Customer Data Management

Customer data management allows marketers to achieve a unified view of customer data, across different marketing channels, platforms and devices by ingesting raw data from disparate sources, transforming it into clean, connected data, and allowing marketers to activate that data via various marketing and sales automation tools and platforms. A strong customer data management strategy gives marketers a single source of truth to make more informed marketing decisions for both – individual customers and ‘look-alike’ segments of the best prospects. Business outcomes include higher marketing efficiency and effectiveness for conversion and retention campaigns. 

Why Is Customer Data Management so Important?

Customer data management soared into prominence over the last two years, due to several factors. In 2018, Gartner reported that marketing analysts are spending most of their time on data wrangling, data integration, and data formatting. This is because customer data would flow in from disparate sources, making it difficult to reconcile and orchestrate all aspects. Customer data management solves this by centralizing data gathering processes, collecting customer profiles and removing duplication, creating targetable segments, and executing orchestrated campaigns by prioritizing connected marketing channels.

We explain these challenges in more detail here.

How Do You Get Started With Customer Data Management?

Customer data management can be executed in-house by integrating various marketing and related systems or with a carefully selected vendor who offers the right CDP solution for your needs and context.

While the technology is important, the right starting point is to have clarity on the business need and use-case for customer data management. Check out  MTA’s detailed primer on CDP readiness and the key questions to ask before you get started on customer data management

Other great resources for beginners include What is Customer Data Management - Part I and 2. Once you are on your journey, find the right advice at each stage of your CDM evolution with MTA’s unmissable CDP Explainer Series – a 12 part series that asks and helps answer the right questions at each stage of CDM progression – from building an internal business case, to deployment best practices and vendor selection.

MTA also offers among the most comprehensive guides to vendor selection with The Progressive Marketer’s Buyers’ Guide to CDPs (free download available).

Scroll down for further insights on this emerging marketing area, with thought-provoking interviews, market analyses, concept breakdowns, and lots more.