Why We Need a Data Model

Imagine this: You’re a marketing manager at a company that sells hiking gear. Your customer Sarah has:

• Purchased hiking boots in your physical store (recorded in your POS system)

• Signed up for your newsletter (stored in your email marketing platform)

• Called customer service about the boots (logged in your service system)

• Browsed your website for tents (tracked in your web analytics)

The Challenge: All this data about Sarah exists in different systems, with different formats, using different identifiers. How do you connect it all to get a complete view of Sarah as a customer?

That’s exactly what the Customer 360 Data Model helps solve.

What is the Customer 360 Data Model?

The Customer 360 Data Model is a standardized framework that helps organize and connect all your customer data across different systems. Think of it as the blueprint that ensures all your customer data fits together perfectly, regardless of where it comes from.

It does three main things:

1. Organizes data into logical categories

2. Defines relationships between different pieces of data

3. Provides standard templates (called Data Model Objects) for storing different types of customer information

How Does It Work? A Simple Analogy

Imagine building a house. The Customer 360 Data Model is like the architectural blueprint that ensures:

• The plumbing connects properly to the water supply

• The electrical wiring matches the power requirements

• The doors and windows fit their frames

Without this blueprint, you’d have pipes that don’t connect, wires that don’t match outlets, and doors that don’t fit — just like disconnected customer data.

Where Does Your Data Come From?

Your customer data likely comes from many sources:

• CRM systems (like Salesforce Sales Cloud)

• E-commerce platforms

• Marketing automation tools

• Customer service systems

• Website and mobile app analytics

• Social media platforms

• Loyalty programs

• Point-of-sale systems

Each of these systems identifies customers differently:

• Your CRM might use a Contact ID

• Your e-commerce platform uses an Order Number

• Your email platform uses a Subscriber ID

The Customer 360 Data Model helps connect all these identifiers to create a unified view of each customer.

Real-World Example: Mountain Peaks Outdoor Company

Let’s say Mountain Peaks Outdoor Company wants to create personalized experiences for their customers. They collect data from:

1. In-store purchases: Customer James buys a $200 backpack (stored in POS system with loyalty ID #12345)

2. Website visits: Someone browses tent pages (tracked by cookie ID xyz789)

3. Email marketing: Subscriber james@example.com opens a camping promotion email

4. Customer service: A caller with phone number 555–0123 asks about backpack warranty

Without a data model, these would be four separate, disconnected events. With the Customer 360 Data Model:

• The loyalty ID #12345 is linked to James Smith in the Individual DMO

• The email james@example.com is linked to James via Contact Point Email DMO

• The phone number 555–0123 is linked to James via Contact Point Phone DMO

• The website cookie is matched to James through identity resolution

Now Mountain Peaks can see that James is a high-value customer who bought a backpack, is interested in tents, engages with camping promotions, and cares about product warranties — a complete 360-degree view.

Next Up: Understanding DMOs

In the next post, we’ll dig deeper into Data Model Objects (DMOs) — the building blocks of the Customer 360 Data Model — and explain how they work together to create a unified customer view.