If you are a marketer, you must have heard the word CDP frequently in the past 18 months. However, only a few of us know what is CDP and why all these chaos around this. In less than 18 months, CDP has become one of the preeminent topics for RFP’s.
What is a Customer Data Platform (CDP)?
A CDP is a consolidated data management system that unifies data from various channels into a single database which allows an organization to get an integrated view of a single customer. CDPs are helping organizations to get a complete understanding of their customer behavior in order to deliver a consistent and personalized experience across all digital channels.
There are many CDP providers boomed in the past 12 months offering different functionalities and integrations, however, a real CDP must be a marketer-friendly system that enables data collection, unification, segmentation and activation.
A recent Forrester report says, “For B2C Marketers, Customer Data Platforms Overpromise and Underdeliver.” And a Winterberry Group analysis claimed that only about one in five of the 100+ vendors calling themselves a CDP actually qualify. Marketers need two distinct but related things from a CDP – Insights and Engagement, However, most of the CDPs deliver either one them. None of them delivers both. So, the need of the hour was someone to put a stake in the ground and deliver the first real enterprise-grade CDP for marketers and Salesforce built it.
Salesforce’s Customer Data Platform – CDP
Salesforce has announced that they are building the first enterprise-grade CDP, which is an extension of their flagship product Salesforce Customer 360 will be generally available later this year. Customer 360 has been helping enterprises to seamlessly connect customer data across Salesforce and other third-party applications with a single customer ID. The new CDP built on this unified identity foundation to offer a ‘single view of the customer’ for marketers. For example, if a customer is in two different systems, a marketer can easily identify him as the same person by using Salesforce Customer 360. Additionally, on top of that, the marketer can use the CDP to build and store an integrated profile of that customer based on the data collected from multiple sources.
Salesforce offered CDP embrace three most important principles which are a primary tool for marketing, Identity Beyond Advertising – making every customer touch point engaging, Insight and Engagement – single customer view and a way to reach customers directly. Salesforce will officially announce more details about their CDP on June 17-19 during Connections, their event on the future of customer engagement in Chicago.
The Salesforce Power
Marketing is getting more complicated and the customer data fragments. Customers are using multiple devices in order to engage with brands through several channels. Platforms such as Amazon, Facebook use their integrated customer data to deliver highly personalized and engaging experiences. However, the challenge to understand customer needs and deliver personalized engagement is as strong as ever for marketers.
Salesforce is one of those very few companies, whose focus has always been centered on customer success. And their CDP that is connected with the #1 CRM across Sales, Service, Marketing, Communities, IoT, and Commerce Cloud will undoubtedly be the first real enterprise-grade Customer Data Platform (CDP). Two of the principal CDP ingredients ‘Insight’ and ‘Engagement’ are already a part of Salesforce offerings. While Marketing Cloud is giving real-time customer engagement across channels, Salesforce analytics along with Google Analytics 360 offers insights.
While the CDP requirement is rapidly rising among marketers, it was the need of the time for a robust solution designed to help them manage their customer data efficiently powered by the latest technologies, highest scalability and reliability. Salesforce is bringing something new and transformative to the market which will help their customers achieve new heights. As a Salesforce Silver Partner, we are looking forward to hearing more CDP related news in the months to come.
