms | Built-in channels (push, email, SMS, WhatsApp, in-app) |
| Journey Orchestration | Requires separate marketing automation tool | Native no-code journey builder with real-time branching |
| Time to First Campaign | 6-12 weeks (integration + setup) | Same day (if sdk integration and onboarding completed) |
| IT Dependency | High (ongoing for segments, integrations, troubleshooting) | Minimal (initial setup and periodic software updates) |
| Cost Structure | CDP license + integration costs + channel platform fees | Single platform fee, (some features available as add-ons) |
Traditional CDP implementations take three months just to fully complete data integrations while teams wait up to 12 months before everyone can actually use that data to launch initiatives. That effort covers data integration alone, not engagement tools or analytics capabilities.
“With Netmera, integration takes far less time than a traditional CDP,” says Ecem Altan, Onboarding Project Manager at Netmera. “It’s possible to complete SDK integration and scenario setup within two weeks to two months, depending on your app and the products you choose. Our team guides teams through their campaigns and helps refine them step by step.”
How real-time data and no-code tools accelerate campaign performance
Faster testing and optimization
No-code environments enable rapid A/B testing. Marketing teams test message variations, timing, and channels without IT tickets. An underperforming push notification gets replaced with a new version faster.
DenizBank used in-app messaging and A/B testing to find the optimal placement for their Super Limit feature. They tested different screens and discovered the login screen captured attention most effectively. A 10x increase in click-through rates. Applications jumped from 34,000 to 357,000 monthly. Card sales increased 4x, consumer loan sales rose 6x, and total loan disbursements grew 7x.
Real-time response to customer behavior
Netmera processes customer data using technologies like Kafka to handle massive, real-time data streams without information loss. Events flow from mobile apps and websites into the platform instantly. AI-driven predictive segments analyze behavior patterns to identify customers at risk of churn or those likely to make high-value purchases.
Telco scenario: A customer’s data usage drops suddenly (a churn signal). Netmera’s predictive segments flag the account. An automated journey triggers within minutes, sending a personalized retention offer via push notification and SMS. The customer receives an exclusive data add-on before they start researching competitors.
beIN CONNECT used profile-based segmentation to identify sports-only subscribers and proactively offered them alternative entertainment content before their favorite teams started losing. 10% retention increase, 15% growth in active users, and 3x increase in new subscriptions.
When traditional CDPs make sense (and when they don’t)
Traditional CDPs fit specific organizational needs. They work well when a company has a dedicated data engineering team and the primary need is data warehousing and analytics rather than marketing activation. They make sense for organizations that have already invested heavily in best-of-breed channel platforms and want to keep them.
They don’t fit when marketing teams need to launch campaigns quickly. When IT resources are limited. When the goal is reducing tool sprawl rather than adding another system. Or when real-time engagement drives the business model (e-commerce, digital banking, media and entertainment).
Signal question for readers: If your team currently waits more than a week to launch a new campaign or segment, you’re likely in the data+engagement platform category.
Netmera serves digital marketing and product management teams in mobile-first companies, particularly in banking, fintech, telecoms, retail, and media and entertainment sectors. These teams want to increase revenue from digital channels without expanding IT headcount. See how Netmera unifies data and activation in one platform.
FAQs
Traditional CDPs collect and unify customer data. Engagement platforms activate that data through campaigns and messaging. Traditional CDPs store your data but need separate tools to act on it. Combined platforms like Netmera integrate both, collecting data and launching campaigns in one system.
Not with a combined platform. Traditional setups required both because CDPs managed data while engagement platforms handled campaigns. Combined platforms unify data collection, segmentation, campaign tools, and analytics in one product. Teams access customer data and launch campaigns without switching systems.
Traditional CDPs take three months for data integration alone, with teams waiting up to 12 months before full adoption. Combined platforms like Netmera complete SDK integration within a month or less. Teams start engaging customers immediately after setup.
Yes. No-code tools handle segmentation, campaigns, and journey building. Teams create segments using visual builders instead of SQL. IT handles initial SDK integration and periodic updates. Daily campaign work runs independently.
Traditional approaches require CDP licensing plus separate fees for email, push, SMS, automation, and analytics. Combined platforms include all channels under one fee. You eliminate integration costs and reduce IT maintenance time.
