Think of the last time you bought something online. You probably did a lot of research before, visited a few pages, interacted with websites and advertisements, watched a few videos, and then finally made a purchase. During this whole purchase journey, you might have received multiple emails and ads that felt more and more personalized. Even though they were automated, it felt like they were specifically designed for you. This happens because of the Customer Data Platform (CDP) that companies use to know their customers personally and up close. Read on to learn more about this technology and the role automotive CDP plays in the automotive industry.
What is a Customer Data Platform?
A customer data platform (CDP) is a technology that uses multiple tools to collect and combine customer databases from any channel, system, or data stream and builds a unified customer profile. It also combines a database containing all the customer touchpoints and interactions with your product or service. That database can be segmented in real time for companies and allows them to create personalized marketing campaigns. CDPs are very useful as a central database for user-level data.
CDP tools include a customer database, automation, and management resources for multichannel campaigns, real-time customer interactions, and connected data. They tie the databases together that don’t share data traditionally, like marketing platforms, e-commerce engines, and service software. This gives companies easy access to insights they need to connect with their customers. For instance, automotive CDPs provide easy access to customer’s data that helps auto dealers connect with their consumers and shoppers.
What is an Automotive Customer Data Platform?
An automotive customer data platform is a type of software that collects and organizes customer data from a variety of channels and sources, including both online and offline. CDP’s goal is to provide a unified overview of customers to help businesses improve their marketing, sales, and customer service efforts. Automotive CDP software has become increasingly important for automotive dealerships as it allows dealers to understand their customers better, personalize their marketing accordingly, and improve the overall customer experience.
Understanding What a Customer Data Platform Does
A customer data platform creates a combined database of customer information that is accessible to all the other systems. A CDP provides an overview of each customer and each of their interactions and behaviors by combining customer data from multiple sources into a single platform. The data includes a lot of customer touchpoints such as online interactions, purchases, customer service inquiries, and social media activity. The data is updated in real time to make sure each customer’s latest interaction is recorded.
With a CDP, dealerships can get a better understanding of their customers and their interest in specific products and services they offer, so they can make better marketing, inventory, and pricing decisions. CDPs work hard to bring all the customer data into one place, combining the CRM, DMS, inventory, website analytics, and ad data, then sorting and maintaining the data to create a singular profile of the shoppers and customers.
Dealerships can use the tools offered by CDP to break up the database, learn about customer behavior, understand their interests and their engagement with inventory, and create marketing campaigns accordingly. A dealership can determine which customers have expressed interest in their product within the past month. Then, they can target them with a special offer to close a deal. They can use the same data to target new potential customers with similar demographics, needs, and interests.
One can say that CDP offers dealers a flawless entry into the world of possibilities that exists with clean, unified, and actionable data. Automotive dealerships can utilize automotive CDP that can increase satisfaction and build customer loyalty that creates long-term repeat business, whether at the dealership itself, on the website, or through personalized marketing. The software is built to enhance the automotive customer experience.
CDP vs. DMP: What’s the difference?
DMP (Data Management Platform) is another system like CDP (Customer Data Platform) that handles customer data. While DMPs are designed for anonymous data and are used mostly for targeted advertising, CDPs focus on known customers.
Initially, DMPs were made to support marketers with digital advertising by using anonymous web cookies and device IDs. However, with increasing privacy regulations and the decline of third-party cookies, DMPs have faced limitations because of their focus on short-term and third-party data.
Whereas, CDPs were made to provide a detailed and continuous view of the customer. They include a lot of data, including first-party information from websites and apps. The database is then used to create focused marketing campaigns, improve customer service, and support data-driven decisions.
CDP vs CRM: What’s the Difference?
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) primarily handles structured data like contact information and sales records, while CDPs can handle both structured and unstructured data, such as web browsing history or social media activity. This makes CDPs more versatile in their data handling.
CRM software holds a record of all the new and old leads of a dealership. It is where the sales team works to approach leads, and it serves as an activity log for the BDC and sales teams so they know when to reach out to leads. However, the CRM gets loaded with junk, i.e. duplicate and cold leads, over time. This is where CDP comes in. The CDP takes duplicate leads and cleans them so there is a singular picture of every opportunity in the CRM.
The CDP will make sure that the same person isn’t being engaged in multiple different ways because their records are not consolidated. It will set the dealership up for marketing success as the data is stored in an actionable way, which allows it to be used for smart marketing campaigns, whereas CRM data is not structured for this type of engagement.
The Role of CDPs in Car Dealerships
CDP plays an important role in car dealerships by helping them understand their customers. It helps by providing a view into a customer’s behavior, preferences, and needs. This helps dealerships design their marketing strategies, improve their customer service, and make more informed decisions.
An automotive CDP, for example, may reveal that a customer is interested in electric vehicles, based on their browsing behavior on a dealership’s automotive website. The dealership can then send that customer specialized marketing campaigns and ads that are related to electric vehicles and increase the chances of a sale. A CDP might also reveal that a customer has had various negative experiences with the dealership. This helps the dealership take steps to improve the customer’s experience and turn the dissatisfied customer into a happy and loyal one.
Why should Businesses, particularly Automotive Dealerships, Care about CDPs?
The automotive industry has been known for the constant change of numbers in data. The customer information is scattered across various systems. The complexity of this sector, accompanied by the wide network of automotive CRM and DMS platforms, services and parts systems, third-party lead providers, and marketing platforms, creates a large pool of data sets. This dispersion of information prevents a single perspective of the consumer and reduces the effectiveness of marketing and customer service strategies.
Every point of interaction, whether for sales or service, is managed by different vendors, each managing its own subset of customer data. For example, a customer’s purchase history might be in DMS, while their website browsing behavior is in a separate marketing platform. This is a major challenge for dealerships that want to collect and analyze their customer data. This scenario leads to missed sales opportunities. That’s why, overcoming databases and unifying scattered data sources have become a topmost priority for dealerships. This is where CDP comes in to save the day and make their job easier by collecting and combining the databases in one place.
The Value of a Customer Data Platform
A CDP helps businesses grow in the competitive market, build strong relationships with their customers, and stay profitable. To stay ahead in the industry, it is important to understand CDP fully and use it to its full potential. Here’s the value a CDP holds:
1) Combined Customer Perspective: CDPs collect data from various sources and provide a 360-degree view of a customer’s interaction with the business. The journey provides a look into a customer’s behavior and needs.
2) Improved Personalization: Businesses can create personalized marketing campaigns, strategies, and messages, to make customer experiences better, which will lead to an increase in customer loyalty.
3) Data-Based Decision-Making: Detailed customer data helps make a way for data-driven decision-making which improves marketing tactics and strategies and improves operational efficiency.
4) Promote Data Security and Compliance: CDPs help businesses with data protection regulations and make sure the collected data from different sources is secure.
Benefits of Implementing a CDP at Your Car Dealership
A CDP can offer several major plus points that can help your dealership get a leg up in this ever-evolving auto market. It can transform the way your dealership interacts with your customers which will result in more effective marketing. The following are the benefits of implementing an automotive CDP:
1) Removing Data Silos
CDPs gather up the siloed first-party data sources and create a singular and clear picture of all the ongoings in your dealership. It builds a single source for all the analytics and information about the dealership as well as your customers.
2) Creating a 360° View
CDPs will track every customer’s touchpoints and interactions with your dealership, from their first ad or website click to a vehicle purchase, to their next service appointment. It will do so by bringing together the website data, CRM, and advertising data.
3) Providing Personalized Experiences
CDPs will create 360° profiles that will help you personalize your approach at every interaction on the customer journey based on the customer’s needs and interests.
4) Improving Your Marketing Efforts
Automotive CDP will clean and normalize the databases using identity resolution technology that will remove leads and create a singular shopper profile so your dealership can stop marketing to the same lead twice.
5) Improve Customer Experience
CDp will help capture customers’ journeys and capture their lifetime value (LTV) by using data to gain a view into your operations and improve the customer experience at your dealership.
6) Ensuring Data Security
It is important that your dealership is fully compliant with the FTC safeguard rules. CDPs are meant to work with top-level encrypted tech to ensure that your data is safe.
Core Components of an Automotive CDP
You might have noticed that many CDP providers offer similar services on various levels. It is important to understand each feature and learn more about the capabilities that are included to understand whether or not the platform will meet your automotive dealership’s needs. The following are the core components an automotive CDP must have:
1) Data Integrations
Your CDP should be able to connect with multiple dealership-specific data sources because a good CDP gathers data from all the sources, including your CRM, DMS, websites, social media, and more to analyze customer data and create a detailed view of your customers’ profiles and their interactions with your dealership.
2) 360° Profile Views
Combining scattered customer data to create a singular and clear customer profile from various data channels is an important and core function of a CDP. When done properly, 360° profiles will allow you to track every customer engagement with your dealership in one orderly profile. This includes website visits, ad clicks, email interactions, visits or calls, appointments and more.
3) Data Insights & Analytics
Your CDP should provide analytical tools for examining customer behavior, trends, and patterns to predict future customer actions. This is an important feature. This can make your dealership smarter, able to make educated inventory decisions and construct marketing strategies that will meet expected customer needs.
4) Real-Time Data Processing
Your CDP should have the capability to handle and process real-time data and make changes to every profile as it happens. Humans are not capable of syncing real-time data from multiple sources. With the help of a CDP, you can make sure your dealership is always keeping accurate customer information.
5) Resolving Multiple Identities
When data from multiple sources are combined, you might end up with multiple profiles that belong to the same person. CDP will identify and resolve customer identities across various platforms and combine them into one profile. It is not a feature to sleep on as this will make sure your dealership is working with accurate and up-to-date information.
6) Sectioning Audiences
Your CDP should be able to build targeted lists or audiences based on specific demographic or shopper criteria pulled from all the scattered data. This component allows you to create a new level of personalization that meets the shopper’s needs directly, making sure you provide value at every interaction and touchpoint.
7) Data Privacy and Security
Poor data security increases your chances of leaks and lawsuits, but you can avoid that by investing in a good CDP. Your CDP should have robust data management and governance features to make sure that your customer data is accurate, updated, and secure.
8) Customization Options
Personalization is an important component of success when it comes to the modern world of retail as it helps increase retention by creating one-on-one experiences for your customers. CDP can contribute by creating shopper profiles so you can use that data to create personalized and targeted experiences.
Challenges of Implementing a CDP in a Car Dealership
Implementing an automotive CDP in a car dealership comes with its challenges, although it is not supposed to be overwhelmingly difficult. The following are some common challenges car dealerships face when implementing a CDP initially:
1) Complex Data Combining Process
Collecting and combining data from different sources of your dealership can be tough and can take time. This can be avoided by performing proper research and making sure that your platform is compatible with the data providers.
2) Training Employees
New tech can be scary for the team. Lack of understanding or resistance towards change can cause difficulties in adopting the technology and realizing its potential. It is important that the team is offered training opportunities to learn how to use this new technology.
3) Challenges in Customization
Every dealership has its unique process and way of doing things. Designing the CDP to align with the needs of your dealership may require customization which can be challenging and can extend the implementation timeline. Your vendor should know how much time it will take so you can prepare beforehand.
CDP Cost & Pricing Considerations
Investing in a CDP is a long-term commitment that turns out to be savings for your dealership. It is important to carefully check the costs and pricing options to make proper decisions that will suit your budget and goals. Here are a few points to keep in consideration:
1) One-Time Costs vs. Subscription Fees
Some CDPs offer one-time licensing fees, while some offer subscription-based pricing. First, consider which option fits the best with your dealership’s needs and budget. It is very important to know that subscription models grant access to new features when they are released, which means your software will get better over time.
2) Customization and Implementation Costs
Some CDPs provide customization and implementation packages that help dealerships get up and running quickly. These packages may come with additional costs sometimes, so make sure you factor them into your business budget.
3) Maintenance and Support Costs
Make sure you carefully consider and calculate the costs of maintaining and supporting your CDP needs. Look for a software provider that will offer flexible and all-inclusive support options.
Also, do make sure you’re completely aware of the costs, the payment schedules, and the contract timeline you’re signing up for. This will make sure that you have chosen a CDP that fits your needs as well as your budget.
Automotive CDPs + AI: The Ultimate Tool to Empower Dealerships
Automotive dealerships can use their customer data in a friendly and accessible way by combining automotive CDP with AI. This union makes dealerships able to make data-driven decisions, create personalized experiences, and stay ahead in this competitive market. With this collaboration, dealerships can:
1) Use Real-Time Customer Data
AI-driven analysis with CDPs helps with delivering real-time data on customer behavior and preferences. This ensures that your marketing is always equipped with up-to-date information for timely decision-making.
2) Create Smooth Journeys Across Platforms
Dealerships can create flawless customer journeys, both online and offline. When your dealership data is combined with the analytical abilities of AI, you can look into information about your customer’s preferences and needs, so that you can take an informed next step.
3) Automate Marketing Campaigns
AI takes the work out of personalized marketing by automating the creation and optimizing the ad and email campaigns using real-time data from the CDP. This means that your campaigns are targeted and are being adjusted in real time based on the data and customer interactions.
4) Improve Inventory Management
AI analyzes real-time customer needs and preferences from the data gathered by CDP. It will help you with car inventory management. AI can provide recommendations for specific vehicles and parts that they might be interested in, and increase the chances of sales.
Conclusion
Clearly, customer data platforms (CDPs) are changing the game, no matter the industry. For auto dealers, automotive CDP helps them understand their customers better and offer better and more personalized experiences. As this industry moves forward, CDPs will be the key to staying ahead and keeping the customers happy!
