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eCommerce Marketing Techstack
Website Personalization & CRO Use-Cases/w=3840,quality=90,fit=scale-down){kind=icon}
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Analytical Frameworks & eCommerce AnalysesThe most crucial feature of a customer data platform.
Choosing the right tools for an eCommerce Marketing tech-stack might be challenging. I recall one situation when we were reviewing one potential vendor that claimed to have a CDXP platform (Customer Data and eXpericence Platform), and on a third meeting with them, we realized that miss one crucial feature that each tool of this kind should have, and we did not proceed with the partnership.
We consider ourselves to be experts in the field. In the past 6 years, we almost exclusively worked with marketing eCommerce teams. Yet, it took us 3 meetings to find out that this vendor does not offer what we were looking for.
I can only imagine how hard it can be to make this choice for somebody who does not have this as a full-time job.
That is why we have decided to create this short .pdf where we discuss probably the most essential feature of a CDP (Customer Data Platform) from our perspective. I would go that far to say, that if a company claims to have a CDP, but they do not have this feature, they are mislabeling themselves.
But firstly, let's start with an overview of what is a CDP and what the main role of a CDP.
What is a CDP?
A CDP facilitates the consolidation of data from every marketing channel into a “single customer view”, thereby establishing a unified source of truth accessible to the entire marketing team. It enables the creation of customer segments within the platform, which can then be distributed to all marketing tools, fostering a consistent customer experience across all marketing channels. The integration of a CDP into a marketing technology stack can be represented as follows:
Without a CDP in our marketing tech stack, our data is likely to be dispersed across multiple marketing platforms, devoid of a central hub we can consider as a definitive source of truth. We can visualize this arrangement as follows:
Key Feature of a CDP:
The capacity to track and store data concerning anonymous users (individuals who have not yet supplied an email address) stands out as a crucial feature of any CDP platform.
In our analysis, we examined 31 million sessions over a span of 18 months, and discovered that a mere 6.3M of these were conducted by recognized users. More precisely, only 20.35% of all sessions were executed by recognized users, (i.e., individuals who had previously provided their email address, and thus we could identify them when they visited the website).
If a CDP lacks the capability to store anonymous user data, you're effectively discarding 80% of all website engagement data. This wealth of information would otherwise be invaluable for website personalization and analytical pursuits.
For instance, suppose you aim to personalize your website for anonymous returning visitors (individuals who've visited your site before but haven't made any purchases or provided any contact information), or you wish to analyze their behavior. Without the relevant data, this becomes an impossibility. Bear in mind, this cohort of website visitors is not insignificant - it usually comprises around 25%.
Take the case of a user who visits your website, engages with 10 products, and then leaves. Ten days later, this user revisits the website and subscribes to your newsletter. Without the means to track anonymous users, it's highly likely that a CDP will be unable to store any information from the user's behavior from ten days prior. Consequently, this data cannot be leveraged for segmentation or to personalize your newsletter communications.
We prefer not to name names in this brief .pdf, but it's noteworthy that there are some major players in the market who, despite purporting to offer CDP functionality, do not track the behavior of anonymous users. When choosing a CDP vendor, we strongly advise ensuring that this capability is part of their feature set. Otherwise, the potential use-cases you can explore through this platform become severely restricted.
Here are two CDPs we can recommend that indeed offer this essential feature: Segment (a CDP) and Bloomreach Engagement (a CDXP).
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