Smart CRM and Customer Data: Objects, Properties, and Lists
What this domain covers
Smart CRM and customer data tests the data model: objects, properties, associations, lifecycle stages, lists, scoring, imports, duplicates, and consent.
Core rules and concepts
- Standard objects include contacts, companies, deals, and tickets; custom objects extend the model. Records connect through associations, which can have labels.
- Properties have types such as text, number, date, dropdown, score, and calculation, plus property groups; property history is auditable.
- Lifecycle stage describes a contact's journey: Subscriber, Lead, MQL, SQL, Opportunity, Customer, Evangelist, Other. Lead status describes sales follow-up state, such as New, Open, In Progress, or Unqualified. They answer different questions.
- Lists are active (auto-updating by criteria) or static (snapshot). List membership is not a property and should not be used as a durable data field.
- Lead scoring combines fit and engagement; scoring properties can feed workflows and routing.
- Data quality: imports match on unique identifiers, deduplication merges records, and consent and subscription types govern what you can send.
Worked example
A marketer needs all MQLs in Germany for a sales rep. She builds an active contact list with lifecycle stage = MQL and country = Germany. When a contact's stage changes to SQL, the contact leaves the list automatically. Reasoning: active lists recalculate; if she needs a historical snapshot, she must use a static list or report.
Traps
Confusing lifecycle stage with lead status; assuming list membership writes a property; merging duplicates without checking associations; importing without a unique identifier; treating consent as a single yes/no instead of subscription types.