Choose the right customer data platform (CDP) for your business: Why AEP stands out

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How do you manage and utilise the customer data that companies are overflowing with today? This is where customer data platforms (CDPs) come to the rescue.

They say (figuratively speaking): “Let me take on your burden.” They offer a unified view of customer data, a complete customer experience, and relatively low acquisition costs. According to the GITNUX market data report 2024, approximately 50% of marketing organisations are expected to use a CDP by 2025. No wonder that recently, Gartner published its first-ever Magic Quadrant for CDPs.

Understanding the Need for CDPs

Data Explosion and Challenges

Data is generated every time a customer interacts with a brand. These interactions occur through a variety of channels. Websites track visitor behavior. Social networks capture likes, shares, and comments. CRM systems capture customer interactions and purchase history. How do you manage this data effectively? The sheer volume and variety of data poses significant challenges. It is difficult and expensive to integrate and process data in real time while trying to maintain data quality.

The problem is not just the volume of data. The variety of data types is also a challenge: text from social media posts, numerical purchase data, and behavioral data about website interactions all need to be processed and understood in real time. It’s easier and cheaper to outsource all of this to a CDP.

Criteria for Choosing a Platform

When selecting a CDP, businesses must consider several key factors.

What We Want in a CDP:

Data Integration: Seamless integration from various data sources is essential.
A good CDP should integrate data from all touchpoints. This includes websites, social media, CRM systems, and more. Integration should be smooth and require minimal manual intervention. The goal is to create a unified customer profile. This profile should be comprehensive and up-to-date.
Real-Time Processing: Timely insights require real-time data processing capabilities.
Data is most valuable when it is fresh. Real-time processing allows businesses to act on current information. This is crucial for personalised marketing. Customers expect real-time responses, whether it’s a tailored email or a customised web experience. Delayed data equals missed opportunities.
User-Friendly Interface

A CDP should be easy to navigate! This is an important moment. One that IT experts tend not to dwell too much upon – though it is, in fact, rather vital.

There are different teams in different departments, and all of them should be able to use it without extensive training. A complex interface can be a barrier to effective data use.

Scalability: The platform should scale with business growth.
As businesses grow, their data needs increase. A good CDP should be able to handle this growth. Scalability ensures that the platform can accommodate more data sources and higher data volumes. It should also support more users and more complex data processing needs.
Data Security and Compliance

A CDP must protect customer data from unauthorised access. It is a simple and understandable task. Regulators generally don’t approve of personal data leaks.

What We Don’t Want in a CDP

A poor CDP choice can lead to several issues:

Lack of a unified customer view:
Without a unified view, customer data is fragmented. This makes it difficult to understand customer behaviour and preferences. It also hampers personalised marketing efforts.
Non-seamless customer experiences:
Customers are simple creatures and usually don’t like challenges. They expect a seamless journey across all touchpoints. Fragmented data can result in inconsistent messages and offers, and will annoy customers to no end instead of luring them in.
Data silos causing integrity issues:
Data silos are isolated data sets. They prevent a comprehensive view of the customer. They also create data integrity issues. Different departments may have conflicting data about the same customer.
High customer acquisition costs:
Ineffective use of data leads to inefficient marketing. This causes a higher cost of acquiring new customers. The better targeted the marketing, the more it is cost-effective.
Challenges in customer conversion and loyalty:
Understanding customer behavior is key to conversion and loyalty. Fragmented data hampers this understanding. It also makes it difficult to deliver personalised experiences that build loyalty.

Competitive Platforms in the Market

AEP

AEP is renowned for its integration with Adobe’s tools. The aforementioned Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for CDPs places it up there in the right top corner with “market leaders”. AEP has a friendly interface and is easy to navigate, especially if you have already made acquaintance with other Adobe products. The hallmark of Adobe Experience Platform is the creation of a single customer profile. This structured profile provides a complete and actionable view of each customer by combining identity, attribute, and event data from all sources into a single, real-time view. AEP offers comprehensive data governance features. These include data quality control, privacy compliance tools, and ethical data use frameworks.

AEP integrates seamlessly with Adobe’s marketing and analytics tools, which allows businesses to leverage a wide range of unique Adobe services.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights

This platform integrates easily with Microsoft’s ecosystem. It boasts advanced AI and analytics capabilities. Strong data privacy and compliance features make it a formidable competitor in the CDP market.

Salesforce Customer 360

This is yet again one of the top four leaders of the CDP market, known for its comprehensive customer view, powerful CRM capabilities, and extensive customisation options. Businesses can tailor it to their specific needs. This flexibility is a significant advantage for the platform.

The platform is highly customisable. The platform supports personalised customer experiences. This is achieved through detailed customer profiles. These profiles are created by integrating data from various sources. The result is a comprehensive understanding of the customer.

Other Competitive Platforms

Other notable platforms include Oracle CX, SAP Customer Data Cloud, Tealium, BlueConic, Treasure Data and half a dozen others. Each of these platforms offers unique advantages.

Oracle CX offers robust data integration and real-time processing. SAP Customer Data Cloud emphasises data security and compliance. Some platforms operate as unique entities. Others are built within established ecosystems. Each platform has its strengths and its weaknesses. Evaluate them based on your specific needs, or your taste, if you’d like.

Benefits for Users and Businesses

Adopting the right CDP brings numerous benefits for customers and businesses alike. Companies using CDPs experienced a 20% reduction in customer acquisition costs in general. Integrating CDPs with AI and machine learning led to a 30% improvement in customer satisfaction scores – proved by data collected for the GITNUX market data report 2024. Already 65% of marketing teams use a CDP to improve customer segmentation and targeting, with the top three industries adopting CDPs being retail, financial services, and tech.

Better Time to Market

A good CDP helps improve the time-to-market figure. You can’t sell unless you know fully to whom you are selling.

There was a survey recently, saying that 47% of marketers list a better understanding of customers as a key benefit of a CDP. This understanding allows businesses to act quickly. Whether it’s launching a new product or responding to customer feedback, it is important to be quick.

Real-time data processing ensures that businesses have the most current information. So in the end, you have faster decision-making and smoother implementation.

Improved Decision-Making

Unified customer data enhances decision-making. Real-time data processing capabilities of platforms like AEP enable prompt actions. This drives better business outcomes.

Enhanced Customer Experience

Platforms like AEP enable businesses to deliver personalised and consistent experiences across all touchpoints. This meets modern customer expectations for tailored interactions.

Customer expectations are higher than ever. They expect personalised and consistent experiences. A good CDP helps by providing a comprehensive view of the customer.

Increased Efficiency and Collaboration

A unified data platform fosters better collaboration across different departments. It streamlines operations and reduces redundancies.

Better Customer Acquisition and Retention

Improved customer insights equals more effective marketing strategies. This lowers acquisition costs by increasing customer loyalty. Clients get a feeling that you know and respect them, and they are more likely to respect and value you in response.

Example: AEP in Action

The hallmark of Adobe Experience Platform is the creation of a single customer profile. This structured profile provides a complete and actionable view of each customer by combining identity, attribute, and event data from all sources into a single, real-time view.

The data contained in AEP allows teams to focus marketing efforts on high-value customers and provide the best resources and information to customers you are at risk of losing.

About 60% of respondents told CDP Insitute that a CDP was providing significant value to their organisation.

Companies have reported higher engagement rates and increased customer lifetime value (CLV).

Best Practices for Implementing a CDP

Here are the best ways to implement the chosen CDP:

Initial Assessment and Goals

Start by assessing your current data infrastructure. Define clear goals for the new platform.

Understand your current data infrastructure. Identify gaps and areas for improvement. Define clear goals for the new CDP. What do you want to achieve? Better customer insights? Improved decision-making? What products are you familiar with already? What ecosystem is the most comfortable for your team? Clear goals will guide the implementation process.

Choosing the Right Platform

Compare different platforms based on their features and your specific needs. Evaluate vendors on factors like ease of integration, scalability, and support.