Years ago, a wise man said, “Customer is the King,” and this has held true even when the business methods have changed and evolved. Without knowing what your customers think about you or what they want, it is difficult to have a successful business.
Of course, it is impossible to take every customer’s feedback in reel time and analyses it. Data is the king when you want to give your business a competitive edge, and the way to go about it is to harness the value of customer data. This is where investing in a good Customer Data Platform helps by gaining the strategic advantage.
Customer data platforms are the simplest way to understand the customer thoroughly. With the CDPs at your side, you will be able to get a clear picture of the customer’s journey and:
- Predict the service gaps and needs of customers
- Perform precise customer segmentation
- Tailor and market your products according to customer data analysis
- Modify your services and marketing campaigns accordingly
Customer data platforms are suitable for entrepreneurs, start-ups, online businesses, big, small, and medium businesses. Utilizing Customer Data Platforms (CDP) is the right way to climb the stairway to success fast.
What do Customer data platforms (CDPs) do?
A CDP is a popular solution for bringing all your customer data to one place. The CDP gathers data from multiple sources and then presents them as a unified structure to a centralized database. Every customer interaction by your brand is documented and analyzed by the CDP to make it a most strategic asset to your business. All this is done in real time.
The CDPs collate everything from data from analytics tools, CRM software, customer service software and POS use. This omnichannel analysis enables a 360-degree view of each customer’s profile.
How to find the best customer data platform for your business?
There are different types of CDPs. The fundamentals in all remain the same, namely data aggregation, identity resolution, and segmentation functionalities.
The best CDP platform for your business depends on the specific needs of your business, the budget and the features that are necessary for generating more revenue.
When you chose the right CDP platform, it can make your marketing campaigns more efficient, improve sales outreach, enhance customer service interactions, and boost data operations.
On the backside, the customer data platforms can also lend a helping hand to your IT department to ensure compliance with data governance, consent management and how to handle personal data with compliance.
It is important that you take your time and make sure the CDP customer data platform aligns with your business goals. Here are some important tips to help you in the process:
Understanding types of Customer Data Platform (CDPs)
There are two main types: Actionable CDP and Access and Data Analytics CDP. Actionable CDPs are aimed to understand the customers, do segmentation, and create personalized experiences over various channels.
This includes both native channels like SMSs, emails, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram etc. and cross channel marketing to reach the customers on websites as well as mobile apps. Access and data analytics CDPs focus on data governance and data quality.
The aim should be to invest in CDPs that can enable you to run your marketing campaigns across multi channels
- Look for industry recommendations
A good place to start looking for a good customer data platform which targets your customer platform is to ask your industry peers, business forums, and trade associations in your business sectors.
This move will help filter CDPs that can be tailored to the unique needs of your customer market. Industry specific insights are necessary to make customer data platform work professionally.
- Read the review websites
There are many authentic platforms that offer a detailed review and comparison of different customer data platforms. These reviews are based on user feedback and test tool results. These also include customer satisfaction ratings, market presence, capabilities of the software, etc.
This practice is necessary to get the pros and cons of CDPs and understand the real-world insights to make an informed decision.
- Consult with the market experts
Technology vendors and integrators specialize in different marketing technologies. They will understand your marketing needs and then recommend the CDP platform that will integrate well with your existing systems such as tech stack and meet your business goals.
- Visit CDP vendor websites
Once you have a filtered list, visit the websites of the CDP providers to see the product demos, caste studies, and details of the features.
This will help you understand the platform’s ease of use and scalability.
- Use communities and Forums
Customer Data Platforms are an integral part of business and much discussed on various professional platforms like the LinkedIn, Reddit, or other popular tech forums.
You can access the firsthand accounts of how different CDPs perform in the real world and even ask questions about the performance and drawbacks.
- Make use of free trials and demos
Almost every CDP marketing platform gives the option of free trial or demos.
This is a great way to get hands-on-experience with the platform and check for features, usability for your product niche, access to a customer database, ease of integration with your current systems, etc.
Involve the stakeholders
Any CDP platform will have an access to data from all the rungs of your organization. Therefore, when selecting one customer data platform, it is necessary that you take the opinion of the teams who work on customer data collection.
This includes the marketing and sales teams, customer service, IT team, social media management teams, and marketing operations to name a few.
It is also a good idea to include the legal, security, data compliance, operations, product development ,and external consultants also.
Evaluate if your business is CDP ready
When implementing CDP, it will be necessary to upskill all the teams. Therefore, you must check for the digital maturity of the organization i.e. the comfort level of adapting to shifting technology trends.
This step will help you determine the right customer data platform for the organization and ensure a quick win and long-term value for the company.
The customer data platform is the foundation of customer data for your organization and therefore choosing the right one is critical. Don’t rush in the decision and end up choosing the wrong CDP. Take your time and find one meets your specific requirements, integrates well with existing technology levels.
Read Also: 10 Tips for Optimizing Your SMS Marketing Performance
Written By – Amit Bhateja
Amit Bhateja is the co-founder of enrcloud and helping brands and Unicorns from the last 15+ years and overachieve their Engagement and Retention goals. He is passionate about solving customer problems with modern technology, new age solutions, and consultancy approach. Besides Building ENR, He enjoys reading books, spending time with his family and Teammates, traveling, meeting new people, learning new things, and love to close the business deals.
