A recent Forrester survey reveals that over 20% of B2C marketing decision-makers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region are currently utilizing Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), with an additional 26% planning to adopt them within the next year. The findings are detailed in the report titled The State of Customer Data Platforms in Asia Pacific 2024, which outlines the growth, emerging trends, and common challenges associated with CDPs in the region.
The report indicates a significant increase in first-party data collection, with 63% of B2C marketing decision-makers in APAC acknowledging investment in this area in 2024, compared to 56% in 2021. However, concerns regarding customer data quality (30%), accessibility (18%), and the ability to leverage buyer insights (17%) continue to hinder marketing organizations in achieving their objectives. In response to these challenges, an increasing number of marketers are turning to CDPs for support.
As of 2024, 23% of B2C marketing decision-makers in APAC report using CDPs, with 26% planning to implement them in the next 12 months. However, the maturity of CDP vendors and the interest among marketers varies significantly across the region, creating a diverse market landscape characterized by uneven revenue distribution across industries and geographies.
The hottest markets for CDPs include Greater China, Australia, and India. In China, digital ecosystem giants like Alibaba, ByteDance, and Tencent are entering the market, leveraging their data capabilities to offer standalone CDP solutions and capture market share. Australia represents a more mature market where established Western CDPs have seen substantial growth.
Industries such as retail, financial services, and consumer goods lead in CDP adoption, benefiting from extensive customer data and a proficiency in utilizing first-party data. These sectors are actively collaborating with CDP vendors to develop industry-specific use cases and share best practices.
The hospitality sector has also witnessed significant CDP investment growth, attributed to the rebound in travel and hospitality following the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a lower adoption of customer analytics tools in APAC, B2C marketers are increasingly leveraging CDPs to gain deeper insights into customer behaviors, preferences, and trends. There is also a rising demand for predictive analytics powered by AI and machine learning capabilities.
Incorporating Additional Functionalities into CDPs
Beyond the standard functionalities like customer analytics and self-service data access, there is a notable trend among APAC marketers to integrate adjacent capabilities into CDPs. The report suggests several enhancements:
Consent Management: CDPs are becoming essential for managing customer data effectively, but this requires proper consent management. In response to increasing regulatory demands, some CDP vendors now offer native consent management features, enabling compliance teams to oversee data governance and consent across channels. Marketers should ensure that CDPs maintain detailed consent information, including collection time and channels.
Identity Resolution: While not a mandatory feature, identity resolution is offered by some vendors as a competitive advantage. This goes beyond simple data matching, integrating various identifiers with behavioral, transactional, and contextual information to create comprehensive consumer profiles. Marketers should evaluate the ease of configuring and customizing resolution logic across platforms before making a purchase.
Advertising Use Cases: The incorporation of third-party data for advertising purposes is not new in APAC. Given that much marketing occurs on third-party platforms, marketers can enhance ad targeting by enriching first-party profiles with third-party data. This allows for the creation of precise microsegments, which can improve the effectiveness of audience targeting across ad platforms.
Marketer-Friendly Design: B2C marketers in APAC prefer CDPs tailored for their needs rather than those designed for technical users. They seek user-friendly platforms that enable marketing teams to manage and utilize CDPs independently, minimizing reliance on IT or external vendors. Advanced technologies, including generative AI, allow marketers to interact with CDPs in a more conversational manner.
Although companies that have invested in CDPs have high expectations for leveraging first-party data to drive positive customer and business outcomes, some may find the value realization process slow, limited, or difficult to measure.
To maximize the value derived from CDPs, the report recommends developing a company-wide CDP strategy to eliminate data silos. Organizations should form cross-functional committees to establish clear goals, assess readiness in terms of skills and resources, and engage data owners and stakeholders effectively. Additionally, creating a RACI matrix can help clarify responsibilities.
Marketers should prioritize use cases based on their potential value, relevance to business goals, and the speed of demonstrating returns—focusing on initiatives that involve fewer data sources and target systems. Furthermore, they should aim for scalability and replicate best practices across various departments and markets.
Finally, marketers need to be vigilant about hidden costs associated with CDPs and adopt robust models to track metrics and evaluate return on investment (ROI) proactively.
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