Last updated: November 8, 2021 First party data and CDP: A recipe for excellent CX

First party data and CDP: A recipe for excellent CX

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It may seem like customer data and CDPs have little to do with recipes, but they do. The value of first-party data is a central ingredient to CX and CDPs are a solution for strengthening, shoring up, and generally ensuring that your data collection and interpretation is planned for maximum effect.

Imagine this: you’ve been entered into a salsa-making contest. But you can only use the tools and ingredients you have in whatever space you’re in right now:
Are the ingredients fresh?
Do you even have the right ingredients?

Maybe you chop up some tomatoes and onions, add a little salt, and voila! It’s… technically salsa. But it sure as habanero won’t have anyone coming back for seconds.

Use the value of first-party data for optimal results

Back to the salsa contest – the contest is a month away. You have time to plan, shop, and test your favorite recipe – maybe you even research the judge’s taste preferences. Just how much better would that salsa be with the foresight of planning? Ask me what this has to do with a CDP and I’ll tell you: Todo, or everything.

Having the right ingredients (and knowing what tools and ingredients you have) is as crucial in customer data management as it is in the kitchen. Customer experiences are driven by data – increasingly, first-party data allows us to accurately create CX experiences geared to the individual. If that data is incomplete or inaccurate, you’re going to get a bland experience at best.

At worst…

a man reacts wildly to a bad result | CDP-first-party data

…it’ll cost you handsomely. Poor data quality can cost companies around $15 million a year on average, which explains why 68% of digital leaders are investing in new data platforms to enhance CX and business agility.

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Prove your CX power via personalization

You need to know your end goal, and work your way back to your shopping list:

  • What data do you need?
  • Where will you get it?
  • How will you make sure it’s fresh and high-quality?

Sure, you could makeshift a recipe, retrofitted based on what you’ve got. But why risk serving up something bland when you can use a CDP to check every box and deliver CX with spice?

A well-planned data strategy, facilitated by a customer data platform, can help amp up CX and keep people coming back for seconds and thirds.

 

Common first-party data issues, and how a CDP can help

Call it CX cooking hacks as we review how to get around the complexity of first-party data regulations to leverage the value of first-party data:

Weak data plagues many companies, in part because how businesses use data has evolved –  the way we collected data ten years ago doesn’t meet today’s needs.

a man reacts to new rules | CDP-first-party data.

That means that even the most proactive, future-casting organizations – the ones who saw the importance of collecting data early – may be facing challenges. The good news is that a lot of data quality issues are fixable. And a CDP can help.

Some of the most common first-party data issues are easily resolved:

  1. Inaccurate, duplicate, or incomplete data spread across multiple systems

  2. Non-standardized data structures

  3. Data collected isn’t relevant or useful to the business

The only mystery with data: Why anyone delays actively using it

Once you discover the value of a CDP, it makes the reasons for having one much more clear. Following are a couple of challenges that organizations face when it comes to data, and how a customer data platform can help you solve them:

Inaccurate, duplicate, or incomplete data spread across multiple systems: Imagine each section of the kitchen (the pantry, the fridge, the freezer) was stocked by someone else, and you don’t know when they went shopping, or how fresh the ingredients are. That’s what it’s like trying to execute great customer experiences when your data is spread across multiple systems.

And if you design experiences based on inaccurate data, you may misstep and cause damage to your brand’s reputation. Weak data doesn’t just impact individual customer experiences – it can lead to a lack of confidence in business decisions overall.

How a CDP can help: Customer data platforms pull data from your company’s various systems and repositories and compile it into a single, comprehensive database that’s accessible to everyone who needs it. They bring all those tools and ingredients out so you can see exactly what you have, and what you may be missing.

In doing so, a CDP will clean up your data, removing duplicates, merging multiple records of the same customer, and identifying gaps. An accurate understanding of what data you have, and the quality of it is one of the most fundamental steps you can take to level up your data-driven experiences. 

Non-standardized data structures: There’s nothing like working with a recipe from another country. You know you have all the same ingredients, but they use different words and measurements then you’re familiar with. It takes a lot more time to cook when you’re constantly having to convert milliliters to teaspoons or googling “is there a difference between poaching and blanching?” The value of first-party data grows with methodical collection, interpretation, and use.

In business, even something as seemingly simple as one department asking a question with a checkbox, and another asking a similar question with an open-ended form can lead to data translation issues. Those issues don’t just cause confusion, they can make it impossible to get accurate insights. To get the most value out of your data – from trends and insights to campaign execution – you need it to follow the same structure.

How a CDP can help: As your CDP consolidates your data into a single place, it automatically cleans and standardizes it, meaning when another system submits a query to the database, it will get all the applicable data – not just what was entered a particular way. Unifying your company’s data into a single, standardized system unlocks the ability to build rich, dynamic customer profiles, and recognize behavioral, cross-channel patterns.

a man and woman argue over process- CDP-first-party data

When businesses first keyed into the value of first-party data, they started collecting it before understanding what they’d use it for.
Now, companies are swimming in data – everything from in-store transactions to smart-device usage. The volume alone can be staggering.

One core element of data quality is relevance. Superfluous information takes up valuable space and actually hampers your data’s effectiveness.

First-party data: How a CDP lets you get quality in, and quality out

CDPs don’t simply make it easier for you to collect and use your data; they let you track its usefulness.

  • What data are you using in your customer segmentation?
  • Which targeted campaigns are creating useful leads?

You can zoom out and see what’s working, what’s not, and where you need to fill the gaps. With that sort of meta-understanding, you can adjust your data strategy ‘shop’ smarter next time. The value of first-party data becomes even greater when you have the resources to use it to its full potential.

Once you realize how much of your pantry is filled with junk food or old ingredients that’ve been sitting there for years, untouched, you can get rid of them and make space for the good stuff. You can make your pantry – your whole kitchen – work for you.

To deliver experiences that work, go beyond bland, and keep people coming back for more, you need to start with data as your core ingredient. Because in CX, you are what you eat. As the saying goes: garbage in, garbage out.

Thankfully, you don’t have to meal-prep alone. A customer data platform is like a sous chef for your data, helping you prepare your ingredients and setting you up for success.

Getting by on a technicality isn’t enough to succeed in today’s business landscape – in a world filled with bland experiences, you need to be spicy.

Real-time insights.
Across all touchpoints.
Yes. For real.
See the demo HERE.

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Emily Morrow

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