It’s no longer a secret that a customer data platform helps marketers achieve a unified view of their customers and improves their day-to-day efficiency. Or that they help marketers cut down on the time they spend cleaning and aggregating their customer data from various systems. Or that their segmentation capabilities help marketers create detailed customer profiles, and in turn help them create personalized marketing communications that resonate with their customers.
You get the picture.
What many people may not realize, however, is that there are unintended consequences to using customer data platforms. Sure they do all the useful things mentioned above (and more), but here’s a look at three things marketers will definitely miss doing once they start using a customer data platform.
#1: Frequent chats with IT
One of the nice things about customer data platforms is that they make running database searches easy and storing customer data a breeze. Their simplicity is a large part of their appeal, in fact. So, marketers will be disappointed to learn that they will no longer have to rely on their favorite member of the IT staff to run database queries and update data for them. The data stored in the platform is easy to access and update, and running customized reports and performing list pulls doesn’t require any complicated SQL commands.
A close relationship between IT and marketing is important though, so make sure to say hello to your friends over there every now and then. In fairness though, they’re probably tired of hearing from you and are likely very excited about your newly embraced self-reliance.
#2: Killing time waiting for your query to finish
Traditional customer databases typically contain massive amounts of information in them, and as a result don’t process customized queries at the lightspeed pace most marketers work at. This can be a nightmare for those looking to quickly shift gears on existing campaigns or get a new one started. Luckily, customer data platforms can process queries nearly instantly, delivering easily digestible results. They also allow marketers to easily create custom queries, allowing marketers to experiment with and explore their data.
Unfortunately, this means marketers won’t be able to take their usual long lunch while waiting for their queries to finish. This in turn will lead to an increase in productivity, better overall campaign planning, and better campaign results. A real nightmare scenario.
#3: Remembering all your login credentials
Most marketing teams take advantage of a variety of systems to stay connected with their customers. A typical marketing technology stack often features different systems for automation, customer relationship management, email management, social media engagement, and more. Customer data platforms are integrated with these systems and pull in customer data from all of them to help create a more detailed view of their customers and contacts.
So there goes the fun game of trying to remember which Pa55w0rd has the ‘!’ at the end and which childhood pet was the favorite the day the account was setup. Marketers will have to turn to daily crossword or sudoku puzzles in order to keep their minds fresh, or look to Tom Brady’s brain training regimen to ensure their place as the GOAT.
If you're looking to improve your marketing operations, be sure to check out QuickPivot's customer data platform.
