Why You Need A Customer Data Platform For First-Party Data
Earlier this month, Adobe rolled out a customer data platform (CDP) built from the ground up, with first-party data in mind. Aptly named Adobe Real-time CDP, the platform promises to help brands navigate a brave new cookie-less world, where third-party data is no longer cash cow or king. Salesforce also just re-launched its CDP with new innovations, joining not just Adobe and Salesforce, but Microsoft, Oracle, Twilio, and other business applications, analytics, and communications leaders in their endeavors to build the best mousetrap to enable brands to get closer to their customers—all of which have some, if not substantial focus on doing more with first-party data.
Before we get too deep into the capabilities of Adobe Real-time CDP or any other data platforms out there, I want to say this: it’s less important for your company to (immediately) purchase a first-party CDP than it is for you to begin shifting to a first-party data strategy. Whether you do that by building your own CDP, adjusting the CDP you currently manage, or investing in a new first-party centered CDP like Adobe Real-Time—it doesn’t really matter. There will always be advantages and disadvantages to each. The emphasis here is on first-party data management and how to make it work for you.
To better understand the aggressive pivot to first-party data, it makes sense to look closer at the Adobe announcement and some of the specific capabilities being developed for first-party data. The solution looks promising out of the box due to the fact that it is first-party data native and some of the key capabilities identified include:
● Helping users make the most of the data that customers choose to share, connecting points behind the scenes to help you build profiles based on the information you have available.
● Enabling enterprise customers to pinpoint the “right time” to ask for data from a customer to ensure that they feel comfortable providing it (Adobe Target)
● Supporting user requirements to adhere to governance policies, which will build trust and loyalty among customers
● allowing customers to partner with other similar companies to build out customer profiles through a feature called Segment Match
This last feature is one of the most interesting, and likely a trend we’ll be starting to see as cookies and other third-party data become less and less reliable. What we’re going to be seeing is companies finding more creative and “acceptable” ways of mining the data they need to provide their customers the experiences they wish to have. This could mean “partnering” with other companies to share data (which, to me, is remarkably similar to using third-party data) or creating these “digital twin” type profiles that allow brands to build-out customer silhouettes based on other profiles that currently exist.
