What is a customer engagement platform (CEP)?
Used in a sentence: The segment is already built in our CEP, so we can reuse it for the push journey and the in-app banner instead of rebuilding the audience.
How it works
The app integrates the CEP’s SDK, which sends events such as “app opened”, “added to cart” or “payment failed” along with user properties. The CEP stores these against each user profile.
Marketers and growth teams then build segments from that data, for example users who browsed but did not buy in the last week. They attach those segments to campaigns or multi-step journeys, choose the channel for each step, and set timing, frequency caps and conversion goals. The CEP sends or shows the message, then tracks opens, clicks and downstream events so teams can see what worked and adjust.
Example
An e-commerce app uses its CEP to run a cart recovery journey. When a user leaves items in the cart, the CEP sends a push notification after a short delay. If the user returns but still does not check out, an in-app message appears on the cart screen. Users who complete the purchase leave the journey automatically, and the team compares conversion against a control group.
CEP vs in-app experience layer
| CEP | In-app experience layer | |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Data, segments and outbound orchestration | Rendering native UI inside the app |
| Channels | Push, email, SMS, WhatsApp, in-app | In-app only |
| Strength | Who to reach, when and through which channel | What the user sees on screen |
The two usually work together: the CEP decides the audience and trigger, and the layer renders the experience.
Best practices
- Agree on a shared event naming scheme before integrating, so segments stay reliable as the app grows.
- Keep one source of truth for segments and reuse them across every channel.
- Set frequency caps across channels, not just per campaign.
- Define a conversion goal and a control group for every journey.
How to do this with Digia Engage
Digia Engage works on top of a team’s existing CEP. It reuses the events, segments and cohorts already defined there, and adds native in-app formats built in a no-code editor. The CEP continues to handle data and orchestration across channels. Setup guides are on the CleverTap integration, MoEngage integration and WebEngage integration pages.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a customer engagement platform do?
- A CEP collects user events from the app and website, builds profiles, and lets teams group users into segments and cohorts. It then runs campaigns and journeys across push, email, SMS, WhatsApp and in-app messages, and reports on how each campaign affected conversion and retention.
- Do you need a separate tool for in-app experiences if you have a CEP?
- Not always. Most CEPs include in-app messaging templates that cover popups and banners well. Teams add an in-app experience layer when they want native UI that matches the app's design, such as inline widgets, gamification or video, while still using the CEP for data, segments and orchestration.
Related terms
Read more
Part of the In-app engagement glossary.