The hidden reasons your CDP project is failing

It is common for companies to invest in new technology and then, a year later, wonder why they are not getting anything out of it. Sometimes it’s the Jane Fonda effect: “I’ll get in shape if I buy an exercise video.” Unfortunately, technology, like exercise videos, doesn’t work that way.

In this article, I’ll outline some of the key ways CDP projects fail, but I’ll start with a generic overview of why any large project or investment might fail.

Why your big project isn’t working

There are a number of possible reasons why a large project does not work.

You haven’t set clear goals

If you aim at nothing, you hit every time. It is important to have clear goals for any new venture, but that is not enough. You also need a commitment that you will not deviate from those goals without a very serious reason.

Your goals are not aligned with your overall strategy

That’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes a new technology is part of a skunk works project that doesn’t necessarily fit exactly into your overall strategy.

Watch out for this: New technology can be used as a way to tap into revolutionary change. An employed tech dreamer might think the company is terribly old-fashioned, and if they just bought something new, it would shake up the old guard and usher in the Age of Aquarius. That’s a recipe for disaster, of course, but one that too many executives are looking for.

Key stakeholders didn’t really buy in

Whoever is affected by the new initiative must believe in the goals and methods, not the stinginess or the words. “He who is convinced against his will is still of the same mind.” If you don’t get the right buy-in, you will have resistance later.

Departments are not aligned

Even if everyone agrees that you need a new Whatsit, they might have different ideas about its purpose or use. Buy-in means alignment of strategy and tactics.

No one is in charge

Most large initiatives affect several parts of the company, which is why you need to align key stakeholders and departments. That doesn’t mean you need “board rule.” Someone has to be in charge and everyone has to agree that that person is in charge and respect their leadership.

You have not budgeted for staff/resources

New technology comes at a price, but there are other things that go into the total cost of ownership, such as the staff to operate it, overhead costs, increased storage or bandwidth costs, and the inevitable mission creep. You want to avoid falling behind on a mission, but it’s wise to plan some because it’s unlikely that you thought of everything when you set your initial requirements and objectives.

You have chosen the wrong technology

Saving money on the RFP process can cost you later. Buying the wrong technology will hinder your efforts, at best, or force you to go through the entire process again.

You underestimated the challenges of integration

Any salesperson will tell you, “of course we can.” You need to ask probing questions to make sure their idea of ​​”it” is the same as yours. Also, when vendor A says they are integrating with vendor B, ask vendor B about it and ask some of vendor B’s customers.

You try to do too many things at once

If your company has a habit of chasing one in January and another in March, big projects will be a challenge. The person you hired will need resources – which you budgeted for but are now diverted to the latest shiny object.

Dig deeper: Customer Data Platform Market

Why your CDP project is failing

Here are some challenges more specific to CDP implementation.

Not understanding what CDP does

One of the most common misunderstandings I see is also one of the most basic: not understanding the difference between online and offline profiles (known and “unknown”). Just because you’ve imported your customer data into your CDP doesn’t mean you can target those people online. You need to link the web record to background data — often by collecting an email address.

CDPs do not solve problems automatically. They are just tools and you have to know how to use them. It’s hard to understand how everything works in the world of marketing technology, but before implementing CDPs it’s wise to have a pretty good idea of ​​how they work. For an easy, short introduction, read on my new book“What is a customer data platform? And why should I care?”

Selecting the wrong CDP

You need a CDP who has experience in your industry and with companies with a similar business model. Every industry has specific expectations and requirements, and you don’t want to explain them or constantly fight against different assumptions. A CDP that has all B2B clients will not understand B2C needs. You also want to match the size of the company. If you’re a small business, you don’t want a CDP that focuses on big companies. And vice versa.

Confused data

To get closer to the “single customer record” of an idealistic CDP, you need to be able to consolidate customer information. If your data is fragmented, inconsistent, poorly maintained, or rarely updated, this will be difficult. Some CDPs include tools to help with this process, while others expect you to clean things up using other services. Either way, messy data will mean a lot more trouble and cost, both for implementation and ongoing updates.

Lack of clear use cases

I spoke above about the generic need for clear goals when implementing new technology. Once you have clear goals, you need specific use cases — that is, a specific scenario or example of how your CDP can be applied to achieve the goal. These should be developed prior to the RFP process so vendors can explain exactly how their technology can achieve your goals.

Clear use cases are needed to demonstrate value, which should be part of your use case definition — that is, how do these use cases lead to increased revenue or reduced costs? The combined profit from your use cases must be sufficient to pay the costs of the CDP.

Overestimating possibilities outside the box

Have you ever been to a resort that advertises an ice rink, and when you got there with your skates, the rink was about the size of your kitchen? Technology companies can do the same thing. They develop a “minimum viable product” version of a feature or function so they can include it on their website.

If a feature is critical to your use cases, be sure to research it carefully to make sure it can do everything you need it to do.

Complexity of integration

“We have an integration with them” does not mean “we have a working, up-to-date, easy-to-use, well-supported integration with them.” Sometimes an integration was developed three years ago for one client and hasn’t been updated since then. In the meantime, technologies have changed and the integration no longer works – but it is still on the list of integrations.

Some integrations work like magic and take minutes to set up. Some are constant headaches that require complicated solutions and constant monitoring. Make sure you know what you’re getting into.

Underestimating the need for expertise

CDPs are built for marketers, so it’s easy to assume that a reasonably tech-savvy marketer should have no problem building all your use cases and managing a CDP.

It doesn’t work that way. You will still need expertise in certain areas (JavaScript, SQL queries, JSON, XML, APIs, tag management, etc.). If you do not have in-house expertise in these areas, you will need to pay for support services from CDP or another partner.

Privacy and compliance challenges

CDP must comply with data privacy laws (eg GDPR, CCPA). Some CDPs have built-in consent management tools that can help with this, or can integrate with third-party tools.

Neglecting long-term maintenance and growth

CDPs require ongoing management. If the CDP is the central hub for all of your user data, all of those connections will change as technology evolves on each side. Your business will change over time, and your CDP implementation will have to change with it. It’s not a set-it-and-forget-it tool.

You will also need to pay attention to the cost structure of the CDP and how this will change over time. If you are billed on a “managed profile” basis, this will increase each year, as will the size of your database, the number of events tracked, or how your CDP decides to charge.

CDP can be a huge asset to your organization, but it’s not magic, it’s not cheap, and it doesn’t work by itself. Get on the right track from the start by considering the potential pitfalls listed above and carefully planning how to avoid them.