CDP strategies that unlock the power of your first-party data

The end of third-party cookie usage and the evolving privacy laws have a significant impact on how companies collect and use customer data. A Customer Data Platform is an excellent tool for unifying and segmenting your first-party data.

To get the most out of CDPs, marketers must do some upfront work. These tools not only improve customer profiles and behavior, but they can also reveal weaknesses in the data collection policies and strategies.

Not all data vulnerabilities can be avoided, such as typos, incorrect format, wrong information, and disposable email addresses. Even so, a little effort can improve the performance of your CDP, the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, and your relationship with customers.

These four strategies will help you reduce errors and encourage your customers to give the most accurate answers, allowing your data to be used most effectively.

1. Evaluate how you collect your customer data

Over the years, your website has probably evolved significantly with new forms and content that collect data in convenient and new ways. Prioritize frequent site reviews, and standardize the way you collect data on all forms.

Form questions

It is important to be consistent in the way you ask questions and how your customers and your organization understand what data will be collected.

Dig deep: 3 strategies for data compliance

It is important to determine if the phone number you are using is your personal mobile or a shared office landline.

Drop-down menus

Regularly review the drop-down options on your forms. It may be that you have important data points which require a dropdown selection to segment your customers correctly.

As these drop-down options evolve, it is important to evaluate all forms across different platforms that are managed by various teams in order to make sure the values are synchronized. To ensure future updates are propagated to all relevant forms, keep a record of every place a particular question is asked.

Consent preferences

Consistently and thoroughly collect consent from customers. Consistent consent management is even more important when using different platforms to collect data from users.

Implementing global consent with your CDP will reduce privacy risks and improve customer service.

You may be collecting data on your customers in other places than the primary website.

• Customer service reps.
• Websites from around the world
• In-store/on-site.
• Live events.
• Third-party web form.
• Affiliate websites

These data sources can be used to enhance your customer experience.

When customers interact with your company at these various touchpoints, they will remember the information that was provided.

To build a relationship of trust with each customer, you need to remember those interactions.

2. Enable your customers to help you improve your data quality

After you have unified all your data collection sources it is now time to focus on the form fields where your customers can respond. These are usually the largest potential source of dirty information.

With field validation, you can guide your customer to provide accurate information. Some examples include:

• Verify the postal address on all forms where they are collected.
• Discourage customers from using disposable email.
• Limiting the number of digits in the phone field to 10.
• For submission, you must have a valid area-code.

Don’t expect your customers to keep their data up-to-date as their lives evolve. Instead, prompt them.

As customers change jobs, switch ISPs/mobile carriers or move, a percentage of the data you previously had becomes invalid.

If you receive a permanent message from a mobile number that was previously responsive or a hard bounce email from an opt-in address, consider asking the customer to update their details via another marketing channel.

Dig deep: Is your data clean, organized, and actionable?

3. Data collection can be streamlined to build relationships and streamline data collection.

Marketers often provide an excessively long form for a new client to gather as much information at the first possible opportunity.

Even if you shorten a form by just one or two fields, it will reduce the abandonment rate of your potential customers. It will take some experimenting to find the right balance between reducing the required fields and lowering the abandonment rate.

When customers feel that the purpose of the form is not clear, they abandon forms in greater numbers.

Customize your website’s experience for users to include the information that you need. It will provide a better user experience, and the effort to get accurate information is worth it.

Customer surveys, result quizzes, and feedback forms are not isolated campaigns. Instead, they should be utilized to gradually build your customer profiles as your relationship grows.

Asking the question in an unnatural or ineffective way is not the best approach. This approach often results in inaccurate data about the interests of your customers.

Dig deep: 6 data-collection tactics for marketing in a cookieless future

4. Use data to improve user experience

Demonstrate that as your relationship with the customer grows, you are using the data collected to create a more enjoyable or convenient experience. This will encourage the exchange of more information.

It is more likely that you will receive inaccurate data if a customer does not understand the purpose of asking for certain data.

Listen to your customers and react to their actions. You should not discourage customers from trying new products or services.

Update the experience in response to the customer’s repeated behavior. People don’t update their preferences often enough as tastes, situations, or needs change.

Dig deep: 3 ways you can deliver a more relevant customer experience

Customer data quality can be improved incrementally

A CDP can help you tap into this potential. By personalizing your multi-touchpoint journey, CDPs can help you build a loyal clientele. A CDP will have a greater impact on your marketing efforts if you improve your data quality incrementally.

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