Unleashing the power of customer data: the role of CDPs

THE ARTICLES ON THESE PAGES ARE PRODUCED BY BUSINESS REPORTER, WHICH TAKES SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENTS

Unlocking the power: CDPs are the key to harnessing customer data in a more useful way (iStock)

Zeotap is a Business Reporter client.

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, understanding your customers has never been more critical. The ability to utilise data efficiently, optimise marketing budgets and provide customised customer experiences across all channels is the key to success. In a world full of information, having a clear vision of your customers is paramount. Without it, businesses risk wandering aimlessly in the data wilderness of an increasingly dynamic and demanding landscape.

In this scenario, where customer journeys are more complex than ever, brands face the challenge of showcasing return on investment while meeting ever-greater customer expectations for high-quality experiences. Marketers find themselves leaning heavily on data for strategic planning, precise audience definition, efficient resource allocation, holistic orchestration and effective evaluation.

Data is the key to uncovering customer preferences and digital journeys. However, given the increasing number of data sources, channels and direct-to-consumer options, brands must onboard new technologies and data management capabilities to cope with exponentially growing customer data silos. Nowadays, the issue at stake is not a lack of data but the ability to analyse the wealth of data that companies gather efficiently and turn it into actionable and valuable insights.

As a consequence, customer data platforms (CDPs) have emerged as a crucial foundational implement in the marketer’s toolbox, enabling businesses to keep track of their customers and deliver personalised experiences across an ever-expanding set of touchpoints.

Unravelling the data maze

CDPs are software that aggregate customer data from various sources, unify it into a central customer profile and share it with other marketing technology systems.

These platforms build customer profiles by combining data from a variety of sources, including first-, second- and third-party sources. They collect and organise data from a company’s customer relationship management system, data lakes or warehouses, websites or mobile apps and point-of-sale systems.

Marketers can then use these combined profiles to create audience segments and activate them across various channels such as paid media, SMS marketing, customer service tools and website personalisation. This ability to manage data compliantly and efficiently deliver targeted, personalised experiences enhances digital engagement and conversions.

The CDP in action: driving business growth

To illustrate the power of a CDP, let’s consider a real-world scenario. Meet Sarah, an avid online shopper.

Sarah frequently browses your e-commerce website and adds items to her cart but often abandons her purchase. She’s also subscribed to your newsletter and follows you on social media. With a CDP in place, you can track every step of Sarah’s journey.

When Sarah visits your website, the CDP identifies her, recognises her past behaviour and dynamically adjusts the content she sees. She receives personalised recommendations based on her browsing and purchase history, enticing her to complete her abandoned cart purchase. If she opens an email from your brand, the CDP ensures it’s tailored to her preferences.

In this way, the CDP enables you to engage with Sarah in a relevant and personalised manner, increasing the likelihood of conversion and strengthening her loyalty.

Leveraging the power of customer data

A CDP can harness the potential of your customer data by:

• Creating a 360-degree view of the customer by stitching together online and offline data. This enables better marketing strategies, improved customer service and prevents customer churn. It also simplifies access to the latest customer data for business analysis and predictive modelling.
• Defining the relevant audiences and creating better segmentation for optimising the media budget and reducing media wastage.
• Ensuring data security and customer privacy compliance to avoid regulatory issues with significant consequences.
• Enhancing data-driven marketing through machine learning, facilitating the identification of patterns and enabling marketers to cross-sell and upsell.
• Improving customer understanding to offer unique, personalised experiences across preferred media platforms, even in real-time.
• Enhancing loyalty and satisfaction through personalisation by identifying high-value customers, predicting potential churners and tailoring on-site promotions for different customer segments.

It’s crucial to recognise that not all CDPs are identical. While their core function of unifying and activating data remains consistent, their capabilities and features can vary significantly. In this ever-evolving MarTech ecosystem, it’s essential to choose a CDP that offers flexibility for brands to adopt the best-of-breed technologies in the long run.

Zeotap CDP: Your path to data-driven success

In this landscape, Zeotap CDP stands out as an accessible, user-friendly solution designed for today and a cookieless future. It places consumer privacy and compliance at the forefront while making commercial success easily attainable with minimal effort. The platform’s intuitive interface prioritises straightforward use cases that yield results in just eight weeks.

Zeotap CDP empowers marketers with an easy-to-use platform that ensures frictionless deployment and delivers quick value impact. It provides powerful identity stitching strategies, enabling marketers to build segments without coding or technical skills on the Google Cloud Platform, which offers low latency and cost efficiency. Above all, Zeotap is committed to prioritising privacy.

In today’s dynamic and fiercely competitive landscape, delivering personalised and seamless customer experiences is essential for success. Having a clear vision of your customers and their needs is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity in this data-driven world.

CDPs such as Zeotap CDP are the key to unlocking the power of customer data. With its user-friendly interface, identity capabilities, easy deployment and scalable personalisation, Zeotap CDP empowers businesses to create personalised, data-driven experiences that drive customer engagement and loyalty. It plays a crucial role in helping companies navigate complex customer journeys and adapt to changing customer needs and expectations.

---

Find out more about omnichannel personalisation powered by CDP at zeotap.com.