Are Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) worth the investment? What are the business outcomes CDPs deliver? What is the Return on Investment (ROI)? These are the questions Marketing leaders must ask to prove the value of a CDP as an investment, just like a new product, new store, new capital equipment. And to do that, we need a business case. Like all business cases, our CDP business case should:

• Plan for the tangible, measurable, business benefits a CDP will deliver
• Demonstrate incremental value (that wouldn’t be there without the CDP)
• Deliver long-term profit while delivering a short-term payback 
• Align with business strategies and integrate into the existing MarTech stack

Technology leaders want a strong Marketing partner. They look to Marketing to be articulate, visionary; to build a consensus. They want Marketing leaders to define success and measure business outcomes. But are we- as Marketing leaders - up to the task?

There is a lot at stake. Without Marketing leadership, IT runs the risk of over scoping a solution or missing critical requirements (and under scoping). Either way that means trouble:

CDP readiness series - getting the most out of customer data

No surprise: brands are inundated with customer data from various touchpoints. That’s why a Customer Data Platform (CDP) is important - to help businesses make sense of customer data and provide important benefits...

Marketing leaders already know that Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) can provide a big step forward for brands. CDPs vastly improve the way brands recognize customers. CDPs can help personalize the customer experience seamlessly and across channels.

Where do good ideas come from? Is there a science to innovation? How important is intuition and imagination?

Email is still the darling of digital when it comes to ROI: Email is low cost. By definition, email marketing is addressable media, so brands know immediately who is responding. In a survey, eConsultancy showed that brand managers feel email marketing is best at ROI, relative to other channels.

Research shows that consumers receive more than 300 emails per day. As an industry, we spend tons of energy figuring out how to stand out in a crowded inbox. Maybe we should insert a consumer’s first name in the subject line? What if we repeat back what a consumer browsed on a brand’s website? The tactics make a difference, but we’re missing the most important part.

The difference isn't the email; the difference is the customer

I had the pleasure of interviewing Akin Tosyali, one of the nation's leading Direct To Consumer (DTC) experts. No surprise: DTC is on fire. Most brands are accelerating their digital programs to meet consumer demand; some have adopted subscriptions and membership programs. As usual, Akin was open to sharing best practices from around the web and I guarantee you will be a better digital marketer after you read this, so meet the expert.

Akin Tosyali, DTC expert

Enough with the good ideas already

Not everyone wants your email. If that's true, why do customers signup anyway?

Many customers register their email address, but don’t opt in for email marketing. This is surprisingly common, and is a mystery to email marketers. Clients struggle to explain why 20% of their e-commerce customers are on a poorly named “suppression list”? What’s going on here?

When customers don’t opt in, are they saying they don’t love the brand? Could it be: our “fabulous deals” fall flat? Is it a matter of love the brand/hate the email?

The marketer in me doesn’t want to admit customers don’t want promotional email. Maybe I didn’t explain the benefits properly. If I used magical words, maybe that would’ve changed a customer’s mind. The best practice here is obvious.

The best email marketers set expectations properly. What types of emails will subscribers receive? How often? What are the benefits of receiving marketing email (not just sales incentives, but value-add)? How are subscribers in control?

Nordstrom has given this some thought. Their signup form says “Yes, sign me up for emails about the latest looks, sales, events and more.”

Amtrak features discounts, but there is value-add for news and information

Remember customers who love your brand, look forward to your emails. They pick them out of crowded inboxes. This DSW fan enjoyed getting 2 emails the same day. But not everyone wants to receive promotional, deal-centric emails. What are the best practices for how communicate without email?

• Think customers, not email addresses. When a customer does not opt in, it may mean there is another email they use more often (work versus personal email). The best email marketers see customers, many with multiple email addresses. In b2b, clients can associate email addresses to a site to support Account Based Marketing (ABM). Who else at that site is purchasing or engaging with your brand?
• Reach customers beyond email. A customer’s email address usually connects to terrestrial address, phone number and other juicy bits of data to help you communicate with your Direct mail is expensive, but may make sense for the most profitable customers
• Onboarding email addresses. Many brands use email addresses for onboarding - the process of matching to Google, Facebook, LiveRamp etc (with names like Google Customer Match, Facebook Custom Audiences, LiveRamp Data Matching). Onboarding gives brands a way to use display advertising when they can’t email directly. A best practice is to vary the message for cart abandoners, new customers, big spenders, customers nearing attrition, old customers who just visited your site. This is where email marketers can be creative, but don’t forget to test these ideas before you buy expensive paid media

Opt in, Opt out – make up your mind

Are you afraid of subscribers who opt in but subsequently opt out? From my experience, these are true opt outs in the sense that they experienced the email marketing program then said “forget it.” Fortunately, most brands discover these numbers are tiny as visualized using a brand in the home improvement industry.