CDP - Customer Data Platforms?

[Ryan Everson]

It seems like everyone in automotive is talking about CDPs (customer data platforms), the latest buzzword in the industry. But with so many vendors claiming to have one, how do you know which CDP can truly deliver on its promises and help you power better customer experiences?

The truth is, very few CDPs on the market today are actually able to provide the level of customer insights and personalization that dealers need to thrive. Instead, many of these so-called CDPs seem to be primarily designed to supplement advertising agency revenue (possibly to replace the loss of Google Partner $?) by charging a flat monthly fee for a platform that powers advertising campaigns that dealers were already running. So the obvious question is: is the improvement in ad performance worth the added cost?

For dealers with larger advertising budgets, the answer may be yes. But for those with smaller budgets, it's important to carefully consider the cost-benefit analysis before committing to a CDP that may not deliver the ROI you're hoping for.

If you're considering a CDP for your dealership, make sure to do your research and choose a vendor that has a proven track record of delivering real value to its customers. Don't get caught up in the hype of the latest buzzword – focus on finding a solution that can truly help you improve your customer experiences and grow your business. For some dealers, it might be better to consider pushing that money to the bottom line of your financial statement while you wait for your perfect CDP partner to emerge from the current CDP frenzy.

So, what are your thoughts on CDPs and their role in automotive marketing? Have you had success with a particular vendor, or are you still weighing your options?

 

[Anthony G.]

I looked at Tealium and it's good, won't pencil with only 250 cars a month. It's better for us to have a single CDP for the whole group. We're wasting money by cannibalizing our Google budget, but a CDP would pay for itself in wasted ad dollars fighting each other over the same customers. It's probably good for the consumer and decent enough to look seriously at in my use case.

 

[AutoAlex]

For someone who is not a marketing guru or keeping up on the latest trends - how does a CDP do what it does (I am assuming a CDP's primary goal is to keep your business in front a customer, not sell a car today or tomorrow)?

 

[BEW01]

I looked at Tealium and it's good, won't pencil with only 250 cars a month. It's better for us to have a single CDP for the whole group. We're wasting money by cannibalizing our Google budget, but a CDP would pay for itself in wasted ad dollars fighting each other over the same customers. It's probably good for the consumer and decent enough to look seriously at in my use case.

What kind of pricing are you seeing for CDP? Is it flat fee based or size of DB, etc...?

 

[Alex Snyder]

One of my NADA goals was to get an overview of the CDPs out there with a primary interest in providing the data we have at FRIKINtech. The kind of insights into buyer motivations we have are deeeeeep, and it sucks we're the only ones who can show that data off. I'd love to see an entire consumer journey of data where we're providing the niche end of it that we touch.

At the moment, the leading contenders are Auto Lead Star and Outsell. In my opinion, this is how their UI is structured to provide a clear picture, and they're not trying to make money off of other vendors.

One of my fears for this genre of data intelligence is when a CDP tries to monetize the integrations. When that occurs, they will no longer be a trustworthy data provider to dealers but a $$$-biased leach. Enough of that is happening with DMS platforms, and Cox is trying to place an expensive integration model in front of other pieces of their tech too. We don't need a different genre of leaches to the dealers' bottom line.

 

[Alex Snyder]

For someone who is not a marketing guru or keeping up on the latest trends - how does a CDP do what it does (I am assuming a CDP's primary goal is to keep your business in front a customer, not sell a car today or tomorrow)?

Right now, they take in data from their system mixed with data from others and show a timeline for a single customer. It isn't tarnished by salespeople changing things, so the data is purer than a CRM. It will ingest the CRM data to show noteworthy events.

So, you can see where someone was served or touched an ad and what campaign. When they came in as a lead, and which source. Then you can view the outreach from the dealership and how they eventually bought the car.

In time, these systems will better ingest service data to see a maintenance history and how many dollars were spent in service. Dealers should know which customers are loyal and their total lifetime value. Those metrics should shape which person in the dealership works with that customer.

The tech is SUPER EARLY. To @Ryan Everson's point, there is much to navigate as they continue ironing things out.

 

[Ryan Everson]

Yeah, right now most current "CDPs" fall more in line with the MAP (marketing automation platform) moniker.

Ad agencies have lost out on a substantial amount of Google Partner $ when Google eliminated their incentive program.

Introducing a "CDP" (but really a MAP) seems like an easy way for some agencies to potentially recoup that lost revenue and generate more consistent MRR.

Fixed $1,000 /mo > 35% ad management fee

 

[BEW01]

Has anyone used AutoLeadStar (now Fullpath)? Ease of use? Effectiveness? Cost?

 

[David Steinberg]

To Ryan's point, the automotive CDP's are marketing solutions.
The non-automotive CDP's, have the challenge of getting the data, and ingesting the data to be usable in the way a group/dealer wants to use it -- storing data by location, a concept of inventory, etc.
With the Foureyes Unified Data Platform, you can pipe the data from the website, inventory, CRM into your data warehouse (or create one for you if you don't have it). The advantage of this method is you can easily connect a less expensive, more robust CDP to this datasource and get the activations of a CDP at lower cost with more control.

 

[Bashir]

I have been looking for a long time at a CDP platform to help me analyze and run better campaigns. I looked at CDP platforms within the auto industry (Auto Lead Star and Orbee?) and with companies outside the automotive space. What I realized is that those in the auto industry are over promising, whereas the companies outside the auto industry were more careful with their promises. A CDP would require a team managing it. The red flag and maybe I am wrong is everyone I spoke to from companies in the auto industry kept saying this is an automated platform that does not require no managing(their selling point). I would appreciate some input from people who have tried incorporating a CDP with their marketing.