In this data-driven world that we live in, the amount of customer data platform we have access to can be overwhelmingly mind boggling. For a business, it is important to understand what their customers are thinking, feeling, and looking for, and to meet this purpose they need to learn to analyze the data correctly and quickly. 

It is quite an uphill task to make sense of all the data insights from websites, mobile apps, social media, email, online and in-store interactions, and other customer feedback channels. Organizing and utilizing this data efficiently is of utmost importance for all businesses big or small.

Having a tool like the customer data platform at your disposal is an easy and simple way to understand customer behavior, deliver personalized experiences, run effective marketing campaigns, and reach customers when they need you. A good Customer Database Platform will act as a means to unify, manage and active customer data across all touchpoints. 

What can Customer Data Platform (CDP) data do for you?

CDP can give you great insights into customer data, such as 

• Visit timings, including days of the week and hours of maximum activity.

• Conversion rates. which are important for any business

• Search habits

• Location departure rate, for example, how long the customer stays on the blog or website 

• Transaction data and rates

• Demographic data

Why is CDP marketing indispensable to every business?

Gone are the days when the customer journey into buying and loyalty was a linear journey; today, with the digital transformations evolving every day, customer behaviors have also shifted, making the demand for CDP more critical than ever. 

The modern customer navigates through various touchpoints before making a decision. These include researching on the product, reading reviews, blogs, social media interactions, company websites, and communicating with the marketing and sales teams.

This means that if you see the customer as a single entity, then its journey goes through diverse channels. The challenge for any business is to track the data from the touchpoints and gather relevant data. This is a great tool to know your customers better, enhance your marketing campaign, and ultimately lead to profits and enhanced ROIs. 

Here are some key advantages of Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) 

Unified customer profiles

The CDP database collects and stores data from across all touchpoints and then stores them in a central repository. This helps create a unified and 360-degree customer profile, which gives you all the information about the customer at your fingertips. 

Through the customer data platform, you can build a more efficient marketing campaign with more personalized messages to customers. The customer database in CDP is built using personally identifiable information, which contains essential information like behavioral data, purchase history, interests, addresses, phone numbers, etc.

This data is taken from the CRM systems, company website visits, mobile apps, POS systems, social media interactions, loyalty programs, and other interactions.  By consolidating the siloed data in to a cleaned form and presenting it to the marketing, sales, and product development teams to help them understand their audiences. 

With the unified customer profiles at your disposal, your business will get the added benefit of 

• Improved customer experience

By having a hand on the pulse of customer needs and preferences, you can present your product to the customer in a way that seems like the perfect fit to their needs. 

• Enhanced marketing 

Now that you know what your customer wants and needs, CDPs will help you optimize the market according to customer preferences, attitudes, and product interests. Different marketing campaigns can be modulated to customer segmentation. 

• Better customer service

A unified customer database is a simple way to improve the customer service by giving you a better understanding of customers. Through the customer data platform, you will be able to view their individual interactions on all touchpoints, understand customer issues, and ensure that the solution comes swiftly. 

• Increased customer loyalty

Once you listen to the customer and go the extra mile to resolve their issues, and deliver genuine value in your products, your business will earn more loyalty and build sustainable customer relationships.

• Forecasting trends and continuous improvements

Continuous analysis of customer data and insights, arms your marketing team make some definite future recommendations. This proactive approach builds the business’s credibility and enhances its adaptability and resilience in the ever-changing market landscape. 

Reduction in third party cookies 

Third party cookies has been a privacy concern for some time now. Google is taking strict actions against third party cooking in 2024 to ease the privacy concerns. Customer data platforms ensure you get the first-party data, i.e., the data comes directly from the customers. This means your customers are safe and secure with their data, and you get more real time data to formulate personalization strategies. 

Data privacy and law compliance

One of the biggest concerns in the data driven world is data privacy. Customers are not comfortable with their data not being stored securely. When you are using CDP to make a customer database, you are getting the customer’s consent or first party data, and in return, they get personalized digital experiences.

This is a great way to build trust and avoid breaking privacy compliance laws. Customer data is always protected, but your business will still have access to complete and updated customer profiles with their permission. Compliance with regulations builds trust and credibility with the audience.  

Security

One of the paramount features of a good customer data platform is that data security is ensured. Security takes the center stage when it comes to using customer data, especially in the vulnerable cyber world we live in. CDPs guarantee data privacy because they are robust and secure. 

The advantages of employing a customer data platform are multifaceted. It can be used to check for lead registrations, improving conversion rates, automating multi-channel marketing, increasing lifetime value of the customer, and connecting online and offline data, and so much more. 

Read Also: Where Can You Find the Best Customer Data Platform?