5 Examples of How You Can Take Your Marketing to the Next Level with CDP!

1. What is a CDP?
2. What is the significance of a CDP in marketing?
3. 5 concrete application examples (use cases) for a CDP
4. How can a CDP integrate into the current marketing tech stack of a company?
5. Is a CDP the same as a KMS?
6. What CDP solutions are out there? And which CDP suits which use case?
7. Conclusion

In today's world, collecting and managing customer data is essential for businesses. However, data silos still make it difficult for companies to target their customers precisely through marketing campaigns. This is where the Customer Data Platform (CDP) comes in. Customer data converges in one place, customer segments are created, and these can be activated in a targeted manner.

In this article, our expert Anna Rüde explains the importance of a CDP in marketing, shows how the tool integrates into the existing MarTech infrastructure, and brings five concrete use cases illustrating how a CDP in marketing can provide significant added value.

What is a CDP?

Nowadays, customers inform themselves about new products and enterprises at different touchpoints. It is not always apparent to marketers, which interested individual interacts with the company through which touchpoints.

The CDP is a software solution that supports businesses in capturing customer data from a multitude of touchpoints and centrally converging it into qualitative customer profiles. By segmenting the profiles into interest groups, it makes it easier for marketers to address customers in a personalized way.

The distinctions from related tools are clear.As opposed to a CDP, the CRM system concentrates on personal customer data (personal identifiable information (PII): names, email addresses, phone numbers) based on an already completed purchase, hence also exclusively uses historical (static) data. The Data Management Platform (DMP), focuses on collecting third-party data.

In contrast, a Customer Data Platform (CDP) focuses on building first-party data and processes second-party data (e.g., analytics data). It also features powerful data integration, -cleansing, and -analysis functions, to provide a comprehensive overview of customer interactions.

Digression on first-party data: These are information that a company collects itself, such as demographic data or purchasing behavior. They are important because they represent a valuable resource for personalized marketing campaigns and the improvement of customer experience. Furthermore, they are more reliable and secure than third-party data since they were collected directly from the company and thus can be processed into higher quality customer profiles.

What is the significance of a CDP in marketing?

Customer data is invaluable to businesses in order to gain valuable insights, to launch targeted marketing campaigns and to create a personalized customer experience. A CDP in marketing enables businesses to build a centralized database that originates from various sources, including online interactions, email communications, social media, and offline interactions. A CDP allows the collection and processing of this data in order to get better insights into customer behavior, which in turn enables better audience targeting and increased customer engagement.

With the help of a CDP, the complete life circle of a consumer can be observed and concrete measures can be initiated in real-time.

• targeted retargeting for interested individuals
• Intelligent up- and cross-selling for new and existing customers
• Onsite personalization
• Churn prevention of existing customers
• Etc.

All these measures are variously complex and depending on the maturity of the company, have different impacts on the business.

5 concrete application examples (use cases) for a CDP

A CDP can merge information from a user's different touchpoints with a brand and enable the marketer to create personalized content and offers. It's especially interesting to see how offline and online behavior of a user interact.

1. Personalization of customer experience:

Carla is interested in sustainable jewellery and interacts through the website, mobile apps, social media, and via email. The problem is that Carla uses different identifiers on different platforms, such as her email address for the website, her username for the mobile apps, and her social media account.

Here comes the ID-stitching function of a CDP into play. The CDP can merge these different identifiers and create a comprehensive customer profile. The CDP identifies that the same individual is behind the various identifiers, and links the data.

Source: Artefact

Hence, Carla can now be addressed personally and among other things, get a notice for the next upcoming sales campaign or a voucher, which turns her from an interested new customer into an active existing customer.

2. Real-time customer segmentation:

The interaction of offline and online can be demonstrated well in sports clubs and associations. Here, it's heavily about emotions and belonging, and “the actual magic” happens “in real life”. Depending on the season or events like playoff games or derby matches, Bob may behave differently; for instance due to feelings of happiness or disappointment. A CDP can capture information about Bob's behavior in real-time and enable the marketer to use this data to identify specific target groups, then segment, and address them. Bob can thus be identified as a fan who has a particular interest in a certain player as he intensely interacts with the club through social media, the website, and other digital sources every time that player has recently played. Accordingly, Bob can be sent timely information about jerseys signed by this player, test games, or exclusive meet-and-greet events in the future.

Source: Artefact

3. Cross-channel marketing:

A CDP allows the marketer to seamlessly integrate channels and deliver consistent messages across all touchpoints. Take for example Kevin, who has a broken phone display. He goes directly to a Telestore and has his phone repaired there. The CDP has classified Kevin based on his data that he soon has to make a contract extension decision and assesses the odds as very high based on the decision tree. The employee is shown this on the tablet. A positive experience with the brand will tie Kevin even more to the brand. That's why he is also offered a protection film for free. Furthermore, he is sent a personalized offer on his phone immediately after his visit.

Source: Artefact

4. Explorative analysis of new customer segments:

As a fan of a football club, Bob can be part of a certain customer segment that previously wasn't identified due to his behaviors or preferences. For instance, a club could identify with the help of a CDP that it has a group of fans who regularly visit games in neighboring cities. Here, a new segment automatically gets created and the fitting profiles are assigned. The club can then offer special fan packages for away games to fans in these newly emerged customer segments. Hence, a CDP can carry out comprehensive data analyses and help the marketer discover new target groups or niches.

Source: Artefact

5. Customer services in real-time:

Sometimes Annette has questions or problems, which may require a fast and personalized answer. A CDP enables the marketer to keep an overall perspective in order to provide Annette with relevant information promptly. For example, it could be detected that Annette had problems at check-out because due to a typo her payment data was incorrect. Here she can be offered support immediately, to ensure that she concludes the purchase and has a positive customer experience.

Source: Artefact

Important: A CDP is relevant for all industries

The examples mentioned here can be applied to all industries. Whether it is classic e-commerce, telecommunications companies, hosting providers, tour operators, luxury brands, online pharmacies, and others. Anywhere where there is interaction with a brand, where consumers, fans, customers, users convert and are to be developed / bound for the long term, a CDP serves as a catalyst for the company.

How can a CDP integrate into the current marketing tech stack of a company?

There are different approaches to integrating a CDP into a company's current marketing tech stack. One option would be to use a CDP as a central platform for all customer data. This allows marketing teams access to a uniform customer data source and seamlessly integrate the data into marketing tools such as email marketing platforms, advertising platforms, and website analysis software. Another approach is to use a CDP as part of a marketing cloud stack like Salesforce CDP, linking various marketing tools and systems.

Is a CDP the same as a KMS?

Even though CDPs and KMS (Campaign Management Solutions) appear similar, they serve different purposes. A KMS is a tool where the campaign is the focus. It enables marketing teams to create, manage and carry out marketing campaigns. This solution can function without a CDP as it can draw from existing historical customer data from other sources like a CRM or DMP.

A CDP, however, focuses on the users (customer centric). This solution is a data platform that allows collecting, integrating and analyzing customer data from various sources and touchpoints of the customer journey. This solution, therefore, is the basis for an effective use of a KMS, as it provides a central data source for marketing campaigns (analogous to a PIM for product data)

The choice between a CDP and a KMS depends on the needs of the company. If a company already has a central customer data source and merely needs a solution to organize campaigns, a KMS is the better option.

If, however, a company wants to implement a sustainable, data-driven solution to collect customer data from various sources, to then integrate and segment them, a CDP is the better option.

What CDP solutions are out there? And which CDP suits which use case?

There are a multitude of CDP solutions available in the market, each solution offers different features and suits different use cases.

Salesforce Data Cloud for Marketing is a high-performing CDP solution built on the Salesforce platform. The solution suits companies that already use Salesforce products and require a seamless integration with other Salesforce products.

Segment is another CDP solution suited for companies that require a straightforward integration with other marketing tools. The solution offers an intuitive user interface and powerful analysis functions.

Tealium is a CDP solution suited for companies that require fast implementation. The solution offers quick data integration and comprehensive security features.

Zeotap is a CDP solution suited for companies that require powerful personalization and place high importance on compliance. The solution, besides offering a seamless integration with other marketing tools and powerful analysis functions, prioritizes the security of customer data.

Yet, the best ways to adapt a CDP to your own needs in the company are to create the solution individually. This can be done via cloud solutions such as GCP (Google) or AWS (Amazon).

The choice of the right CDP solution ultimately depends on the needs of the company. A company should define its specific requirements and goals and then choose the CDP solution that best fits these needs. The first step to selecting a CDP always needs to be to gather the company's individual needs and to be clear about which stakeholder needs which information from the CDP. The result of this first phase could be a requirement catalog, which can then be used to approach the providers of CDP solutions.

Source: Artefact

Conclusion

• The integration of a CDP into the existing Marketing-Tech-Stack of the company requires careful planning and implementation.
• A successful implementation also requires adherence to the data protection guidelines and the ensuring of data integrity.
• It is an important technology for businesses pursuing a personalized marketing strategy.
• A CDP allows collecting, integrating and analyzing customer data from various sources to get a better understanding of customer needs.
• Effective usage of a CDP can lead to improved customer loyalty, higher revenues, and a better ROI.Overall, a CDP is a valuable tool for any company pursuing a personalized marketing strategy., höheren Umsätzen und einer besseren ROI führen.

Insgesamt ist eine CDP ein wertvolles Werkzeug für jedes Unternehmen, das eine personalisierte Marketingstrategie verfolgt.