The Ultimate List of the Top Customer Data Platforms

Introduction

As a marketer in today's digital world, you know that data is king. Customer data platforms have become essential tools for gaining valuable insights into customer behavior and using that information to provide personalized experiences.

With many options on the market, finding the right customer data platform for your needs can be challenging.

This article provides an overview of the top 8 customer data platforms currently available based on functionality, integration, and pricing.

For each platform, you'll find an overview of key features, pros and cons, and who the platform is best suited for.

With this comprehensive list, you'll have the information you need to determine which customer data platform is the ultimate solution for unlocking the power of your customer data.

What Is a Customer Data Platform?

A customer data platform (CDP) is a unified database that collects and stores customer data from multiple sources.

It gives businesses a comprehensive view of their customers and enables personalized marketing based on customer insights.

The key features of a CDP include:

• Aggregating customer data from websites, mobile apps, CRM systems, and more into a single customer profile.
• Enabling a 360-degree view of the customer by linking data across systems and devices.
• Providing a platform to analyze customer data and gain actionable insights.
• Facilitating the use of customer data to power personalized experiences across channels.

The main benefits of a CDP are:

• Improved customer experience. By unifying data into a single customer view, brands can deliver personalized, tailored experiences that resonate with customers.
• Enhanced customer segmentation. CDPs make it easy to slice and dice customer data to identify key segments and micro-segments. Brands can then target these high-value segments.
• Optimized marketing performance. With a data-driven understanding of customer needs and behaviors, marketers can optimize campaigns to boost engagement and ROI.
• Future-proofed customer relationships. By investing in a CDP, brands are building a foundation to leverage emerging technologies like AI and gain a competitive advantage.

The 7 Best Customer Data Platforms

As a marketer, finding the right customer data platform (CDP) is crucial to gaining valuable customer insights and personalizing experiences. Here is a list of the top eight customer data platforms (CDPs):

Treasure Data

Treasure Data is a leading enterprise CDP. It collects and unifies customer data from multiple sources into a single customer profile.

Designed primarily for large organizations dealing with vast quantities of data, it simplifies the process of collecting, storing, and analyzing large diverse datasets.

The platform unlocks a 360-degree customer view, providing businesses with accessibility to the results of their data efforts in real-time.

Key Features

• Data ingestion from over 150 data sources
• Advanced identity resolution to link customer data across channels
• Machine learning and predictive modeling to uncover customer insights
• Activation of data to marketing and advertising platforms
• Providing enterprise-grade data security and privacy compliance capabilities, Treasure Data ensures data safety and adherence to key regulations.

Pros

• Scalability: Treasure Data shines in handling massive volumes of data efficiently, making it perfect for large enterprises.
• Robust Analytics: The platform's in-house analytics capabilities and AI functions offer powerful insights and predicative analytics.
• Data Activation Across Channels: By tying into multiple channels, Treasure Data allows for immediate and actionable utilization of insights.

Cons

• Complexity: With its broad set of features, Treasure Data requires a decent learning curve and substantial technical expertise to harness its full power.
• Cost: As a premium, enterprise-grade CDP, the cost of implementation might be high, which could be prohibitive for smaller businesses.
• Less Intuitive Interface: Some users have expressed that the user interface could be made more intuitive and user-friendly.

Tealium

Tealium is a popular CDP for managing customer data and powering personalized experiences.

Primarily catering to midsize and large enterprises, Tealium allows businesses to gain a comprehensive, single view of their customers, achieving personalized marketing responses.

The platform leverages a universal approach to obtain, validate, enrich, and take action on data across every customer touchpoint.

Tealium's CDP ensures superior customer data integration and orchestration across all marketing technologies to capitalize on the full value of customer data.

Key Features

• Data Integration: Tealium allows businesses to collect and unify customer data across a host of sources in real-time.
• Audience Segmentation: Based on the unified data, the platform enables granular audience segmentation to better target marketing efforts.
• Personalization: Companies can utilize the detailed and up-to-date customer profiles for better personalization of their marketing messages.
• Privacy and Consent Management: Tealium provides comprehensive tools to ensure customer data is handled in compliance with global privacy and consent regulations.
• Data Governance: Tealium's data management tools aid in maintaining data governance and ensuring the consistency and reliability of data.

Pros

• Flexibility: Tealium is renowned for its flexible application programming interface (API) and can integrate seamlessly with a variety of systems.
• Personalization: The platform provides excellent tools for segmenting customer data and delivering real-time, personalized content.
• Data Governance: Tealium's strong focus on compliance and data privacy suits businesses that require robust data governance.

Cons

• Technical Complexity: Users report that the platform can be quite complex. Non-technical users may require a steep learning curve to understand and utilize the system parameters fully.
• Pricing: Tealium is generally seen as premium priced and could be cost-prohibitive for some businesses.
• Customer Support: Some users have reported issues with customer service response times and quality of support.

Key Features

• Robust data collection through website tags, SDKs, APIs, and partnerships
• Advanced identity resolution and machine learning to build a 360-degree customer view
• Easy activation of data to over 1,000 third-party marketing and advertising platforms through pre-built integrations
• Flexible and customizable based on your needs

Segment

Segment is one of the most popular customer data platforms (CDPs) used by over 20,000 companies.

It is a hub that collects and stores customer data from various sources and then allows you to send that data to other business tools.

Key Features

• Connecting to over 200+ data sources to capture customer data across channels. It has native integrations with many platforms like Google Analytics, Facebook, Salesforce, etc. to easily import customer data into one place.
• A simple API and UI to control what data is sent where. You have full control and flexibility over the data you want to collect and activate.
• Transforming and mapping raw data into a standard format. The CDP cleans and organizes the data, so it is ready to use for analytics and personalization.
• Integrating with data warehouses and business tools. The aggregated data in Segment can be exported to data warehouses like Amazon Redshift or activated in other tools like Google Ads, Hubspot, etc. for a personalized customer experience.
• Robust security and compliance. Segment adheres to industry standards like HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, etc. to keep your customer data private and secure.

Pros

• Robust data collection. Segment can collect customer data from dozens of sources, including your website, mobile apps, email marketing campaigns, and more. It consolidates all of this data into a single customer profile.
• Flexible data control. You have full control over which data sources are enabled and which data is actually collected. You can collect as much or as little data as needed to suit your needs.
• Powerful data governance. Segment allows you to set data retention policies, restrict data usage, and manage consent and privacy preferences to ensure you stay compliant with regulations like GDPR.
• Useful insights. Segment provides analytics tools to help you gain valuable insights into your customer data. You can analyze trends, see metrics on key performance indicators, and even create customized reports and dashboards.
• Integrations galore. Segment seamlessly integrates with over 200 marketing and data tools. This makes it easy to activate your customer data across many platforms.

Cons

• Can be pricey. Segment is an enterprise-level tool, so costs can vary but typically start around $1,000/month. The price will depend on the amount of data you need to process. This may be too expensive for small businesses.
• Steep learning curve. Segment is a sophisticated tool, so it does take time to learn how to properly set up data sources, create profiles, analyze data, and more. You'll need dedicated resources to implement it.
• Limited data sources. Although Segment connects with many data sources, there are some it does not currently integrate with. So, you may still need additional tools to capture data from all your systems.
• Requires technical expertise. To get the most out of Segment, you'll need engineers, developers, or data analysts on staff who can build custom connectors, set up APIs, create dashboards, and handle more complex needs.

mParticle

mParticle is a leading customer data platform (CDP) that empowers brands to consolidate user data into a single source of truth.

It provides businesses with the ability to manage, improve and utilize customer data across their entire tech ecosystem.

mParticle is designed to serve marketing, product, and engineering teams, enabling them to transform customer experiences and fuel business growth.

Key Features

• Unified Customer Profiles: mParticle collects data from different sources, cleans it, and compiles it into unique, unified customer profiles.
• Real-time Data Activation: The platform provides real-time data synchronization across various marketing and business systems.
• Data Privacy and Governance: It offers comprehensive data privacy and governance features, including support for data minimization and consent management.
• Identity Resolution: mParticle's Identity Resolution unites user behaviour across all touchpoints into persistent customer profiles allowing for a unified, singular view of the customer.
• Data Mastering: mParticle offers data transformation functionality to clean, validate, and enrich customer data before being piped to other systems.

Pros

• Data Consolidation: mParticle serves as a singular and reliable source of truth for customer data, leading to increased effectiveness of marketing, product, and engineering teams.
• Ease of Integration: It offers numerous integration options, making it compatible with a variety of data sources and marketing tools.
• Strong Data Governance: With features like consent management and data minimization, mParticle takes privacy and data governance seriously, ensuring your organization adheres to global data regulations.

Cons

• Technical Complexity: Given its robust features, the platform can have a steep learning curve and may require significant technical expertise to fully leverage its capabilities.
• Cost: As a premium solution offering a suite of complex services, the cost might be prohibitive for smaller businesses or startups.
• Customer Support: Some users have expressed concerns about the platform's customer support responsiveness and quality.

BlueConic

BlueConic is a customer data platform focused on helping B2C marketers activate first-party data.

It serves as a unifying system providing seamless omnichannel customer experiences and improving the overall effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

The platform’s primary function is to consolidate customer data into a centralized location from where it can be accessed, analyzed, and put to use.

BlueConic provides tools for data collection, analysis, and activation, allowing businesses to personalize their customer experiences based on their behavior and individual profiles.

Key Features

• Unique Customer Profile: BlueConic creates a single, unified customer view by reconciling all data sources across your business.
• Real-time Data Management: BlueConic offers real-time segmentation and continual updates to individual profiles, ensuring real-time and relevant marketing responses.
• Lifecycle Orchestration: This feature allows marketers to designate stages of customers' lifecycle for targeted, timely audience engagement.
• AI Workbench: BlueConic’s AI capabilities help provide predictive analysis to guide future marketing strategies.
• Privacy and Consent Management: BlueConic provides robust tools for managing user consents and ensuring compliance with privacy regulations.

Pros

• Unified Customer View: The platform's ability to create a unique, comprehensive customer profile provides insightful data to strengthen marketing campaigns.
• Scalability: BlueConic handles vast quantities of data, allowing businesses to scale without limitations.
• AI Integration: The platform's use of AI in predictive modeling facilitates future customer behavior predictions, enhancing marketing efficiency.

Cons

• Cost: Some customers consider BlueConic to be on the higher end of the price range and may not provide enough value for smaller businesses or those with more straightforward needs.
• Interface Complexity: While the features offered are powerful, they take time to understand and use effectively. Some users have reported the UI to be less intuitive and user-friendly.
• Integration with Other Platforms: While it offers a good number of integrations, potential issues could arise depending on your pre-existing tech stack’s compatibility with the platform.

Totango

Totango is a customer success platform that allows businesses to understand and manage their customer relationships more effectively.

This software platform provides an insightful, comprehensive view of customers, encompassing data from multiple touchpoints to gather a 360-degree view of customer interactions, behaviors, and experiences.

Totango's purpose is to assist businesses in segmenting their customers, identifying trends, and strategically investing resources to nurture and strengthen customer relationships.

Key Features

• Customer Data Integration: Totango ingests customer data from various sources, providing a consolidated view of each customer's journey.
• Segmentation: Totango provides powerful segmentation tools to enable businesses to target specific customer segments effectively.
• SuccessBLOCs: Businesses can use SuccessBLOCs, which are goal-oriented modules to achieve specific outcomes such as increasing upsells, reducing churn, and improving customer adoption.
• Customer Health Scoring: Totango allows businesses to measure their customer health scores by evaluating customer engagement, product usage, and overall satisfaction.
• Task Automation and Management: Totango provides the ability to automate and manage tasks to ensure customer engagement and follow-up activities are not missed.

Pros

• Complete 360-Degree View of Customers: Totango collates data from multiple sources, providing rich, in-depth insights about each customer.
• Advanced Customer Segmentation: The platform's sophisticated segmentation tools allow precise, strategic targeting of specific audiences.
• Effective Task Management: With Totango, businesses can keep track of important tasks and automate certain touchpoints, increasing efficiency and ensuring regular customer engagement.

Cons

• Interface Complexity: Some users have reported that Totango's interface can be complex and overwhelming, causing a steep learning curve for new users.
• Integration Limitations: While Totango does indeed support integration with a variety of systems, some users have reported occasional difficulties with integrating certain CRM platforms.
• Reporting Limitations: Reporting in Totango might not be as flexible or customizable as some users would prefer.

Bloomreach

Bloomreach is a digital experience platform (DXP) that combines AI-driven search and merchandising tools with a next-gen content management system (CMS).

While Bloomreach is not categorized strictly as a Customer Data Platform (CDP), it provides robust capabilities to gather, analyze, and utilize customer data to create personalized and engaging online experiences.

Within Bloomreach, customer data can inform intelligent, automated merchandising and present relevant content based on known customer preferences.

This can significantly aid e-commerce and retail businesses in improving their customer interactions across various channels and touchpoints.

Key Features

• AI-Powered Site Search and Merchandising: Bloomreach's AI capabilities allow businesses to offer highly relevant product and content recommendations.
• Digital Experience Management: Companies can create, manage, and optimize rich digital experiences on a large scale.
• Personalization: With Bloomreach, businesses can personalize content, products and overall digital experiences based on user behavior, preferences, and history.
• Pathways: The platform provides user flow insights, making it easier to understand the customer journey and thereby drive meaningful interactions.
• Seamless Integration: Bloomreach allows easy integration with other third-party platforms like e-commerce systems or CRMs.

Pros

• Personalized User Experience: Using AI-driven site search and merchandising, Bloomreach creates highly personalized user experiences.
• Scalability: The platform is capable of managing large product catalogs and delivering content at a global scale.
• Actionable Insights: Through its Pathways feature, Bloomreach offers valuable insights into customer behavior and journeys.

Cons

• Learning Curve: Some users report a steep learning curve, possibly due to the broad set of features and capabilities.
• Customization Limitations: There could be limitations in terms of the flexibility and depth of customization possible with the platform.
• Pricing Transparency: Bloomreach doesn’t openly share their pricing structure, which could make comparison and decision-making more challenging for potential clients.

Conclusion

As you have seen, there are several excellent customer data platform options available depending on your business needs and budget.

The key is finding the solution that allows you to gain a single customer view, enable personalized experiences, and optimize your marketing and business outcomes.

With many CDPs now offering predictive analytics, machine learning, and customer journey mapping, these platforms have become even more powerful in helping brands better understand and engage their customers.

The CDP landscape is evolving quickly, so do your research to determine what is most important for your company and customers.

With the right CDP partner, you will be well on your way to gaining valuable customer insights and providing the hyper-personalized experiences today's consumers expect.