• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

WTWH Marketing Lab

B2B Marketing, content marketing, online advertising, lead generation, SEO/SEM

WTWH Brands
  • Posts
    • Social Media
      • Facebook
      • LinkedIn
      • Pinterest
      • Twitter
      • YouTube
    • Marketing
      • Content Marketing
      • Email Marketing
      • Online Marketing
      • Search Marketing
      • SEO
      • Webinars
    • WTWH News
  • Media Guides
    • Club + Resort Business
    • CStore Decisions
    • Design World
    • EE World Online
    • Fluid Power World
    • MedTech / Life Sciences
    • R&D World
    • Robotics Network
    • Solar Power World
    • Windpower Engineering & Development
  • Print Ad Submissions
  • Ad Specs
    • Expandable Online Display
    • Digital Editions
    • PRINT AD SPECS
    • Sponsored Content and Native Content Specifications
  • Webinars
  • Contact Us
    • About
    • Job Opportunities
    • Subscription Services
    • DesignFast Data Request
  • Request Proposal

Getting Past the Hype About Customer Data Platforms (CDPs)

October 10, 2018 By Virginia Goulding Leave a Comment

In today’s experience-driven, digital world your customers demand that you know who they are, what they’ve done and what they want across all channels. They demand a unified customer experience. However, this is impossible without unified customer data. But with data in disparate systems across your organization, it’s difficult to unify customer profiles and meet customer expectations.

A customer data platform (CDP) is packaged software that creates a persistent, unified customer database that is accessible to other systems. Ultimately, CDPs fit in the middle of the martech stack and are the conduit to delivering this unified customer experience.

Customer Data Platforms Story

At the recent MarTech Conference in Boston, David Raab from the Customer Data Platform Institute and Raab Associates dispelled the myths and highlighted the realities of CDPs.

Raab presented the CDP story and likened the rise of CDPs to a fairy tale. The story begins with customers demanding a unified experience. To give them this experience, marketers need unified data but the existing tech stack falls short – enter in the CDP to solve the problem. With the implementation of a CDP marketers live happily ever after, right?

Of course, there are many advantages to a CDP. For one it’s packaged software that is prebuilt and has a low risk and lower cost than building something yourself. It also creates a unified, persistent customer database where all sources of first and third party data (identified and anonymous) are organized around a customer view. And moreover, it is accessible with other systems so it’s easy to share data and change systems without disruption.

But, as Raab mentioned, fairy tales are for children and despite all the advantages, no one CDP is perfect and it won’t solve all your problems. Here are some myths and realities to consider if you are evaluating adding a CDP to your martech stack.

Customers demand a unified experience.

Myth:  The purpose of a CDP is to coordinate the customer experience across channels.

Reality: Most common CDP application is analytics, which leads to single-channel personalization.

Myth: A CDPs value depends on connecting all the systems.

Reality:  Many use cases work with a few systems or even just one.

Marketers need unified data.

Myth: CDPs are for marketing only.

Reality: All customer-facing departments can benefit.

Myth: CDPs manage first-party data only.

Reality: Many CDPs use third-party and anonymous data.

Myth: CDPs work only with data they’ve ingested.

Reality: (Some) CDPs can also access data from external systems in real time.

Existing tech falls short.

Myth: CDPs is a new technology.

Reality: CDP is (mostly) a packaging of existing technology.

Myth: You don’t need a CDP if you have a Data Warehouse.

Reality: CDPs include unstructured data not usually found in a Data Warehouse.

Myth: You don’t need a CDP if you have a Data Lake.

Reality: CDPs provide more data preparation than a typical Data Lake.

Myth: Stand-alone CDPs are the only way to create unified customer data.

Reality: Other solutions do exist. The CDP is a function as well as a type of system.

A CDP solves the problem.

Myth: CDPs are all the same.

Reality: CDPs vary widely in scope and vertical specialty.

Myth: Many random vendors call themselves CDPs.

Reality: The CDP market is forming segments by size, scope and industry.

Myth: CDPs have no shared features.

Reality: All CDPs ingest and retain full detail, create unified customer profiles and expose the results.

Myth: Identity resolution is a core CDP capability.

Reality: Some CDPs offer integrated ID resolution, some rely on third-party systems and some expect IDs to be provided on inputs.

Marketers live happily ever after

Myth: CDPs replace application data stores.

Reality: CDPs synch with application data stores.

Myth: CDPs don’t need IT support.

Reality: IT still needs to be involved and should be. Vendors will do some tech work but IT owns and understands the data so they need to be a part of the process.

Myth: A CDP is a silver bullet that solves all customer data problems.

Reality: Even if you implement a CDP your organization, budget, skills, time and existing systems can all be major obstacles.

Yes, there’s hype but CDPs do offer real value. Identifying the right CDP for your organization is the first step in getting the process started. Carefully vetting potential vendors, evaluating use cases, asking for references and proof of concept as well as detailed deployment plans can help you succeed in your CDP selection process.

For more information about CDPs as well as a directory of potential CDP providers, visit the cdpinstitute.org.

Share

Filed Under: Custom Integration, Featured, Online Marketing

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

LEADERSHIP 2021 SUBMISSION FORMS

  • 2021 Fluid Power World Leadership Profile Upload page.
  • 2021 Design World Leadership Profile Upload page.
  • 2021 Windpower Engineering & Development Leadership Profile Upload page.
  • 2021 Solar Power World Leadership Profile Upload page.
  • 2021 Medical Design & Outsourcing Leadership Profile Upload page.

WTWH on the Inc. 5000 list – 10 Years Running

Learn More About AI For Marketing

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

Latest

FriendShip Kitchen Awarded Safe Shop Assured Certification

The Ohio-based convenience retailer is the first in the United States to be certified for its commitment to essential store … [Read More...] about FriendShip Kitchen Awarded Safe Shop Assured Certification

Safe Shop Assured

New Safe Shop Program Provides Retailers with Third-Party Certification of Commitments to Safety

Run by a diverse independent board of retailers, suppliers, and industry experts, Safe Shop Assured certification helps … [Read More...] about New Safe Shop Program Provides Retailers with Third-Party Certification of Commitments to Safety

WTWH Media on the Inc. 5000 List 10 Times Running

WTWH Media Ranked Number 4632 overall, 67% 3 year growth and on the list for ten consecutive years We're very pleased that … [Read More...] about WTWH Media on the Inc. 5000 List 10 Times Running


  • Design Engineering
  • Electronics Engineering
  • Fluid Power
  • Hospitality
  • Life Sciences
  • R&D
  • Retail
  • Robotics
  • Solar Power
  • Wind Power

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by @WTWH_Marketing

Footer

WTWH Media Brands

  • Club + Resort Business
  • Convenience Store Decisions
  • DesignFast™
  • Design World
  • EE World Online
  • Fluid Power World
  • LeadLift™
  • MassDevice
  • R&D World
  • Solar Power World
  • The Robot Report
  • Windpower Engineering & Development

WTWH Publications

  • Club + Resort Business
  • Convenience Store Decisions
  • Design World Magazine
  • Solar Power World
  • Windpower Engineering & Development
  • Fluid Power World
  • Medical Design & Outsourcing

WTWH Media LLC, an 9x Inc. 5000 honoree, is an integrated b2b media company serving the electronics, design engineering, hospitality, life sciences, renewable energy, retail and robotics markets with more than 50+ web sites, 12 events, 7 print publications and custom digital marketing services. More at WTWH Media

Copyright © 2021 · WTWH Media, LLC · Privacy Policy


Twitter Linkedin Facebook
We use cookies to personalize content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use this website.OkNoRead more