In my last article, I discussed how customer data platforms (CDPs) are powerful tools designed to operationalize the customer data that brands already store and collect. Data silos are currently plaguing most organizations and by eliminating them, organizations can improve business results through offering a better view of the customer and gaining greater accessibility to data. With deeper visibility into the customer lifecycle, organizations provide more personalized experiences to customers. There is no agreed-upon definition for a customer data platform, which leaves many marketers, and technologists with different understandings of what a CDP actually does. Given this, it is likely that advocates will emphasize a CDP as a universal solution to what is affecting an organization’s customer data negatively.
Like other powerful technologies, without a fully developed strategic plan, it’s impossible to deploy such a solution successfully. A CDP must be integrated at all levels of the enterprise and this requires advance internal preparation. To ensure success of a CDP at every level of the enterprise, I’ve provided a few tips to keep in mind:
Organizational Alignment: Make sure there is top to bottom cooperation in CDP adoption
This step should come before a customer data platform is selected. As previously mentioned, a CDP must be evangelized at all levels of the enterprise for it to be successful. Organizational alignment from top to bottom is a vital first step to customer data platform deployment because data silos are intractable, and disparate data sources can be problematic. You can’t have one level of business using data silos and the other levels using a CDP, full organizational buy-in is necessary or there is risk of project delays. To avoid significant delays in the adoption and deployment process, everyone must agree that a customer data platform is the right solution for the organization.
Data Quality: Carefully select which data will be used
Customer data platforms can consume data of all varieties, velocities, and volumes, so it is important to identify beforehand which data will be included. It is of even greater importance to ensure the management and quality of the data. Without this, organizations will be unable to effectively utilize the customer data platform, and, in effect, make them unable to deliver on customer engagement expectations. If the appropriate deployment steps are taken, customer data platforms excel at building a unified customer profile, and a key part of building that is choosing what data will go into that profile.
Identify Rules: Set adequate business rules
Prior to deploying a CDP, an organization should decide what rules to judge its data against. These business rules may include selecting the most current record, selecting to use more trusted input sources over others, or selecting the most complete record. Determining business rules is a foundational component of deploying a CDP, as they need to align with organizational priorities and intentions in order to create a unified customer profile.
Customer data platforms are powerful solutions for modern business users and marketers. CDPs provide an always-on, always-processing unified customer profile, which allows marketers and other business units to gain a centralized point of data visibility into the entire customer lifecycle, for each customer. Today’s consumers are leveraging multiple channels to interact with brands, and this visibility into their behaviors, preferences, and interaction history enable brands to provide relevant offers and cater to the customer in an individualized manner.
