Findings Indicate Close to 50% of Companies Currently Using a CDP and Seeing Significant Improvements in Business as a Result

The Relevancy Group, a leading market research and advisory firm, released “The Relevancy Ring 2019 Customer Data Platform (CDP) Buyer’s Guide.” Leveraging their proprietary combination of customer (user) feedback with a multi-analyst assessment approach.  The 2019 CDP guide provides a quantifiable measurement of eight leading enterprise-class Customer Data Platform Providers (CDPs) including ActionIQ, BlueConic, Ignition One, Lytics, RedPoint Global, Tealium, Arm Treasure Data and Zylotech. Findings indicate nearly a 50% adoption of CDP’s, within the past 12 months, with an additional 35% of Companies looking to activate a CDP within the next 12 months.

“The CDP category is exploding,” shares James McDermott, CEO and co-founder of Lytics. “We’re seeing marketers adopting CDPs across a broad spectrum of industries. This rapid adoption is accelerating as companies prove the value of a CDP in impacting revenue goals.”

The 2019 Relevancy Ring CDP Buyers Guide combines data from an August 2019 executive survey of 402 executive marketers, and documented CDP demos. Additionally, the guide contains information from vendor questionnaires, two-decades of TRG’s knowledge of the providers in this sector, one-on-one phone interviews with several of the marketers who use these tools, and an analysis of the 2019 results and compared against a similar guide produced in 2018. The growth in the industry, changes in the landscape, and maturation of CDP product offerings are notable.

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“In an increasingly crowded marketplace, having a firm like The Relevancy Group clarify what are core components of an enterprise-level CDP is critical for marketers trying to differentiate by how they engage consumers,” said John Nash, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer for RedPoint Global. “As the market matures, we will see deeper divides between those technology platforms that help brands drive breakthrough revenue growth, and those that do not.  For those brands that want to deliver personalization at scale, utilizing real-time data, automated machine learning, and intelligent orchestration across all touchpoints become key to success.”

The finding show that real-time targeting and personalization rank among the top 5 desired results when implementing a CDP.  Other 2019 Relevancy Ring Buyers Guide highlights include:

• 54% of businesses rely on Marketing IT to manage their CDP. While historically the internal business dynamic between Marketing and IT was not dynamic, with the advent of the CDP, the IT department is being tasked with an ongoing role in driving business results. “Given the unprecedented need for B2B Marketers to create an impactful Customer experience, CDP features such as identity resolution & actionable marketing insights must keep pace with the speed and amount of raw data that’s generated during the buying process,” said Pat O’Brien, CRO, Zylotech. “Self-service customer data management was just the beginning of this revolution. Going forward, self-learning based, continual ID management across all customer data will be the ‘gold standard’ of what every brand or marketing team needs to deliver 1:1 personalization during the sales journey. The Relevancy Group has done an amazing job while covering the entire spectrum of CDP’s.”
  
  
• On average, over 10 sources of data are being fed into a CDP. Ranging from CRM data to customer service data and even customer offline spending, companies are feeding as much data as possible into their CDP so they can leverage the results as effectively as possible. “Every company struggles with the same issues: personalizing customer experiences, breaking down silos between teams and technologies, and managing the obscene amount of data generated every day. And, simultaneously, how to do all of this in real time,” said Sav Khetan, VP of Product at Tealium. “Data-first Customer Data Platforms help address each of these areas by creating persistent, unified customer profiles as the foundation upon which every department can build their portion of the customer experience.”
  
  
• Improved Security for Customer Data – Twenty-two percent (22%) of marketers cite security as a top benefit of deploying a CDP. Customer data is precious and must be treated as such. In some organizations, customer data is made more susceptible to potential breaches through outdated data management systems and practices. CDPs can help enterprises tighten data security through more robust security protocols and integration methods. “In the last two years, we’ve seen Safari introduce ITP, the EU launch GDPR, and Facebook and Twitter drop third-party data from their platforms. One thing is clear – the way we’ve been used to operating as marketers is all but gone. The CDP is the only technology that can enable a path forward in a world where authentication, consent, and meaningful value exchange are the keys to effective customer engagement,” adds Michele Szabocsik, VP of Marketing, BlueConic.
  
  
• Over 83% of respondents confirm that they are able to meet their marketing goals faster thanks to the use of a CDP. Retail, Financial Services and Manufacturing companies are among top industries who have seen their results most positively impacted when they implement a CDP. “CDPs are the fastest path from data to personalization at scale for customer-centric brands,” said Ryan Greene, Head of Product Marketing, ActionIQ.

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“While still a relatively new tool for Companies to leverage, the maturity levels of CDP technology is happening at a rapid pace,” said Nicholas Einstein, Chief Research Officer, The Relevancy Group. “More CDP providers are entering the market, and, of those in the space, product development and growth is being seen in key areas including; data accessibility, AI and machine learning and customer journey mapping. It’s exciting to watch the evolution of this technology, and know it is driving tangible results for every business.”

“Marketers have been stumped on how to make full use of their data to deliver effective personalization. Many CDPs promise to make that happen. What marketers need to remember is that data is just the beginning of an engagement strategy,” said Will Margiloff, CEO, IgnitionOne. “You have centralized data – what about insights? Are your insights specific to unique customers? Can you use those insights to personalize engagements in real-time, across both marketing AND advertising channels? Are you assessing omnichannel performance? A best-in-breed CDP should help marketers do all these things.”

“The rapid speed of adoption of CDP’s and powerful advances in their technology have enabled marketers and businesses to meet a new level of customer experience not possible even 3 years ago,” added Nicholas Einstein, Principal Analyst at The Relevancy Group. “As customer expectations for real-time everything continue to rise, the value of the CDP will continue to move from an added benefit to critical foundational element of the Marketing and Technology stack. The flexibility of the API’s for current and future data sources, cloud-supported technology and AI create a powerful combination that will ensure this technology never becomes outdated.”

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