CDPs (Customer Data Platforms) are having their moment. Driven by the need for brands to personalize communications with customers in an era when traditional methods of capturing data about their behaviors, notably 3rd party cookies, are beginning to disappear, CDPs allow marketers to retain actionable intelligence — often in realtime and on a massive scale — about user behavior without running afoul of present and future privacy regulations.
Katrina Wong is VP of Marketing at Twilio, a San Francisco-based company that recently acquired Segment, a leading CDP vendor, so I thought a conversation with her about the power of CDPs would be appropriate. As she explains, CDPs allow brands to better manage their data, better understand their customers, and provide personalized experiences that customers now routinely expect. They also succeed in abolishing traditional “data silos” that have hitherto prevented marketing teams from acquiring a truly unified view of the customer.
Katrina and I discuss some case histories involving brands that have deployed CDPs to lower CAC, boost customer LTV, and avail themselves of new marketing opportunities. We converse about best practices for deploying “push” technologies, how CDPs should be evaluated, and operational considerations for their deployment. I also wanted to get Katrina’s take on how CDPs are being used in the political and nonprofit sectors and mistakes that marketers are currently making with respect to CDPs. Our conversation then turns to how CDPs, which provide a more holistic picture of consumer behavior and preferences, can be leveraged for creative excellence.
Finally, we address how brands deploying CDPs should prioritize their optimization efforts along the customer journey, and what Katrina sees ahead for CDPs in 2023 and beyond.
Interested in what the power of a CDP can do for your brand? This interview is for you.