What is a Customer Data Platform — CDP

CDP is a customer data platform. We will explain what a customer data platform is in simple words.

In today’s information world, companies use many different ways to find user data. Then they process this information and interact with the audience effectively. However, not all concepts are maximally effective for business and may require significant resources from the company. That’s why businesses need a solution that can provide a single customer profile and that can be used without involving developers or third-party marketing agencies. This is exactly what CDP was created for.

CDP (Customer Data Platform) is a database that collects, stores, and structures information about the customer and his or her activities. Such services interact with different systems and form a single customer profile. CDP platforms collect data from online and offline sources, which makes it possible to create a more detailed and accurate lead profile.

Why do you need a CDP?

The customer data platform serves three purposes.

• Collect and unify all first-hand data.

Many tools such as email, analytics, CRM, e-commerce, and social media are used in silos and don’t allow for data sharing. It is difficult to get a complete picture of the audience, and even more difficult to analyze the results. The customer data platform is designed to combine all the tools used by marketers into a single source of first-hand customer information.

• Customer data management

CDPs manage data first-hand and protect consumer privacy by controlling processing consents and data flows between different marketing systems. With the need to comply with GDPR and data privacy regulations, your company cannot do without a solution to manage consent and data flows and document these authorizations.

• Use of customer data

If you can get permission to collect first-hand user data, combine it, and structure it into customer profiles, you’re ready to go. CDPs allow you to create audience segments that can be used across all other marketing platforms and channels.

A customer data platform (CDP) records all touches between a user and a company. Sources of information can be:

• actions on the site
• purchases at offline cash desks
• interaction with advertising content
• reaction to newsletters
• actions in the app
• information from the CRM system

How to choose a CDP?

• Define your goals and objectives. Think about why you need this tool, what you want to achieve with it. This approach will help you understand what capabilities CDP has.

If you can’t formulate the task exactly yet, then start by studying the market offers right away. Do a little research, make a list of the most popular CDPs for your segment (B2B or B2C), and study their functionality. Check out the features and tools that each customer data platform provides.

1. Check out the free plan of the selected platforms or try a demo version. This will allow you to study the interface, test the functionality, and understand how it suits you. Some CDPs are difficult to manage and require the support of specialists. Therefore, if the company does not have such people in its staff, it is better to choose a simpler platform.
   
2. Compare the capabilities of the CDP with the tasks of your business. Explore integration, the ability to build customer analytics if you need it, create segments based on predictions of user behavioral factors, and so on.

At the last stage of choosing a CDP, carefully study the tariff plans. Make sure that the chosen package provides the functionality you need, as they often differ in the set of tools and features.

Use CDP to collect and structure data about customers and their actions from all possible sources, identify users, and create an easy interaction strategy. And to manage customer relationships and automate sales, you can connect a free CRM system from SendPulse.

Conclusion

CDP is a comprehensive platform for collecting, unifying, processing, and storing customer data in order to carefully select the company’s target audience. This tool collects customer data based on their demographic and behavioral characteristics. Data is searched on various platforms: social networks, websites, applications, or even offline sources. Have you already used CDP, how did it affect your business?