CDP use cases: From marketing and CRM to the enterprise
Learn how customer data platforms have evolved beyond marketing to provide a deeper view of the customer for better CX and bottom-line benefits.
Over the years, solutions promising to connect disparate data siloes have inched us closer to a CX holy grail: Customer 360.
Brands long for the ability to organize data from multiple sources into profiles that paint a complete picture of each customer. Recently, customer data platforms (CDPs) have brought us closer than ever.
Customer data management has become a top priority for businesses over the past decade, for good reason. Data is the key to unlocking impactful, engaging customer experiences. And there’s tons of it. But turning that data into something useful can be daunting, and that’s where most companies fall short.
“In a world where 78% of CX leaders struggle to achieve their goals due to challenges in using data, how firms manage data has become a key differentiator,” Omer Minkara, VP and Principal Analyst at Aberdeen Strategy and Research, wrote in a report.
According to a Gartner survey of 402 enterprise leaders, only 14% said they’d achieved a 360-degree view of the customer. But a whopping 82% aspire to it.
So what is Customer 360? Why are so many brands clamoring for it?
What is Customer 360? Definition and benefits
Customer 360 is a comprehensive customer profile that unifies customer data from multiple sources across an organization.
The term Customer 360 has been around since the 1990s. It refers to an ideal “golden record” that compiles customers’ data — such as purchases, service tickets, and website queries — into one, unified profile. Since its inception, companies have worked non-stop to bring the idea to life. That’s because having a complete view of a customer unlocks the ability to deliver more effective, personalized experiences that set brands apart.
Customer relationship management systems (CRMs) are key to this comprehensive view, but they’re just part of the equation.
Customer data platforms have evolved to become the CX linchpin by pulling data from multiple systems across the enterprise, including CRM and call center applications, to create a unified profile that can be used by multiple teams. Advanced CDPs also gather data from back-office applications like ERP to provide a truly comprehensive customer view (more on that later).
In practice, a 360-degree customer profile includes data around customers’:
- Identity (name, contact information, demographics)
- Privacy preferences
- Recent commerce purchases and customer service interactions
- Marketing campaign engagements
- Loyalty status and/or points balance
- Lifetime value (LTV) score
Gartner’s survey found that organizations have achieved a 360-degree customer view share some common characteristics:
- Consensus on what Customer 360 means
- Resolved data quality issues
- Cross-functional governance for customer data
That second point is critical about data quality is key. Missing, fragmented, or duplicative data are top challenges to a complete customer view.
Never break the chain: Use customer profiles to drive consistent CX
Imagine your CX as a chain, each link representing an interaction between your customer and your brand. Every good interaction adds another solid link and makes the chain stronger. But just one experience -- one bad link-- breaks it.
Personalization and privacy
This holistic view of customers provides insights brands can use to engage on a deeper level. The idea is that if every customer team across an enterprise has access to a complete picture of the customer, they can all deliver a better experience.
For example, customer service can access transactional records to see exactly what a customer purchased, and from which channel. And marketing can send personalized communications and campaigns to shoppers who recently had a service issue resolved.
That kind of data-fueled interaction can have a real impact on businesses’ bottom lines. Personalized engagements that address buyers’ needs can lead to 48% greater year-over-year growth in annual revenue.
Achieving that level of personalization requires clear, actionable data.
In addition to deep personalization, Customer 360 profiles also make it easier for companies to honor customers’ privacy preferences.
Since the profile is a living document that evolves with every interaction, it always saves their most recent preferences. So if they opt out of data sharing in a marketing interaction, that choice is reflected across every other customer department.
That’s crucial if you want to build trust and loyalty with your customers.
Use real-time customer insights to understand and solve pain points
The key to building lasting customer relationships? Learn how to unlock real-time customer insights and pain points based on data with a CDP.
360 in action: Beyond front-office engagement
As more companies implement the latest data solutions, we start to see their benefits and opportunities in action. These unified customer profiles provide valuable insights and create a much richer view of the customer.
But to turn those insights into intelligent business actions (at scale), we need to zoom out one step further. Because no one exists in a vacuum.
The latest wave of Customer 360 innovation connects the front-end customer data with back-end ERP systems. This enables businesses to run contextual simulations and make strategic, data-driven decisions.
Connecting CX data with ERP data unlocks new and powerful, revenue-generating use cases. It allows companies to react quickly to sudden spikes in demand (like in the video above). They can identify their most profitable customer segments and weigh their demand against product inventory and manufacturing costs to determine if it makes sense to capitalize on the surge.
This is what brands have been waiting for since the idea of Customer 360 emerged: The ability to make informed business decisions based on real-time data. We knew the potential was there, but now we’re finally seeing it come to life.
Proactive customer experience: How a CDP can help end bad CX
Creating better, proactive customer experience is the next phase of customer data management as brands connect CDPs to back-office ERP systems.
Full circle: Intelligent CX with Customer 360
True business agility requires data-driven intelligence. And in a world where TikTok trends can disrupt supply chains, and customers expect consistent, personal experience and immediate service, agility is key. To keep up with the fast-changing market, brands need to be able to make strategic decisions quickly.
Customer 360 is a comprehensive customer profile that unifies data from across an organization, getting brands closer to the CX holy grail of personalization.
This next phase of customer data management could be what opens the door to long-term success. By joining back-end and front-end data, Customer 360 can help businesses run smarter to outpace the competition.
