A customer data platform is packaged software that collects first-, second- and third-party customer data from on- and offline customer touchpoints, then normalizes it and uses it to build a unified profile for each customer.
Say that someone visits your website on their desktop, opens your emails and has an active subscription with your B2B publication. Without a CDP, this person’s data might be spread across multiple platforms.
But with a CDP, marketers can see which customers came from the website, the blog or third-party ads. They can see what website pages each person visited before requesting a demo, what webinars they attended, what emails they opened, etc.
With that, they can learn what products each person is interested in and what marketing messages resonate most with them, then apply that knowledge to create more effective campaigns.
What does a CDP do? How do companies use CDPs?
Sounds great, but what does that look like in practice? How can your company benefit from using a CDP? Below are some of the most common use cases for CDPs:
- Aggregate data from all sources to improve audience insights
- Track the behaviors and attributes of website users and connect these behaviors with the data already stored in your database
- Resolve customer IDs to create a single profile for each user
- Create more accurate and precise marketing segments
- Activate data for multi-channel automated marketing campaigns, covering email, website, social media display and programmatic ads
- Increase revenue by providing more targeted cross- and up-sell offers
- Provide content recommendations, personalized website messages and offers based on a customer’s interests, order/subscription history, job title, etc.
- Manage customer data for data compliance
What are the advantages of using a CDP?
A CDP can help any organization that wants to learn more about their audience and serve them more effectively. Some of the most important benefits include:
Create a single audience view: Customer data platforms take in first-party audience data from every channel, according to automated workflows, and consolidate it in one place. Each record is deduped upon entry, so there is only one profile for each person, even if they engage with your brand across multiple channels.
This gives everyone in the organization a single audience view — a current, complete view of how each audience member has interacted with your brand across every channel.
Create more accurate, precise marketing segments. Audience members are automatically added and removed from relevant audience segments based on how they fit its underlying criteria. This helps businesses create more specific, multi-dimensional segments, helping them create targeted marketing efforts and improved ROI.
Personalize content and offers at scale. CDPs give you a complete view of how someone’s interacted with you across every channel, making it easier to personalize to each individual’s engagement and purchase history.
Get the most current, complete view of your audience. CDPs help in maintaining clean and accurate data by integrating and consolidating information from various touchpoints, reducing discrepancies and errors.
Get real-time audience insights: Many CDPs provide real-time or near-real-time data updates, allowing businesses to respond quickly to customer behavior and market changes.
Efficient campaign management: By centralizing customer data, CDPs streamline the process of creating, managing, and optimizing marketing campaigns across different channels.
Keep your data secure: CDPs often come with built-in security features to ensure that customer data is stored and handled securely, helping to comply with data protection regulations.
Improve omni-channel targeting and communications: CDPs give companies a cohesive view of audience interactions across every channel, making it easier to plan and execute cross-channel marketing strategies.
Improve customer retention: With better insights and personalized communication, businesses can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty, leading to higher retention rates.
Streamline data management: CDPs simplify the process of managing and organizing customer data, reducing the need for manual data handling and integration tasks.
Enhanced reporting and analytics: CDPs offer robust reporting and analytics tools that help businesses measure performance, track KPIs, and derive actionable insights from customer data.
Increased marketing efficiency: By automating data collection and analysis, CDPs reduce the time and effort required for marketing tasks, allowing teams to focus on strategy and creativity.
Ground creative decisions in the best data: With comprehensive and accurate data at their fingertips, businesses can make more informed decisions based on real customer behavior and preferences.
Scale data management alongside your business: CDPs are designed to handle large volumes of data and scale with a business’s growth, accommodating increasing data complexity and volume without compromising performance.
How to choose the best CDP
OK, so you’ve decided that you want to try a CDP. What capabilities are must-haves and what’s optional? Keep these questions in mind as you start shopping CDP options
Is the CDP part of an end-to-end audience management platform?
Does the CDP have the capability to capture customer profiles, as well as interactional and transactional data? The biggest advantage of a CDP is the ability to create a 360-degree, single view of each customer. So ensure that your solution can record your customers’ profile information, as well as every time they interact with your digital properties or make a transaction.
How would you use the real-time audience insights gained from a CDP? Think about how your team will use the data generated by your CDP — and decide on your top priorities. Will you use your data to execute paid campaigns, improve segmentation, create dynamic content, etc.? Use this to find vendors that best match your priorities.
What kind of onboarding support does the CDP offer? Do you need the vendor to provide a team to help manage integrations and other technical matters related to your implementation? What self-service resources can they offer?
Data Integration Capabilities: Ensure the CDP can seamlessly integrate with your existing systems and data sources (e.g., CRM, ERP, email marketing tools, social media platforms) to unify data efficiently.
Scalability: Choose a CDP that can scale with your business growth and handle increasing volumes of data without compromising performance.
Ease of Use: The platform should be user-friendly with an intuitive interface. This reduces the learning curve for your team and minimizes the need for extensive training.
Customization and Flexibility: Look for a CDP that offers customizable features and flexible configurations to tailor the platform to your specific business requirements.
Real-Time Data Processing: Opt for a CDP that supports real-time or near-real-time data updates to allow for timely decision-making and responsive customer interactions.
Analytics and Reporting: Evaluate the CDP’s analytics capabilities, including reporting tools, dashboards, and data visualization features, to ensure you can gain actionable insights from your data.
Customer Support and Service: Consider the level of customer support provided, including access to technical assistance, training resources, and ongoing maintenance services.
Vendor Reputation and Reliability: Choose vendors with a proven record of success in your industry, including customer reviews and case studies.
Integration with Marketing Tools: Check how well the CDP integrates with your marketing automation tools, email platforms, and other marketing technologies to streamline campaign management.
Data Enrichment and Quality: Look for features that support data enrichment, cleansing, and deduplication to maintain high-quality and accurate customer profiles.
User Permissions and Access Controls: Ensure the platform provides granular control over user access and permissions to maintain data security and manage who can view or edit different types of information.
Flexibility for Future Needs: Consider the CDP’s ability to adapt to evolving business needs and technological advancements, ensuring it remains relevant as your business grows and changes.
Implementation and onboarding: Evaluate the support provided during the implementation and onboarding process, including how the vendor assists with data migration, setup, and integration.
