The evolution of the customer data platform market can be tracked based on the type of RFPs vendors have received over the years from potential brand clients.
Around 2014, it was “sort of a DMP-plus type of RFP,” says Cory Munchbach, chief operating officer at CDP BlueConic, on this week’s episode of AdExchanger Talks.
“You could really tell that was the lens folks were using to evaluate CDPs, as sort of the next generation of DMP,” she says.
By 2016 and into 2017, brands were sending out requests for proposals with 400, sometimes 500 (!!) questions about everything from email and messaging to data management and analytics.
“You could tell it was more of a fact-finding endeavor in those years for the potential buyers,” Munchbach says. Having collected information about a vendor, many of those brands would end up putting the project on hold because they realized through the RFP process that they needed to get their own data house in order before buying a CDP.
Shortly thereafter, around 2019, it was clear that “buyers had become much more discerning about the kind of functionality they needed,” Munchbach says. But the assessments were still quite broad.
It wasn’t until 2020 and into this year that brands had their CDP eureka moment, bringing vendors more probing questions about what using a customer data platform would mean for their particular business.
“This is part of the maturity of the category overall,” Munchbach says. “Everyone’s data is completely distinct … and we’re now seeing that higher level of discernment where [brands are asking], ‘What’s the right kind of CDP for me?’”
Also in this episode: Are marketing cloud CDPs just vaporware?; why data governance and privacy are becoming key differentiators in the CDP market; and Munchbach’s favorite two holiday movies.
