Choosing the right Customer Data Platform (CDP) is essential for effectively managing and leveraging customer data, enabling personalized experiences and targeted marketing. It ensures smooth integration with existing systems and compliance with data regulations, reducing resource demands and improving efficiency. An informed CDP selection aligns with your business goals, supports growth, and maximizes data-driven value.

How To Evaluate A Customer Data Platform (CDP)

5 Key Steps to Choose a CDP

When it comes to selecting the right Customer Data Platform (CDP) for your business, following a structured approach is crucial. Below, we outline five key steps that will guide you in choosing a CDP that aligns with your business goals and resources.

Step 1: Tap Key Stakeholders Early

Before diving into the evaluation process, it’s essential to bring all relevant stakeholders into the discussion. A CDP will interact with data across various departments, so getting buy-in from all parties is crucial. Consider who within your organization manages or collects data that will feed into the CDP. Whether it’s sales, customer success, or marketing, ensuring their input early on will smooth the path ahead.

Which CDP Stakeholders Should Be Involved?

When it comes to CDP stakeholder, the general rule of thumb is that you should involve a wide range of people. In a typical scenario, this involves representatives from marketing, analytics, sales, customer service, marketing operations, IT, and the web team, with the potential addition of stakeholders from data privacy, AI/ML, data strategy, product development, and operations.

For a CDP blueprint for structuring your optimal customer data team (along with sample org charts) check out our whitepaper, The Organization of the Future.

Step 2: Construct Your Customer Data Platform (CDP) Use Cases

Why are you considering a CDP in the first place? While consolidating customer data into a single platform is a significant advantage, understanding the specific outcomes you want to achieve is even more important. Identify your top use cases. Some common CDP examples could be cart abandonment, unified customer profiles, and personalized customer experiences. Defining your use cases is one of the most important steps, as you won’t want to just focus on collecting all the data– but instead, focus on collecting the right data.

How To Build A Customer Data Platform (CDP) Use Case

For more help and insight on how to build a Customer Data Platform (CDP) use case, we recommend two blog posts with step by step instructions, How To Build A CDP Use Case and 5 Clever CDP Use Cases You’ll Want To Implement.

Step 3: Identify Required Tools and Integrations

Next, pinpoint the tools your CDP will need to integrate with. Start by listing the tools required to support your defined use cases, and expand that list to include all customer-facing systems. 

The next step is to create a comprehensive list of all the tools that engage with your customers in any capacity. Be sure to include website utilities, CRM platforms, live chat systems, payment processors, email services, and help desk software, among others. Collaborate with your stakeholders to ensure that no essential tool is missed!

Commonly, we’ve seen customers begin with these areas:

• Analytics platforms like Google Analytics
• Advertising tools such as Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, Pinterest, Amazon Ads, LinkedIn, Reddit and Nextdoor
• Customer Resource Management (CRM) tools like Salesforce CRM
• Customer Data Warehouses (CDW) like Snowflake

When it comes to getting the most bang for your buck, consider a vendor-neutral CDP that can be easily connected to your existing tech stack. When we say vendor-neutral, we mean using a CDP that integrates with a variety of tools that you already use. Tealium is a vendor-neutral CDP, with over 1,300+ key integrations. 

Step 4: Gather Feature Requirements

Beyond use cases, it’s vital to outline specific requirements for your CDP. Think about features like GDPR and CCPA compliance, identity resolution, and security certifications. These are non-negotiable elements that the CDP must deliver to meet your business needs. Review the feature lists of potential CDPs, and ensure they align with your requirements.

For more information, we recommend that you check out our blog, De-Mystifying Data Privacy: The Scoop on Data Privacy Regulations.

Step 5: Consider ROI

Finally, assess the Return on Investment (ROI) each CDP offers. Remember, ROI isn’t just about the price tag—it’s about value. A good CDP should save your engineering team time and reduce the cost of managing integrations. Use tools like ROI worksheets to forecast potential savings and ensure the CDP you choose will deliver the best value for your organization.

What Elements Should You Have In Your Customer Data Platform (CDP)?

We feel that there are four important elements that you should consider when selecting the right Customer Data Platform (CDP): real-time, vendor-neutral, data privacy, and cost savings.

1. Operate In Real-Time: We believe that real-time updates are essential for processing, analyzing, and understanding customer data and behavior as it happens. Acting swiftly allows you to address issues more effectively and improve outcomes. 
2. Vendor Neutrality: Ensure your tech infrastructure remains vendor-neutral. Modern platforms are designed for seamless integrations, allowing you to tap into a vast array of third-party apps instead of developing everything in-house. At Tealium, we offer 1,300+ integrations, to support the tools you already rely on (or might adopt in the future) to drive better CX. 
3. Data Privacy First Approach: Navigating customer data legislation can be complex and ever-changing. A robust CDP should come with built-in data governance and security features, such as access controls and field-level encryption, to help you safeguard your customer data.
4. Cost Savings: When it comes to implementing a CDP and being successful using it, you’ll want to look for a CDP that you can get value from quickly. Tealium’s CDP powers faster delivers Return on Investment (ROI) by quickly integrating with the tools you already use! This means better customer experiences from powerful partnerships With automated data processes and improved targeting, businesses can cut down on wasted marketing spend. Additionally, enhanced data accuracy minimizes compliance risks, leading to further cost savings.