In the debate between Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) and Customer Data Management (CMDM), both face challenges, but CMDM emerges as a noteworthy alternative. CMDM addresses concerns related to customer data unification and management, offering a comprehensive solution that can overcome the limitations of both CDPs and traditional Customer Data Platforms.
In today’s marketing landscape, achieving a comprehensive understanding of customers is often referred to by vendors as the Customer Single View (CSV), we call it the Single Customer View (SCV) but you get the idea.
The SCV is a shared aspiration among marketers. While commonly explored avenues include Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) and Data Management Platforms (DMPs), as well as traditional Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, an emerging alternative to consider is Customer Master Data Management (CMDM) Solutions.
Distinguishing between a CDP and a DMP reveals that DMPs historically operated with anonymous cookies, initially designed for online ad networks and lacking the capability to store Personally Identifiable Information (PII). In contrast, CDPs seamlessly handle both known and unknown individuals, storing essential PII such as names, addresses, email IDs, and mobile numbers.
CDPs excel in capturing, integrating, and managing diverse customer data from various channels, including CRM, Customer Service, Loyalty programs, Websites, Mobile Apps, and Social Media. This holistic approach results in the creation of a singular, comprehensive customer record often referred to by vendors as the ‘golden record‘ or again, as we sometimes call it, a golden nominal.
The imperative for achieving an SCV arises from its potential benefits, including enhanced personalization, actionable insights, cross-channel measurement, customized offers, loyalty programs, and efficient customer service. However, the challenge lies in data stored in legacy systems and the prevalence of multiple customer data instances, even within a single platform.
Achieving a precise SCV requires that you connect all customer records, necessitating strategies like algorithmic matching, cross-reference tables, deduplication and shared identifiers.
Embracing any customer data platform including a CMDM like the Pretectum CMDM as an alternative solution yields several advantages, including the delivery of a sharper customer profile, improved support for predictive modelling, real-time updates, synchronized customer experiences across channels, integration of dark and unstructured data, efficiency gains, and reduced dependence on IT.
Nevertheless, it is crucial to recognize that these tools are simply enablers and their successful implementation and operation require intelligent frameworks and experienced partners who view challenges through a business lens. Organizations evaluating MarTech tools must address key questions such as the end objective, data accessibility, stakeholder alignment, and resource commitment.
Moving forward, considerations for an effective platform involve evaluating the relevance of data collection methods for business and engagement channels, ensuring continuous access to all data, enhancing knowledge about customers, and seamless integrations for insight-driven actions.
The decision-making process remains ongoing, with organizations needing to choose solutions that align best with their business needs.
The critical factor in this journey is management ownership, where solutions of this nature thrive when led at the management level, addressing business silos and data turf wars within large companies.