Introduction to Customer Data Management (CDM)
Customer data management (CDM) is the practice of acquiring, organizing, and analyzing clients’ data from multiple sources to create a unified perspective of each customer. CDM’s mission is to create unique, tailored, real-time, and channel-agnostic consumer experiences through technology and software.
Consumers may now interact with a business in a variety of avenues. This enables a plethora of options for businesses to acquire more client data and utilize it to optimize customer experiences. Unfortunately, this information is maintained in departmental and functional silos, and brands often make full use of it.
Although we frequently read the stories asserting that “we live in the data economy” or “data is the new oil,” this is only true for businesses who successfully manage their user data.
Organizations require sophisticated mechanisms to acquire, organize, and evaluate customer data as data explosion grows. The discipline of Customer Data Management (CDM) enters the picture at this point.
CDM is an essential part of the greater discussion about how to properly leverage corporate data, particularly customer data, to promote profitability and distinctive customer experiences. CDM is also the curator of the debate about client privacy rights and policies as they evolve throughout the world. The primary result of customer data management (CDM) is that market research and other functional areas that access and manage client touchpoints (such as sales, accounts, and service) all have a “single source of truth” when it comes to customer data, and can deliver a better, seamless, and easily retrievable customer experience based on that single source of information.
Reasons why marketers should prioritize CDM
Customers’ expectations have changed, and marketers must be able to provide significant personalization that keeps them engaged throughout their journey. Customer Data Management helps marketers to respond to the new “paradigm of personalization” for concrete results.
1. The attention has turned from faceless persona-based customization to a portion of personalization based on Personally Identifiable Information (PII), particularly with AI-driven technology that may alter on the fly.
2. From Ad-Tech to MarTech Driven Personalization: Gone are the days when ad targeting and retargeting based on Data Management Platform (DMP) persona segmentation was sufficient; now, MarTech is expected to optimize everything from website content to email marketing at the moment.
3. As CMOs recognize that even basic multi-channel customer interactions yield a plethora of customer and prospect data, the focus is changing from third-party data to first-party data, even as the noose around the legal and compliance use of third-party data tightens.
4. Data integration, rather than data storage and processing, has resurfaced in the omnichannel sector. The focus now is on how data sources are interconnected, how readily data can travel back and forth, and how it can be activated by MarTech solutions for conversion outcomes.
