10 Customer Data Platform Use Cases

From email marketing and CRMs to data analytics platforms and website analytics, marketers have access to more data than ever before. Having more data is a good thing, however, many companies struggle to make the most of their data. That’s because data is often siloed in different platforms, making it nearly impossible to get a clear view of who your customers are and the impact of our marketing. Fortunately, there’s a solution to this challenge: customer data platforms, also called CPDs. CDPs centralize data from multiple platforms and then aggregate, normalize, and enrich the data to provide a clearer vision of who your customers are and how they interact with you. Once you have that data, you can leverage it in a multitude of ways. Here are ten use cases for CDP.

1. Enhance Ad Performance

CDP data can help you better understand who your audience is and what types of ads they will respond to. For example, a marketing team might see users in a specific geographical area spend more. Moving forward, they might choose to increase spending for audiences in that area. Data from CDP can improve ad targeting. For example, by exporting an audience segment from the CPD and uploading it to platforms like Facebook or Google Ads as a custom audience. Or, you can A/B test similar ads on multiple platforms to see which has a higher ROI.

2. Create Personalized Experiences

CDP data can be used to segment your audience based on behavior, location, and many other characteristics. By connecting your CDP to personalization platforms, marketers can build personalized ads, content, and other assets. For example, say site visitors read three blog posts about building a sales team. The next time they visit your site, you could offer a content upgrade of a sales team management handbook or a guide to building better sales teams. You know those users will likely be interested, increasing your conversion rate and building a list of more qualified leads.

3. Connect Online and In-Person Data

Brands have long struggled to connect online and offline behavior. CDPs can help by gathering data from a reward program or point-of-sale platform. That data can then be connected with online behavior, providing a 360-degree view of your customer journey. For example, a store might allow users to place an order in an app and pick it up in person. When the user arrives, they may see customized recommended products in their app or discounts based on in-app behavior. (Starbucks’ reward app is a fantastic example of this in action.)

4. Reduce Churn

There’s no question: acquisition costs more than retention. Using data from your CDP, you can spot users at risk of churn and work to retain them. For example, you might notice customers who don’t log in to your software system at least twice in the first week are unlikely to stay. When you see customers exhibiting this behavior, you can preemptively send training videos or have a salesperson reach out to help with onboarding. Or, you could create an email segment list of at-risk customers and deliver a drip campaign focused on showing the value your brand delivers. This entire process can be automated by automatically adding users who take specific actions to the list.

5. Improve Omnichannel Marketing

Omnichannel marketing helps businesses provide users with a consistent, useful experience across all channels. Bringing data from multiple channels together has always been a challenge—but no longer. Using a CDP, you can easily see when customers have requested support across multiple channels, focus your efforts on higher-value channels, and track customer journeys as they progress—even if users weave back and forth

6. Real-Time Lead Scoring

Lead scoring helps marketers and sales teams focus on the right leads at the right time. By unifying data from several platforms, your marketing and sales team see which leads are of higher value. For example, an ecommerce company can see which leads have engaged with their brand on multiple platforms or which leads are in their target audience through data enrichment. This data can be used to create a trigger for an automated email sequence or to improve retargeting ads. Lead scoring is also critical for B2B companies looking to prioritize high-value leads. Using AI and machine learning, a CDP can predict which leads are most likely to convert.

7. Power Other Marketing Channels

Paid ads perform better when you have access to more data. When data is siloed, for example in Facebook Ads, TikTok, Google Ads, or Bing Ads, it’s difficult to see which campaigns drive the most ROI. Using a CDP, businesses can combine data in one place and use it to drive strategy across the board. For example, a subscription company might notice ads featuring a specific item get more impressions on Facebook. As a result, they can test that same strategy in search ads.

8. Predict Future Customer Behavior

In the past, analytics platforms only tracked activities that already occurred. For example, Google Analytics can tell you how many people visited a page, but not how many might next week. CDPs combine data from multiple platforms and then use machine learning and AI to make future predictions based on past consumer behavior. This information can help businesses prepare for higher traffic or order volume or understand how to allocate their marketing budget in the future. Predictive data can also foretell the probability a visitor will convert, churn, or even open an email.

9. Increase Cross-Selling and Upselling

By gathering data about specific transactions, a CDP can help online sellers offer personalized recommendations and increase cross-selling and upselling opportunities. For example, an ecommerce company might see a customer has purchased a pair of running shoes and recommend socks or a running belt. Or, a sales tool might notice their enterprise company is on a smaller plan and would be better served by a larger one.

10. Build Lookalike Audiences to Expand Brand Reach

The data from your CDP can also improve targeting options across platforms. By combining data from multiple platforms, CDPs allow businesses to target ads more efficiently and find new audiences. For example, you could export an audience segment from Google Ads and use it to build a lookalike audience in Facebook ads, or vise-versa. Zeta Global CPD+ accelerates brand growth by delivering an actionable view of your customers and enriched, intent-based scoring. Learn how we help businesses build personalized experiences at scale.