Report: Confusion still rife over CDPs

Most marketers are planning on switching their customer data platform (CDP) in the next 12 months, despite being happy with their current provider, a new report has found.

According to the State of the CDP Report 2020, undertaken by Tealium, confusion surrounding CDPs, and their uses and benefits, is still rife across the industry and marketers struggle to find a CDP to suit their needs.

Tealium said 85 per cent of respondents with CDPs were satisfied with their current CDP provider, but a majority still said they planned to switch their CDP within the next 12 months. Top reasons include lack of third-party integrations, bad customer service and lack of support for compliance with data regulations. Over 50 per cent of organisations also said their CDP lacked basic capabilities like the ability to ingest data from any channel.

Getting buy-in from other departments was most respondents’ biggest challenge in implementing a CDP, while 62 per cent of respondents said the marketing technology will be absolutely essential for complying with data regulations by 2025.

The report highlights how internal silos, changing data privacy laws and general confusion around what a CDP does are preventing companies from getting the most from their data

In order to demystify the confusion around CDPs, Tealium surveyed more than 300 US decision makers in marketing and data/analytics on how they are leveraging CDPs today, the challenges they face with current vendors and their future plans for CDP technology. The results reveal many organisations are still searching for the right solution, even after purchasing a CDP.

“This survey is a wake-up call for everyone who uses customer data: while many have an existing system that’s called a CDP, half of those systems don’t meet even the most basic CDP requirements. Even fewer provide other important features,” CDP Institute founder, David Raab, said.

“Companies need to be rigorous in defining what they need from a CDP and be sure they find a solution that can actually provide it.” 

Many stakeholders aren’t yet convinced of a CDP's value. Eighteen per cent, for example, said better data governance was the top improvement they’d like to see in their current CDP — the second most popular response after real time functionality. 

“The results really demonstrated that there is obvious confusion regarding CDPs,” Tealium CEO, Jeff Lunsford, said. “As innovators in the space since 2013, we’re seeking to illuminate how and where the confusion lies and inform companies of not only what a good CDP should do, but which CDP is right for them based on their specific needs.”

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