Today, customer data platforms (CDPs) are becoming extremely popular among businesses, especially those in tech. Their importance has become magnified in the past few years as organizations have begun to realize the need for a 360° view of their consumers.
At its core, a CDP is a marketing solution that builds a thorough customer profile for all registered consumers. This data is made accessible to other software and systems, so other members of your company can view it.
With a CDP, the data is extracted from multiple sources. Then, it is cleansed, combined, and enriched to create a single customer profile. This presents your data in a clean, structured fashion, allowing you to improve marketing efforts and enhance the customer experience.
One of the most popular CDPs today is Segment. However, there are also a ton of Segment alternatives to choose from. Ultimately, you should choose the platform that offers the features your company needs most, at a cost you can afford.
Companies in any sector can benefit from strong data. However, choosing the right CDP for your business can be overwhelming. Find out below how to choose the right CDP for your company!
Think About Your Use Cases
There are many use cases for a CDP. Before going out and committing to a 5-year subscription to some random platform, think about how your company will utilize it.
A strong CDP can help increase your revenue and improve margins. A great CDP will show you key trends for your company to hop on, as well as areas in your marketing plan that need improvement. If you’re looking to boost your ROI, your company needs to use a CDP.
A CDP also enables you to deliver well-targeted, personalized content to your consumers. This will help strengthen the presence of your brand, as well as your community of customers. CDPs provide valuable insights into what target audiences are performing best and how to capitalize on them.
Consider all the ways your company will benefit from this technology. Look for a vendor that specializes in the things you need.
For example, you may want a CDP to help you improve the user experience on your website. You may want a CDP that delivers marketing campaigns automatically to your customers and targets them for you.
Consider Data Governance
The term “data governance” is used to describe the process and framework that an organization uses to keep track of the entire lifecycle of a single customer. Before investing in a CDP, you should decide what you plan on doing with this information and how you’ll make sure that it remains correct and up to date.
Without proper data governance, you may run into some of the following issues:
- Inaccurate customer data shown in different channels
- Unexpected legal consequences stemming from mismanagement of data
- Security breaches if data is not well managed and protected
Pick What Tools to Integrate
Before you invest in a CDP, you should have a list of all the tools your company uses to interact with customers. You will probably need to check in with leaders from every department in your business to build this list. The more complete this list is, the better off your company will be when you integrate these tools into your CDP.
Once you know what tools you want to use, find a CDP that is compatible with all of them. You should not have to sacrifice any important tools for your business, just to satisfy a CDP requirement. This should help you narrow down your search quickly.
If you’re having difficulties compiling your list of tools, here are a few commonly used ones by other brands:
- Analytics
- Live chat support
- Data warehouses
- Business intelligence
- Email service
- Push messaging
- Advertising
- Social media
Compare Vendors
By this point, you should have at least a few different options to choose from; one that fits your use cases, allows you to govern your data and is compatible with the tools you need. The last step you should take before making a final decision is to compare vendors.
Start by finding out which industries these CDPs are most active in. Find a platform that has clients similar to you. Check their track record to see how they’ve helped those companies perform.
Then, you should compare prices between vendors. Decide which CDP provides the most value for your company for the features you need. You will likely have more than one option that you like. It may help to draw up some quick projections to see which platform will make your company most profitable.