Customer data platforms (CDP) are the new hot thing in marketing. And for a good reason — a CDP helps you collect, connect and analyze data from multiple sources, including your own databases and third-party sources like social media networks or CRM systems. However, it’s important to know if this is something that’s relevant to your business.
Determine Your Use Case
When deciding whether or not you need CDP support, the first step is to determine what data you want to collect. If a customer buys an item from your store, do they need any additional information? Do they need more than just their name and email address in order for them to be able to make a safe transaction?
Do not just get caught up in collecting as much information as possible. Instead of going overboard with this, it’s better for your business if you have some sort of idea about what information will actually be useful for your customers and for yourself. This way, when someone does buy something from your store, at least part of the process will go smoothly because there wasn’t any unnecessary clutter added into the mix that could possibly cause problems down the road (or even worse: lead someone else).
What is a Customer Data Platform?
A customer Data Platform (CDP) is a software platform that collects, analyzes and visualizes customer data. As per the Adobe Real-Time CDP’s experts, “It can be used to build a 360-degree view of your customers.”
A CDP can help you:
- Understand who your customers are and what they want from you;
- Deliver personalized experiences for them across channels;
- Identify opportunities for cross-sell or upsell; and
- Measure the effectiveness of different approaches by using advanced analytics
The Pros of CDP for B2C Businesses
The pros of CDP for B2C businesses are:
- It helps you find new customers. If a customer is interested in your product or service and expresses interest, then they’re likely to buy from you again. You can use this information to target them with future marketing campaigns or even use it as an opportunity to upsell them on related products and services.
- It helps you retain existing customers. If a customer has already purchased from you once, there’s more likely that they’ll purchase from you again in the future than if they hadn’t previously made a purchase at all. Therefore, it’s important for B2C companies to retain their customers so that they have more opportunities for repeat business rather than having to start over from scratch each time someone purchases something new from the company.
The Cons of CDP for B2C Businesses
What are the drawbacks of CDP?
- It is expensive.
- It is complex.
- There is a steep learning curve when it comes to the implementation and management of CDP solutions.
- CDP solutions need to be managed by actual human beings, which must be trained and monitored regularly in order to ensure they’re doing their jobs correctly (and not making any mistakes).
As with all things, there are always pros and cons to consider. If you’re looking into CDP for your business, be sure to weigh the benefits against the drawbacks before deciding if it’s right for you.
