The percentage of marketers using Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) dropped from 31% in 2022 to 25% in 2023 according to a report from the CDP Institute. This marks the first time the number has dropped in the history of the annual survey which began in 2017. Similarly, the use of other kinds of unified customer databases also dropped from 38% to 33%. However, a record high of 20% of organisations said they have a CDP in place and are delivering high value with it.
The survey, conducted of CDP Institute members globally, included 79 users and 184 vendors, with 62% of respondents based in the Americas. In terms of data unification and activation for customer-facing systems, 25% of respondents said many systems were connected to a unified customer database, 8% said they had added a shared orchestration engine, and 3% said they had a single system that served nearly all marketing functions. 15% said they had many systems connected to a CRM or marketing automation platform, and 49% said their organisation had many disconnected systems that carried out marketing functions.
In the last six years, organisations have planned out and deployed CDPs. 30% of organisations plan to start CDP deployment in the next 12 months, and 24% have a deployment in process. The number of CDP customers that report “little or no value” from their platform has dropped from 12% to 5%. Since 2017, the number of organisations with no plans to implement a CDP has dropped from 19% to 8%.
The survey asked respondents to pick three benefits that came from their CDP, and the top responses were: a unified view of customer data (77%), analysis (62%), orchestration (57%), message selection (35%), predictive capabilities (34%), data privacy (22%), and less reliance on IT (22%).
The slight dip in organisations using CDPs may be due to the fact that many organisations are replacing older connected systems with new ones and have yet to link up all the pipes. It also speaks to the changing definition of CDPs, as the technology continues to evolve, and capabilities around orchestration and activation have been added to many offerings in the space.
Originally reported by Martech: https://martech.org/are-marketers-cooling-on-cdps/
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