Customer data platforms (CDPs) have become an invaluable tool for modern marketing teams looking to centralize fragmented customer information into unified profiles. By consolidating data from various touchpoints, CDPs help drive personalized experiences across channels.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll cover everything you need to know about CDPs, from key capabilities to top vendor options. You‘ll learn:
- What CDPs are and how they benefit marketing
- Core CDP functionality like segmentation and identity resolution
- Leading CDP solutions to consider for your tech stack
- Tips for selecting and implementing a customer data platform
- Emerging data management trends that CDPs enable
Let‘s start with the CDP basics.
What is a Customer Data Platform?
A customer data platform (CDP) is a packaged software solution that creates centralized, unified customer profiles by ingesting data from multiple sources. This could include your CRM, web/mobile apps, email systems, and more.
The unified profiles within a CDP power segmentation, analytics, and personalized marketing across channels. Key capabilities include:
Data Collection and Ingestion: Consolidates customer data from all systems into one location
Identity Resolution: Matches data to create holistic views of each customer
Segmentation: Allows dividing users into groups for targeted campaigns
Profile Enrichment: Enhances profiles by deriving insights from data patterns
Activation: Pushes segmented profiles out to marketing channels for experiences
In short, CDPs eliminate data silos and help marketers better understand customers to drive personalization.
How Do CDPs Differ from CRMs?
While CRMs focus primarily on managing sales interactions, CDPs concentrate on unifying identity and behavior data for marketing activation. CRM data can feed into a CDP, but CDPs ingest information more broadly from all customer touchpoints.
Some key differences:
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Data Scope: CDPs consolidate data enterprise-wide, CRMs focus on sales-related data
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Identity Resolution: CDPs stitch together identified/anonymous data, CRMs track known customers
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Analytics: CDPs offer robust analytics for segmentation, CRMs provide sales metrics
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Activation: CDPs activate segments across all martech tools, CRMs activate mostly for sales
CDPs and CRMs can complement one another powerfully. But CDPs play a distinct role in building rich, actionable customer profiles.
Top 12 Customer Data Platforms
Dozens of customer data platforms exist today, focused on various aspects of customer data management. Here are 12 top solutions to consider:
1. Tealium AudienceStream
Tealium offers robust, enterprise-scale customer data orchestration for creating unified profiles and powering personalized customer journeys.
Key Features
- 1300+ data source integrations
- Machine learning for actionable insights
- Audience segmentation tools
- Omnichannel activation and testing
- Consent management for compliance
2. Segment CDP
Segment provides a straightforward CDP for collecting event and user data then routing it to downstream tools for activation.
Key Features
- Plugs into data sources via code snippets
- Clean profile builder with identity resolution
- Easy data routing workflows
- Intuitive workflow and data modeling UIs
3. ActionIQ
ActionIQ enables enterprise customer data management with an end-to-end platform covering collection, analytics, orchestration and governance.
Key Features
- Ingests and normalizes data enterprise-wide
- Relationship mapping between customers
- Custom analytics and identity graph
- Account-based experience orchestration
- Privacy/consent tools meeting regulations
4. mParticle
mParticle consolidates customer data via APIs and offers extensive connectivity to channels for activation.
Key Features
- 300+turnkey data source integrations
- Unified identity resolution across devices
- Real-time data routing to 100+ platforms
- Audience builder and analytics
- Cutting-edge security and compliance
5. Treasure Data
Treasure Data brings together customer data infrastructure covering enterprise-scale collection, storage, and activation powered by customer data platform capabilities.
Key Features
- Managed infrastructure for scalable data ingestion
- Automated identity stitching across data
- Real-time segmentation system
- Machine learning tools to drive personalization
- Compliant by design to meet privacy regulations
6. BlueConic
BlueConic offers flexible data collection, storage in a customer data platform or data lake, with integrated activation, analytics and customization.
Key Features
- Ingests data from any source via flexible APIs
- Choice of real-time CDP or cloud data lake
- Drag-and-drop journey automation
- AI-powered insights and analytics
- Fully configurable platform and dashboards
7. Amperity
Amperity ingests enterprise customer data, stitches together identities, applies machine learning, and activates unified profiles to personalize experiences.
Key Features
- Broad enterprise data ingestion
- Multi-source identity resolution
- Segment builder with machine learning
- Omnichannel audience activation
- Custom reporting and analytics
8. Adobe Real-time CDP
Adobe’s customer data platform leverages the company’s analytics foundation to unify data from Adobe tools plus external sources to power real-time customer profiles.
Key Features
- Ingests data from Adobe Experience Cloud
- Integrates 100+ external sources
- AI/ML-powered segmentation
- Journey orchestration and testing
- Enterprise-grade scale and security
9. Salesforce CDP
Salesforce CDP combines data from Salesforce and non-Salesforce sources to create customer 360 profiles continuously updated in real-time.
Key Features
- Unifies data from Salesforce apps
- Brings in external sources like web analytics
- Identity mapping across devices and channels
- Intelligent segmentation with Einstein
- Activation across sales and marketing
10. Dun & Bradstreet Unity Customer Data Platform
Dun & Bradstreet offers both real-time and data lake customer data platform options focusing on B2B data management.
Key Features
- Extensive B2B data overlay
- Ingests transactional and behavioral data
- Identity resolution connecting buyers
- Activation for sales and account-based marketing
- Analyst-validated B2B data quality
11. Lytics
Lytics provides a custom CDP emphasizing flexibility – deploy in cloud or hybrid/on-premise environments, with open architecture to prevent vendor lock-in.
Key Features
- Customizable deployment options
- Bring your own data store
- REST API-based connectors
- Lytics or BYO analytics
- Tailored B2C/B2B solutions
12. AgilOne
AgilOne focuses on enterprise scale, real-time customer data infrastructure, built-for-privacy identity management, and omni-channel activation.
Key Features
- Petabyte-scale customer data handling
- Privacy-first identity resolution
- Real-time data distribution
- Integrated analytics and data science
- Omnichannel journey orchestration
This list just scratches the surfaces of all the excellent CDP vendors out there. For specific solution comparisons dive deeper into vendor listings on G2 Crowd and TrustRadius.
How to Select the Right CDP
With so many powerful platforms to evaluate, focus first on core capabilities aligned to your customer data strategy:
Data Structure: Assess data model flexibility – can the CDP leverage your existing infrastructure?
Data Sources: Are all your customer data sources supported natively or via connectors?
Identity Resolution: Does the CDP match profiles accurately across devices and anonymous/logged-in interactions?
Segmentation: Do the built-in and customizable rules/models meet your user segmentation needs?
Activation Channels: Are data exports available for all the platforms you use – website, mobile apps, email, more?
You‘ll also want to consider the CDP‘s analytics functionality, privacy controls, scalability, total cost of ownership and ease of use. Align feature checklists to your current and future customer data requirements.
5 Tips for Successful CDP Implementation
Deploying an enterprise customer data platform takes careful planning and execution. Here are five tips to drive maximum value:
1. Phase Your Launch
Start with a limited product scope focusing on one or two high-priority use cases. Expand to additional data sources and capabilities over time.
2. Clean Historical Data
Work through existing data backlogs before piping information into your CDP to avoid dirty data.
3. Structure Your Approach
Document data requirements, standardize taxonomies, map out system integrations, and outline launch processes before kicking off implementation.
4. Train Internal Teams
Educate staff across teams on getting and using data from the CDP to drive adoption.
5. Measure Value
Track key performance indicators aligned to goals like conversion lift, retention rate increases, campaign ROI improvements and more. Report progress to leadership and stakeholders.
Following best practices for your CDP rollout will ensure you maximize value and benefit across the enterprise.
Current Trends in Customer Data Management
With digital experiences growing more personalized and privacy regulations expanding, customer data platforms play an invaluable role in modern technology stacks. Here are three big trends:
Consolidating Martech Systems
Instead of cobbling together a complex array of marketing technology, companies are seeking to consolidate customer data on unified platforms. CDPs answer the call.
Meeting Data Regulations
As legislation like GDPR and CCPA requires consent, access rights and responsible data usage, CDPs embedded those capabilities enterprise-wide.
Driving CX and Loyalty
Customer experience is paramount for competition. By informing personalization, CDPs enable brands to boost satisfaction, lifetime value and retention.
As pressures grow to manage data responsibly while delivering tailored experiences, CDP adoption will continue gaining momentum.
Get Started Unifying Your Customer Data
Customer data platforms solve one of marketing‘s most pressing needs – bringing together information across teams to drive personalized engagement. By centralizing and activating unified profiles, CDPs increase marketing performance enterprise-wide.
Now that you know what CDPs offer and which vendors lead the pack, you can chart your customer data strategy for the future. Focus first on priority business objectives, then seek out the right solution fit. With persistent planning and phased deployment, your company can unlock the full power of customer data.
