Benefits and Challenges of using Customer Data Platform

Nowadays, how well a company understands their customers is what drives the business to success. However, according to Dan Springer, CEO of Responsys, consumers have changed. They have stopped reading newspapers, they fast forward through TV commercials, and they ignore unsolicited email, in fact they choose which marketing messages they want to receive, when, where and from whom. Consumers prefer companies that talk with them, not at them, and they want relevant interactive communication across digital channels as well (Minelli, Chambers and Dhiraj, 2013, p. 27).

Consumers leave a trail of information behind them, every time they communicate, shop, learn, relax, or interact online. This data reflects how customers spend their time, what they like, what is important for them, and even what they want (Arthur, 2013). All this information is defined as customer data, yet due its volume and also by the fact that it is isolated in silos for technical or organizational reasons, it is difficult for business to provide a good customer experience on diverse channels and devices (Tomas, 2019).

Thus, to extract meaning from all this data it is necessary to centralize the information, and this can be done on a Customer Data Platform (CDP), that is a system managed by the marketing department to build an unified and persistent database that can be accessed by other technologies. The CDP can store and consolidate different types of data, such as past purchases, social media interactions, websites visits, demographic details, etc (Earley, 2018). This type of platform offers a unique view of the customer, it allows companies to be more competitive, by using customer data to make better decisions, create marketing campaigns and provide better customers experiences, it also democratizes the data to all companies’ departments and provide a higher quality of interactions with partners and suppliers (Tomas, 2019).

While Customer Data Platform leads to new opportunities and benefits for companies, marketing professionals should bear in mind the legal and ethical aspects of it. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides more control and transparency for the consumer, so for now on marketers have to step back and find a way to secure, reinforce and refresh a data-orientated connection with their customers, so they happily share their information (Wollen, no date). Therefore, the success of a company is related to redefining the communication with the customer, delivering consistent and transparent messages to create a clear relationship with them.

REFERENCES

Arthur, L., 2013. Big data marketing: engage your customers more effectively and drive value. John Wiley & Sons.

Earley, S., 2018. The Role of a Customer Data Platform. IT Professional, 20(1), pp.69-76.

Minelli, M., Chambers, M. and Dhiraj, A., 2013. Big data, big analytics: emerging business intelligence and analytic trends for today's businesses (Vol. 578). John Wiley & Sons.

Tomas, D. (2019) ‘What is a Customer Data Platform and its advantages in digital marketing?’, Cyberclick. Available at: https://www.cyberclick.es/numericalblogen/what-is-a-customer-data-platform-and-its-advantages-in-digital-marketing (Accessed: 17 Fev 202­­0).

Wollen, C. (no date) ‘Data Regulation Is A Marketing Issue’, CMO by Adobe. Available at: https://cmo.adobe.com/articles/2017/6/data-regulation-is-a-marketing-issue.html#gs.x7zqy1 (Accessed: 17 Fev 202­­0).