How multi-location businesses are leveraging customer data platforms to scale

One of the biggest challenges facing multi-location businesses and enterprises is siloed customer data. When there are multiple entry points and a sea of platforms all collecting information on customers, customer data can be fragmented, making it difficult to pull insights or build a useful view of the customer. Luckily, since we always have a technology solution available these days, there’s a better solution that companies are using to scale while delivering meaningful results to customers. They’re called customer data platforms, and while they differ slightly from customer relationship management tools, they can have a huge impact on siloed data. The world of CDPs is booming, in fact, the CDP market is expected to surpass $5.7 billion by 2026. Which means CDPs will become more accessible to smaller businesses as well. Since marketers thrive on personalization and maintaining a clear idea of the customer, customer data platforms can help you streamline. Here’s how. 

What are customer data platforms? 

A CDP is a platform that provides a centralized way to store and update customer data across locations, regions, and channels. Some of the most famous tools include, Salesforce Data Cloud, Twilio Segment, Adobe Real-Time CDP, and more. With a customer data platform, you can deliver consistent messaging, personalized experiences, and better track performance across your entire customer journey. You can also achieve more precise segmentation and targeted marketing. 

A CDP is not to be confused with a CRM. While they are similar, a CDP differs from a CRM in that it prioritizes data from diverse sources and allows you to build a more complete profile of the customer whereas a CRM typically only manages the relationships and activities between the company and clients. A CDP is going to be able to collect data from websites, applications, advertising platforms, and other third party sites to give you a more complete picture, and has  data collection, management, analytics, and activation capabilities. 

Unifying Data for Consistent Messaging and Insights

One of the advantages of using a CDP is the ability to deliver consistent messaging and insights to each location. Multi-location businesses often struggle to obtain both a high-level brand view and a local, nuanced vision of the customer. With all the data coming into one place, segmentations and location-by-location analytics can prove or disprove the effectiveness of campaigns and personalization, while at the same time showing what is happening across the brand. As a multi-location marketer, you know the value of championing cross-regional alignment while supporting each location as they address specific nuances for their audience. A tool that makes that easier is something to be embraced, and fast!  

Some of the best news for marketers is that CDPs enable marketing teams to coordinate campaigns across all locations while preserving the flexibility to tailor messaging by market. For example, a brand of urgent care healthcare facilities can launch a national campaign while allowing regional managers to fine-tune the message based on local buying trends or seasonal patterns. For instance, seasonal allergies might look different in Florida than they do in states further north. This centralization supports brand consistency in all marketing campaigns, including ads, emails, websites, and in-store experiences.

Optimizing Performance Across Locations

Another advantage of implementing a CDP is the enhanced performance tracking it provides. In the past or (perhaps still today), brands would build their own performance dashboards or had to look at each campaign individually, and then again by each location, to get the full picture. It’s so much easier with a CDP in place. With a CDP, marketers can measure campaign results by store, region, or customer segment, gaining a clear understanding of what works where. It may require some initial set up to get the reporting correct, but it’s a whole lot better than comparing line by line.

Enhanced performance tracking makes it easy to identify top-performing locations and replicate successful tactics elsewhere. If you run an email campaign that helps to bring in more foot traffic at one of your locations, you can then scale the campaign to use it at other locations with similar audiences. Conversely, you can make the necessary adjustments to locations where it didn;t work so well. Even better, a robust CDP can also help to break down silos between locations, giving them instant access to refined messaging and campaigns that work without having to reach out to each location requesting information. 

Perhaps most importantly, CDPs can deliver enhanced data to support marketing ROI. If you can show that marketing campaigns are delivering results across regions or locations, you can continue improving performance through audience segments and targeted marketing. After all, we all want to be able to make better data-driven decisions, especially when there are future investments on the line. 

In the future, one of the more exciting advancements for CDPs is coming in the form of AI and machine learning capabilities which will enable better predictive and complex analytics for businesses. 

Getting Started with a CDP

CDPs are not just for multi-location businesses and enterprises, most businesses can benefit from using one. It does much more than just manage customer relationships, and getting started is relatively easy. 

1. Start with a data landscape audit: What do you have and where? Every platform or application a customer interacts with should be mapped to give you a complete picture of what data is coming from where. For instance, you can connect POS systems, website metrics, social campaigns, and mobile apps to a CDP. Ideally, you are painting a picture of every touchpoint your customer has with the brand. 
2. Define your goals: In a perfect world, what information would you like to access for each location, store, or campaign? This will help you create a framework for how your CDP should function and help you identify if you need customization outside of what a CDP offers. Most likely, your vendor will be able to walk you through the available metrics and information, but if you are clear on your goals you can ask about those directly, ensuring you get the best product for your business’s needs.
3. Research the options and get demos: Since the world of CDPs is growing, you won’t be without options. Sometimes that makes it easier and sometimes harder to choose. Either way, ensure that the people that will use the platform the most are involved in the vetting process. Will it be marketing and sales primarily? Is there a need for IT to get involved? How does the new platform interact with current tools? Ensure there are integration capabilities with the most important tools in your Martech stack! 
4. Customize and evaluate! It can be time consuming to get a new tool off the ground, especially for multi-location marketing teams. It will require a concentrated effort and ensuring the tool meets most everyone’s needs. Regular evaluations and tests should be conducted to ensure the CDP is achieving the goals set forth and still aligns with the business needs. 

A CDP can be a game changer for multi-location businesses and enterprises looking to gain better insights into their customers and deliver a better overall experience. There’s no harm in a free demo after all.