How to choose and launch a Customer Data Platform

Delivering personalized experiences to customers in an increasingly multi-channel environment is becoming increasingly difficult. CDPs have quickly become an indispensable tool for collecting and aggregating the right data to create effective and personalized campaigns. In its latest white paper, Salesforce reviews the role and importance of CDPs in its marketing strategy and offers some tips for a successful deployment.

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Main missions of CDP

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a marketing solution that collects, integrates and activates your data. It has 2 main missions:

Collect customer data in one repository and integrate several databases that normally do not share customer data: customer service software, marketing solution, e-commerce platform, etc.
Track the customer journey by comparing their initial anonymous traces (such as cookies or IP address) with identifiable data (email, name, phone number, etc.).

Prepare your project before building CDP

Salesforce shares the following tips for adopting a CDP solution.

Set clear goals

As with any strategic project, setting clear and precise goals is really important. Ask yourself the right questions and set measurable goals for yourself, for example: increasing the time your customers spend on your website or offering personalized content according to your audience segment to generate more conversions.

Consult and engage the right stakeholders

Before building a Customer Data Platform, you should of course consult and surround yourself with the right people and the right stakeholders. It’s important that teams that need a CDP are involved in the adoption project early on and know all of your goals.

Measure and track your performance

Are your goals now defined and your results measurable? Monitor the performance of your structure to achieve your goal. This way, your team will be based on accurate metrics and can more easily see the outcome of a successful project.

To guide you, Salesforce provides some examples of KPIs in its guide:

Increase your lead segments from 10 to 100 within 3 months
Reduce non-human digital ad traffic from 35% to 5% in six months
Reduce website bounce rate by 25% by offering personalized content

Create a team dedicated to CDP deployment

Building a team of experts to drive your marketing strategy and drive real change in data is one of the keys to your success. In this guide, Salesforce recommends creating a COE (Center of Digital Excellence).

Follow 4 steps to create it:

Take a collective approach: to achieve your goals, you need to bring together different profiles related to the project, such as data analysts, marketers, CRM teams, change management consultants, agencies, system integration partners, etc.
Define detailed processes: Once your team is in place, it’s about defining processes and working methods in detail with them, and assigning tasks at each stage of the project.
Choose the right technology: then choose the appropriate technology that will enhance everyone’s abilities and skills.
Pay attention to the signs of added value: at this stage, you can directly observe the first positive signs of collective work and the selection of the right technology.

Choosing the Right Customer Data Platform

To help you choose a Customer Data Platform, Salesforce has listed 5 criteria to consider in your selection:

The system should be easy to deploy: its installation and use would ideally be simple and accessible to all.
A CDP should meet your needs and adapt to your usage: it should be able to combine multiple types of data and integrate your various tools.
CDP’s ability to link several types of personal information: it includes access management, client ID reconciliation, cross-device authentication, and more. should handle all issues related to identity management.
Good privacy management: must comply with applicable law and allow data sharing.
CDP should be able to activate your customer data across your channels in real-time: CDP should be able to enable data for your e-mail, SMS or push notification campaigns, for example.

Want to learn more about Salesforce recommendations and other tips? Download the complete guide by clicking the link below.