Customer Data Platforms Value to Enterprises
Customer Data Platforms Value to Enterprises
Customer Data Platforms Value to Enterprises

How Does Customer Data Platforms (CDP) Add Value to Enterprises

Big data promises huge opportunities. But most enterprises underperform with Big Data. They incur huge overheads on data management without proportional returns. Many enterprises feel left out, being unable to make sense of their data.

A majority of enterprises still struggle to capture relevant data. They collect huge swathes of irrelevant data and struggle with data overload.

The problem is especially acute for customer data. Customer data often lies fragmented across hundreds of diverse locations and databases. Conventional tools cannot extract the relevant data from all such databases. The businesses struggle to get a complete view of the customer.

And the problem runs deeper. Customers are fickle and change their minds and preferences often. Most businesses fail to realise that the bulk of their customer data is outdated and irrelevant. Engaging the customer using such stale data may actually backfire since the customer would have moved on.

How can enterprises overcome such a situation and leverage the opportunities from customer data?

Enter customer data platforms (CDPs).

CDP platforms track and integrate customer-related data from diverse sources. It taps into website interactions, mobile apps, social media, emails, CRM systems, and all other sources. It also taps into offline transactions such as POS systems and even third-party sources.

What makes CDP different from any other data integration tool is its priority of quality over quality. CDP prioritises real-time customer data from all relevant sources into a central hub.

1. Get a 360-degree Contextual Understanding of the Customer.

    CDP platforms create unified customer profiles from ingested data.  The platform makes such data accessible through dashboards. Business users get a single source of truth for the customer.

    CDP platforms also offer a wide, deep, and contextual understanding of the customer. Marketers, support agents and other business users can understand the customer better. They can understand:

    • The customer’s contact details and demographics.
    • Social media activity and website engagement made by the customer.
    • Purchase history and engagement with support agents.
    • The stage of the customers’ life cycle
    • Customer preferences, such as the preferred mode of engagement. And much more.

    Marketers can delve into such insights to understand the ‘why’ behind customer actions.

    2. Removing Silos for Comprehensive and Contextual Insights

    A good chunk of customer data remains trapped in silos. Many sales, billing and customer service departments store customer data in different systems. One team may have the customer’s name and email address, while another team may have purchase data. Such information is less valuable when used separately. But when integrated, it delivers powerful synergies.

    CDP removes silos. It makes available the complete customer information, with context and background.

    Customer Data Platforms

    Consider a very rude customer. The integrated insights may unearth a previous issue where the customer’s concerns were not addressed. If the data from customer support and the CRM remained disjointed, the business may not obtain such insights. Support agents can identify such root causes and make targeted efforts to set the right issues.

    3. Pre-Empt Friction

    CDP data helps identify areas of possible friction in customer engagement. Lack of such insights may lead to the business committing missteps that can degrade the customer experience.

    Consider the all-too-common instance of abandoned carts in e-commerce. Analysing the data may unearth common patterns in each abandoned cart. For instance, customers may abandon the cart when hit with unexpected shipping costs. The insight could prompt the business to rework shipping costs or calculate it upfront.

    4. Turbo-Charging Marketing Efforts

    Marketers use CDPO data for targeted and effective marketing strategies.

    Effective marketing requires a mix of current data and background data. CDPs store ingested data indefinitely, subject to privacy and regulatory constraints. The engine can overlay the most relevant data, such as recent buying history and preferences, to foundational data, such as demographics, to create powerful and very effective customer views.

    5. Better Segmentation

    For any business, effective customer engagement and marketing efforts depend on better segmentation.

    CDP enables effective customer segmentation. A good analytics engine correlates the wide depth of customer data offered by the CDP platform with a distinct customer profile. Tapping into the preferences of one customer offers other insights associated with such profiles. The marketer can then engage with other customers who share the same profile.

    Business users can also grasp the customer’s socio-economic background and engagement patterns. They can engage with the customer on their background and preferences, to increase the chances of conversion.

    6. Better Personalisation

    Today’s customers expect personalised communications, tailored offers, and seamless experiences. A McKinsey study reveals that 71% of customers expect personalised interactions. And 76% of customers get frustrated if a company does not deliver a tailored experience.

    CDP data guide marketers on:

    • Making targeted offers based on customer preferences and purchase history.
    • Delivering tailored and contextual content, product recommendations, notifications, and alerts to each customer. Customers get only the messages relevant to them through the channels of their preference.

    A telecom company could message customers who exceed their data limit on an upgraded data plan. Likewise, a credit card company could shortlist customers with high dues and offer EMI plans. Sending such messages to customers who do not qualify constitutes spam.

    7. Deliver Omnichannel Experiences

    Today’s tech-savvy customers prefer to engage through multiple channels of their choice. Delivering an omnichannel experience improves the UX. The business can ensure every engagement boosts with customer experience.

    CDPs enable businesses to deliver consistent messages across multiple channels. The platforms link to the centralised data and curate a personalised and consistent journey. The insights update to reflect changing customer’s needs, preferences, and behaviours.

    8. Identify and Execute Up-Sell and Cross-Sell Opportunities

    The CDP platform helps marketers understand customers better in their current environment. Marketers can build on the segmentation and personalisation to tweak cross-sell and upsell offers. They can make such offers more relevant and effective.

    Consider a bank that has a refinancing scheme for customers with mortgages. Reaching out to a customer who does not have an existing mortgage wastes the marketer’s time and also sours the experience for the customer.

    9. Improved Data Privacy and Compliance

    Data privacy has become integral to not just security but also customer experience. The Best-in-breed CDP platforms co-opt advanced security, access control, and encryption. They also apply systems to ensure compliance with regulations. 

    CDP’s ability to centralise data makes it easier for businesses to manage, protect and audit sensitive data. An intelligent CDP also enables business users to take action on data. The ability to act enables cost-effective compliance with regulations such as the European Union’s GDPR.

    10. Better Scalability and Agility

    As businesses grow, data complexity increases, and scale-up becomes difficult. CDPs allow businesses to adapt to changes in customer behaviour and market conditions fast.

    CDP platforms integrate analytic engines that can process and analyse customer data in real time. Businesses can understand and respond to changes in customer behaviour in double-quick time. Ready insights allow tweaking marketing campaigns, product offerings, and customer service strategies quickly.

    Business teams can catch shifts in customer opinions. For instance, social media, feedback pages and even sales data may indicate dissatisfaction with a new product feature. Or a recent marketing campaign becoming a flop. Such information allows timely changes to limit the damage.
    CDP allow business users to leverage maximum benefits from customer data. But it requires a robust tool to realise the benefits. One powerful platform is the Infomatica Data Management Cloud (IDMC). This AI-powered low-code tool enables business users to integrate, ingest, and extract insights from the data. The platform automates key data tasks such as data segmentation and campaign execution. For other tasks, it reduces complexity. Business executives get more free time to focus on strategy and creativity. The low costs reduce overheads and make the business more competitive.

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