What Is a Customer Data Platform (CDP)?

The increasing number of martech solutions available makes it difficult for businesses to choose the technology that will drive the company’s growth in the long run. That’s why one of the main business problems is the usage of different systems. Each of them has its own features set for identifying the customers and working with them. However, it does not provide a holistic view of the customer. Therefore, businesses need a solution that can provide a single customer profile and doesn’t require technical knowledge or third-party marketing expertise. A customer data platform meets this goal accurately.

Customer Data Platform Definition

A customer data platform or CDP is a solution for collecting, unifying, segmenting, and activating customer data to manage customer experience and increase business profits. The platform centralizes the collection of data from various sources and monitors the behavior of each user in real-time in all connected channels. It combines this information into a single 360-degree customer profile and keeps it up-to-date.

So, the business has access to data about each customer within a single system and can use this data to the fullest measure, by creating hyper-targeted segments and interacting with customers automatically through personalized triggered campaigns. In this way, CDP systems provide the company with real-time access to customer profiles, transactional events, and analytical attributes.

What Is the Difference between CDP and DMP, CRM, DWH, Analytics System, and Marketing Automation System

Below are the main differences between CDP solutions and other systems.

1. A CDP organizes a single place for collecting customer data:

• from first-party sources – online and offline channels, mobile application, direct channels, social media, and loyalty programs;

• from third-party systems – marketing automation services, CRM, DMP, and others, as well as databases such as BigQuery, PostgreSQL, Google Sheets, and Firebase;

• of different formats – structured, partially structured, and unstructured.

2. A CDP organizes a single place for processing client data – consolidates information about users, removes duplicates if necessary, and creates unified client profiles that are enriched with new information in real-time. In this way, a CDP provides a persistent and unified customer database.

3. Allows companies to manage client data:

• use them inside the platform for segmentation and AI-based personalization;

• create automatic omnichannel campaigns;

• transfer structured data to other systems;

• store data (IDs, behavior, and attributes) for as long as the business needs.

Each of the systems – DMP, CRM, DWH, Analytics System, Marketing Automation System – has its own essence and collects data of different types and for specific business needs:

• DMP  (data management platform) collects superficial anonymous data through third-party sources and uses it for short-term targeted advertising. The system has a limited data storage period, as targeting cannot be based on outdated information.

Unlike a DMP, a CDP collects raw user data, enriches it, and stores it for as long as the business needs. The platform improves marketing and manages long-term customer relationships.

CDP can transmit data to DMP to create audience segments and target advertising campaigns more effectively.

• CRM (customer relationship management) helps organize and manage customer relationships. The data is often entered into the system manually by sales department employees who communicate with customers directly.

Unlike a CRM, CDP collects customer behavioral data (including behavior prior to the first order). The platform also provides marketers with convenient tools for segmentation, personalization, and automation of interactions with a large number of customers.

When used simultaneously,  CDP and CRM provide high-quality and comprehensive analytics for understanding a company’s customers, identifying their behavior patterns, predicting future actions, and optimizing marketing processes.

• DWH (data warehouse) extracts structured data and stores it in a static state indefinitely. Since the data are structured, this information can be used for specific purposes (most often for historical and financial analysis). To set up and use a DWH effectively, it is necessary to hire a  technical specialist.

Unlike a DWH, CDP is a solution for storing, analyzing, and using marketing data in real-time. The clear interface does not require specialized knowledge, which allows the marketer to use the platform independently.

CDP can provide the flexibility of DWH data to further use it for business development.

• The analytical system imports data from various sources, databases, Excel files, CSV, and API. It can unify data, but this process is difficult, especially when information comes in different formats and structures. The system provides a wide range of tools for analysis, including statistical methods and AI. Such a system takes a lot of time to process large volumes of data.

Unlike an analytical system, a CDP provides centralized data storage, profiling, and a higher level of data unification and customer identification. The platform provides functionality for data management, in particular for segmentation, personalization (based on data that enters the system in real-time), and coordination between different communication channels.

A CDP can enrich an analytical system by providing it with more complete, up-to-date, accurate, and coherent data about customers to analyze and extract valuable insights about them, research their behavior, and understand their needs.

• A marketing automation system usually works with data collected within the system and focuses on automating marketing processes such as sending emails, managing campaigns, etc.

Unlike a MA system, CDP with communication automation functionality provides opportunities for data collection from various sources, their unification, analysis, and visualization.

MA can use complete and consolidated CDP data to personalize communications.

Why Does Your Business Need a Customer Data Platform

A customer data platform helps businesses optimize marketing communication costs, increase revenue, and scale marketing campaigns more efficiently. Automated collection, processing, enrichment, and analysis of huge volumes of customer data allow for high-quality personalization of interaction with millions of users.

The advantages and opportunities of CDP are evidenced by:

1. According to IDC, customer service quality ranks as the first or second most significant area of investment for digital leaders: 78% of respondents assert that customer data plays an extraordinarily important role in ensuring the quality of customer service.
   
   Another IDC study shows that investing in a customer data platform is profitable: CDP has been the second-best investment in customer experience technologies for two consecutive years. The ability to contextualize interactions and provide consumers with an intelligent experience is a competitive advantage in the digital era.
2. A survey of marketing leaders and customer interaction professionals revealed: 47% of respondents believe that CDP helped them establish more direct relationships with customers, and 40% reported an increase in customer loyalty.
3. According to statistics from our customer data platform Yespo, based on 610 ecommerce businesses (with a total customer count of 23 million), our clients have the following sales share from CDP (as of November 2023):

• 21.6% — for the top 1% of customers.
• 16.5% — for the top 10% of customers.
• 8.9% — for the top 50% of customers. 

This dynamic illustrates that the more CDP functionality a business uses, the better results it achieves.

How Yespo CDP Works

Data collection

The customer data platform collects primary business data, which is the most valuable type of data that the company owns. CDP transfers static information (name, age, gender, city, profession, etc.) and behavioral data of users from:

• Website. There are integrations with site builders, landing pages, and online stores via API.

• Mobile application. The exchange of information between the application and the CDP takes place through the SDK.

• Direct channels. Yespo CDP has 8 channels to communicate with customers and gather data from. These are email, web and mobile push, in-app, app inbox, widgets, Viber, SMS.

• Offline. Retail store transaction data is transferred to CDP through a POS terminal, and employees can also manually enter data about visitors' viewing of products.

Depending on specific business objectives, CDP can integrate with various data sources to ensure the ultimate completeness and accuracy of customer data analysis. CDP allows you to organize the exchange of information with the following systems:

• data collection, storing, and analysis platforms – CRM, DMP, DWH, and others;

• analytical systems – Google Analytics, Power BI, and others;

• databases – BigQuery, PostgreSQL, Google Sheets, Firebase.

CDP can be integrated with other services thanks to the ApiX-Drive platform. Yespo CDP is also fully integrated with Zapier. 

Yespo CDP meets the requirements of GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD, which guarantees reliable protection of customer data and their confidentiality. This also saves the effort of marketers and gives the business, which owns the data, complete control over it.

Profile unification

All data about customers (and/or users of the site or application) enters the system by various methods: CSV, JSON, SQL, API calls, HTTP requests, and in various formats: structured, unstructured, and partially structured. CDP processes them, brings them to a unified view, and matches the information with the profile of the corresponding user. Yespo ties a profile to a specific person, even if they use different devices, combining attributes with identifiers. From the first visit of a person to the site or mobile application, the system assigns them a unique identifier and records each interaction.

Thus, a single customer profile is created and is constantly updated, because the CDP receives and processes data in real-time.

The platform can identify a person, even if they are not logged in to the site. For example, the user goes to the product page by following a link from an email. After this action, the system connects previously collected data with a specific contact (if the user has not deleted cookies) and will further enrich their profile with new data – about page views, purchase history, desired products, etc.

Segmentation

According to Litmus (Email Marketing Benchmarks Report 2023), segmented email newsletters have a 20% open rate and 3.5% click-through rate, while non-segmented – 15% and 2.5%, respectively. Segmented newsletters also generate 10% more revenue than bulk emails. These figures can be significantly higher if the business builds subscribers segments based on complete and up-to-date information about its customers and segments the audience by more than 3 conditions.

Yespo allows for in-depth customer segmentation based on all available information about them, including customer behavior data. The number of conditions for forming a segment is not limited. The following advanced functions are available in the system as well:

• RFM segmentation. Based on the collected data, it’s possible to make an RFM analysis of sales and activity in a newsletter. The system predicts when a customer will move from one segment to another. Based on this analysis, you can set up triggers: the campaign will automatically be sent to the user when they move to the appropriate segment. For example, you can reactivate low-active users in advance or create the VIP segment and develop a special strategy for working with it.

• Segmentation by events. Any event, such as an order, its parameter, for example, order value, or its combination, can be assigned as a segment creation condition. This technology allowed the Ukrainian food delivery service to manage sales in each city from the delivery region. The company implemented a retention strategy, involving segmentation by events and personal recommendations. In half a year of using the functionality, LTV was 12% higher, the number of orders increased by 40%, and the average check increased by 16%. After using reactivation triggers, 25% of customers started ordering again, and the return on investment was 152% in total.

• Segmentation by parameter. This tool saves time for preparing newsletters for segments of the same type, differing only in the value of the parameter by which the segment is built. For example, to announce promotions in different product categories, you need to create separate segments and scenarios for each of them. With parametric segmentation, it is enough to create only one. Instead of a specific value (product category), there will be a variable in the newsletter launch conditions. As soon as an event (promotion) is launched for a certain category, the system will automatically select relevant subscribers and launch the campaign.

• Predictive segmentation. It is a powerful tool for increasing CLV as it allows you to predict customer behavior and adjust strategies accordingly. The system has a set of ready-made algorithms for the formation of segments that predict the probability of purchasing or churning customers. 74% of surveyed marketers invest in such technologies. They can quickly adjust campaigns based on a predictive model, rather than on simpler decisions like "They haven't purchased during the last X days." This helps to retain those who may leave and more probably, get profit from potential buyers.

Processed and structured data can be immediately used in CDP to create a personalized omnichannel interaction on the website, in the mobile application, and in direct channels. Additionally, this data can be transferred to other external systems.

Data Activation

Due to the completeness of data and its comprehensive analysis, the business can encourage its users to take the necessary action, using personalized interaction that takes into account user needs, preferences, the right channels, language, and time of communication.

Personalization

80% of customers tend to buy from companies that offer a personalized experience (Epsilon). According to a study by Accenture, 91% of consumers are more likely to choose a brand that offers personalized offers.

Personalized recommendations solve the following tasks for businesses:

• Audience activation. Thanks to the completeness of data and comprehensive analysis, the business can encourage its users to action through personalized interaction, taking into account their needs, preferences, selected channels, language, and time of communication.

• Improving the user experience. Product offers that meet a person's preferences and interests make using the site and mobile application attractive and convenient, contributing to brand loyalty increase. Recommendations create the impression that the business understands the buyer's needs and can offer them best-matched solutions.

• Increasing the conversion rate. Personalized product recommendations are formed taking into account data and customer behavior. Such offers make it easier for users to find the products they need, and companies increase the number of customers and orders.

• Increasing average order value through cross-selling and upselling. When a business faces low margins in its core product category, sales of related products and accessories can significantly impact overall revenue. The use of personalized recommendations increases the number of items ordered and grows product sales in cross-categories. What’s more, offering product sets, where an add-on product complements the main one at a discount, encourages impulsive purchases.

Recommendations of more expensive products, similar to those the customer is already considering, encourage the purchase of higher-end products. They also help increase sales and increase the average check.

According to Econsultancy, companies that use advanced personalization, report a return of $20 for every dollar spent.

According to our statistics, personal product recommendations generate about 20% of online store sales.

How product recommendations are developed

Personalized product sets created in Yespo can be used on the website, in the mobile application, in newsletters, and even by consultants in offline stores. Thanks to the unification of data and the omnichannel nature of Yespo CDP technology, the customer receives the same offers in all channels, which provides them with a seamless and personalized user experience.

AI makes product suggestions based on:

• the previous behavior of a large number of customers;

• products data and their characteristics.

Yespo algorithms create product recommendations blocks based on:

1. Customer data – AI takes into account the behavior of a specific user, analyzes previous purchases, behavior in category and product pages, adding to favorites, etc.

2. Product data – AI takes into account views, user clicks, category, description, name, and price of the product.

3. General data – AI takes into account popular products among other buyers.

In this way, more than 10 blocks of personal product recommendations were implemented for the Foxtrot retailer. They are shown on the website and distributed in newsletters. Foxtrot call center managers and in-store consultants also have access to them. These recommendations are created thanks to the synergy of AI and data science specialists. Yespo algorithms can predict which products customers will buy with an accuracy of up to 60%, and to ensure that the customers will get only relevant recommendations, this procedure is controlled by a data analyst, who adjusts and trains the system.

Thanks to this functionality, the Foxtrot network increased sales of accessories by 16% with the same traffic, conversion by 5%, and depth of viewing and engagement on the site by 10%.

Marketers can set up recommendations on their own without the help of programmers. Over many years of testing and working with various businesses, the Yespo team has identified the most effective algorithms and embedded them into the system. Our CDP currently has 180 recommendation algorithms. One of the popular algorithms is recommendations in bulk campaigns. The system is able to process huge amounts of data and identify which products each user is most likely to buy based on previous purchases and clicks. This algorithm increases CTR and conversion, bringing an additional 14% of orders from the campaign.

Triggers

The customer data platform solves the business problem of communication automation. Our CDP allows you to create and run trigger campaigns that are an automatic response to customer actions or inactions. Since the customer data platform gathers customer data in real-time, such interaction will be relevant and timely. So, a CDP can automatically send personalized emails, mobile app messages, SMS, and push notifications in response to certain user actions.

Companies that limit themselves to basic triggers like welcome chains, abandoned carts, abandoned views, and transactional messages are missing out on the opportunity to improve digital customer engagement and increase LTV and revenue. However, creating an actionable map of triggers requires marketing and technical development. Yespo has all the necessary functionality, allowing you to leverage the best practices of running triggered campaigns and implement custom solutions in a reasonable time.

Over the years of analysis, the team has identified the 15 most profitable pro-scenarios for eCommerce: “Reduced cost of items in the cart”, “Regular demand”, “Out of stock”, “Next best offer”, “WishList event triggers”, “Abandoned search”, "Reactivation" and others.

Thus, ANC Pharmacy, a leader among Ukrainian pharmaceutical retailers, launched 5 personalized triggers. With their help, the company grew online sales by 3% in the first 2 months of operation, while the profit from the campaigns in Viber and email increased by 87% and 38%, respectively.

Another challenge for companies that have a complex trigger map and work with several markets is maintaining communications in the client's language. Yespo has a convenient solution for automating multilingual campaigns, which reduces work with multilingual audiences by 5 times: the interface allows you to create one letter template for all language versions. The system will automatically determine which version to send, based on the user's browser language.

Omnichannel marketing

Omnichannel marketing means bringing all channels of target audience communication into a single system. Each of them enriches a single profile and has access to a complete set of data in the system. When the channels are aligned and complemented, it ensures quality and continuous interaction with the customer. Thanks to the integration of data from various sources and channels, and the constant enrichment of information and analysis, the business can create a portrait of the client and build a customer journey map.

Yespo customer data platform has built-in functionality for organizing omnichannel marketing campaigns, while other systems require additional integrations.

Today, we have 8 channels to communicate with customers: email, web and mobile push, in-app, app inbox, widgets, Viber, SMS, and 2 more channels, WhatsApp and Telegram, will be integrated soon.

A wide selection of channels allows you to create omnichannel scenarios that:

• reach the audience – the use of different channels increases the probability of message delivery;

• improve interaction with users – the client receives messages in the channel where they interact with the brand most actively;

• will increase the relevance of interaction – each channel has its own essence and context of use; in combination, they capture all the customers, providing them with consistent support.

Since the functionality of the customer data platform systematizes and analyzes data from different channels, the business can determine the impact of each of them on conversion as accurately as possible.

This is especially important for companies whose audience is characterized by the ROPO model of behavior: they become familiar with the product and decide to purchase it thanks to communication through direct channels, and the direct purchase takes place in an offline store. With CDP, businesses can attribute purchases to specific customers. As a result, this gives the company the opportunity to track the customer journey and learn valuable information:

• identify the gaps where customers may abandon orders,

• know the number of interactions before conversion,

• track the relationship between messages and orders,

• discover the behavior of the audience in different channels.

How Our Customers Use Yespo CDP

Top Ukrainian eCommerce businesses use CDP Yespo to improve marketing campaigns:

Dnipro-M got +1000% ROI thanks to App Inbox and Recommendations

The Ukrainian manufacturer of construction tools Dnipro-M tracks the actions of its users, combines customer data into a single profile, segments consumers by behavior, and offers product recommendations in newsletters and on the website.

Omnichannel workflows with email and push notifications lacked reach due to a small number of email addresses in the database. The customer success manager of Yespo suggested adding the App Inbox channel to bulk and trigger communications.

Thanks to this, the retailer received an increase in the share of the total orders by:

• 3 times for similar products,

• 5 times for products added to the cart,

• 20 times for viewed products.

Also, Dnipro-M implemented product recommendations on the website. They generated an increase in the share of total October orders compared to September 2022:

• on the main page of the site – by 2.4 times,

• on the product page – by 2.2 times.

Thus, thanks to the improvement of algorithms and trigger optimization, it was possible to increase the ROI of product recommendations by 23.5%.

COMFY implemented a custom recommendation algorithm with personal filters

Home appliances and electronics retailer COMFY boosted mass and triggered emails with personalized product recommendations.

The Yespo team helped to adjust the algorithms and customize the product recommendation delivery according to the priority features of the goods. The functionality of Yespo recommendations allows you to show customers a specific group of goods and regulate their quantity. In the case of Comfy, these were goods marked "Best" and their quantity was limited to 6.

As the result:

• 13% growth of income from triggers with recommendations.

• 20% of triggered orders share are orders from personalized blocks.

• 49% of the total number of orders in promo letters are driven by personalized blocks.

• 41% is the average share of clicks on blocks with recommendations in mass newsletters.

Now, the algorithm developed specifically for COMFY has become available to all users of the PRO pricing plan.

Prom.ua increased sales by 10% thanks to personalized triggered push notifications

Ukraine's largest marketplace Prom.ua abandoned mass mailings and opted for personalizing interaction with millions of customers. The business uses trigger campaigns, providing personal product recommendations in newsletters and taking into account the customer's life cycle.

Prom.ua is a mobile-first company that positions itself as a "marketplace in your pocket". That’s why the company chose push notifications as the main channel for communication (they generate 90% of sales from direct channels), and the additional channel was email. Marketplace has developed more than 70 automated campaigns. The most interesting of them are triggers based on abandoned actions (views, carts, products, search), onboarding, wish lists, feedback request, cross-sell, order cancellation, price reduction, landing page recommendations, etc.

Thanks to such a comprehensive approach to marketing, the Prom.ua team achieved significant results:

• the share of income of direct channels increased by 5 times;

• personalized triggers increased sales by 10%, the most effective triggers were “abandoned view” and “wish lists”;

• personalized product recommendations in messages brought an additional 3% to sales;

• omnichannel feedback campaigns generate up to 70% of all customer feedback and help sellers grow their stores.

Often, companies are forced to change marketing software because it ceases to satisfy all needs. With Yespo, such a problem will not arise. Being the best customer data platform,  it has everything to support both market leaders and those who aspire to become them. Our team is constantly working on improving and developing new tools, so even a large business can comfortably grow within the system and increase its performance.

Yespo is always ready to help companies get the most out of our platform, so every client can expect the necessary help from our customer support team.

The larger the business, the more difficult it is to understand all the tasks and solutions for its promotion. Some companies have difficulties with defining goals: what will correspond to the "360-degree profile" of the client, what data to collect, and how to use it. Yespo is interested in the sustainable development of its customers, and that’s why we assign a personal success manager for our PRO users. The manager participates in improving business efficiency: helps identify the goals, supports integrations and system settings, and gives advice on campaign optimization.

Choose your convenient time, and our team will gladly explain how Yespo CDP can strengthen your business!

Summary

Yespo CDP is a platform for collecting, unifying, segmenting, and activating customer data to manage user experience and increase business profits. It is an advanced marketing tool that helps you better understand your customers and create the best possible interaction with them. Unlike other systems, our CDP creates a single customer profile in which all received and processed information is recorded. The data is updated in real-time and is immediately available for creating audience segments based on a large number of detailed conditions, including events and their parameters.

The customer data platform has an AI algorithm built-in that predicts the future actions of customers: the probability of their outflow or purchases, as well as their likely-to-make orders forecasting, determining which products customers will purchase. To enable each business to fully use product recommendations, 180 ready-made algorithms are available in the system, and there is also the possibility of custom algorithm development. Foxtrot, one of the leading Ukrainian retailers, took advantage of this opportunity and increased sales of related products by 16%.

In order to correctly and timely respond to the behavior of the audience, you are welcome to use trigger-based campaigns. Thus, thanks to the personalization of trigger push, the largest Ukrainian marketplace Prom.ua increased sales by 10% from direct channels and increased customer retention by 4%.

Thanks to CDP, it is possible to implement omnichannel marketing: 8 direct channels are available in the system for this goal. Therefore, each business can test and determine the most converting one and add significant value to its marketing communication strategy. For example, Dnipro-M reached an additional share of the audience with app inbox and received an increase in the share of the order amount by several times, while the ROI was +1000%.

So, if you want to have loyal, regular, and satisfied customers who will increase your income, choose Yespo CDP comprehensive solution, and together we will take your company's marketing to a new level!

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