How to improve your CDP RFP process (+ 2 Mistakes to avoid)
March 1, 2022
Remember when marketing was simple? All you had to do was identify a target audience and run ad campaigns appealing to their needs. Today, customers interact with your brand across platforms, and all this data can quickly flood your database, making it impossible to gain insights from it. This is where CDPs tend to swoop in and save the day.
A CDP collects, structures, and cleans data for you so you can focus on making business decisions with that data. However, not all CDPs are created equal—we recommend writing an RFP to find which suits your needs best. This definitive guide to customer data platforms will cover everything you need to know about improving your CDP RFP process. This includes what a CDP is, what they’re used for, and some tangible examples to help illustrate what not to do.
What is a CDP RFP?
A CDP (customer data platform) is software that analyzes, tracks, and transforms data so you can use it to make informed marketing decisions. However, we don’t recommend using the first CDP you can find, or going with whichever solution claims market leadership.This is where an RFP (request for proposal) document helps. It’s used to evaluate if a vendor is equipped to meet your professional goals and grow with your business in the long term. This helps you avoid any incompatibility problems, and ensures you invest in a solution that will continue to add value to your business over time.
How to improve your CDP RFP process in four steps
Already considering a CDP, but thinking about improving your CDP RFP process first? Consider these four steps:
- Identify your business goals
- Determine CDPs that meet your needs
- Write your RFP
- Select the right long-term vendor
Step 1: Identify your business goals
Before you write your RFP, analyze your business goals and determine why you want to improve your CDP. Some common reasons include:
- You want to remove data silos
- The structured data you’re currently gathering isn’t reliable
- You need a more detailed understanding of customer needs and preferences
Step 2: Determine which CDPs meet your unique needs
Once you’ve determined why you need to improve your CDP, it’s time to list CDPs that meet your needs. There are four common types of CDPs:
- Data-focused CDPs
- Campaign-focused CDPs
- Partial CDPs
- Niche CDPs
If your primary focus is to eliminate data silos, data-focused CDPs like Lytics can help structure all marketing and customer data under one digital roof. Although there’s a lot of overlap with data-focused CDPs, campaign-focused CDPs are useful when building ad campaigns. But if you don’t need a specialty data platform, you’ll be happy to know that most CRM (customer relationship management) systems offer limited CDP-like capabilities, sometimes referred to as partial CDPs. The last option is a niche CDP. These tools are usually built in-house because they require specific functions. For example, let’s say you work in motorsport and require software with particular functions. In that case, a niche CDP is a good option, but will require the maximum lift for your teams.
Step 3: Write your RFP
Once you’ve identified your business goals and a list of CDPs that suit your needs, it’s time to write an RFP. In this RFP, include information like:
- A summary of why you’re implementing a CDP
- The challenges you want your CDP to solve
- What metrics you’re relying on to measure success
We also suggest adding a section where vendors can enter information about their company like:
- A summary of the vendor
- The people behind the CDP
- A summary of products and services
- Two or three customer success stories
Step 4: Select the right long-term vendor
The last step is to select the vendor that meets your business criteria. Vendors will probably take a few days to put resources together. So during this time, we recommend setting up a video call and asking as many questions as possible. For example, you could ask about their security, data-loss protocols, and overall user interface. Once you’ve received responses from vendors, rate each one using an RFP template and narrow down your list to a handful of vendors.
Many businesses will choose one vendor. But this can create problems if a vendor doesn’t match your business interests. So we recommend signing up for two or three vendors to work from a shortlist, get a feel for their platforms, and choose among multiple viable options. With this first-hand experience, you’ll likely quickly understand which is best for you.
2 Mistakes to avoid when creating your CDP RFP
The two common mistakes we see businesses make when writing an RFP to CDP vendors are:
- Structuring your RFP around features, not use cases
- Not having anybody (or the right person) in charge
1. Structuring your RFP around features, not use cases
The biggest mistake businesses make when improving their CDP RFP process is structuring their decision around features, not use cases. They’ll look at all the features a CDP has, go for the vendor that offers the most features, and find that they end up using none of them in their daily business processes. Instead, analyze features and link them to how your organization can use them to streamline data management.
2. Not having anybody (or the right person) in charge
Many businesses implement CDPs using shared responsibility. While this is a good idea, you’ll also want someone in charge to analyze business processes and performance. CDPs affect every department, from product development to marketing and IT. So instead of hoping everyone will do their part and your CDP will run itself, put someone in charge of managing and developing your CDP: and ensure it’s someone with a cross-departmental view who will advocate for a CDP to help the full business, not just your data or your marketing team.
Customer data management is easy with Lytics
Collecting, cleaning, and managing data doesn’t have to be tedious and overwhelming. Customer data platforms like Lytics are designed to remove data silos and convert customer data into useful insights. When starting your CDP RFP process, consider a composable CDP solution like Lytics for maximum flexibility and scalability.
