Customer Data Platform to boost digitalisation and recovery of business post-COVID-19

A 360-degree customer persona is generated automatically to help personalise messages for omnichannel delivery

The fourth wave of the pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to all businesses, especially retailers due to changing customer behaviours. Business owners are grappling with how to conquer and retain clients in the future, particularly beyond the Lunar New Year. The key for businesses to overcome the challenge lies in personalised marketing and sales, which has been used widely in Southeast Asia.

According to the Vietnam Consumer Survey titled “Staying resilient amidst headwinds” by Deloitte, survey respondents cited satisfaction with their prior purchase (19 per cent), convenience and speed of delivery (17 per cent), and a pleasant customer service experience (15 per cent) as the main drivers for their decision to make a repeat purchase. For retail businesses, this suggests the need to review their entire customer journey to envision and redesign frictionless experiences to encourage repeat purchases.

Dinh Le Dat, co-founder of Customer Data Platform Institute (CDPI) in Southeast Asia said Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a digital tool that can help businesses to obtain good data governance to build a personalised shopping experience. This customer data management platform has contributed to the success of several major retail chains in Southeast Asia and the world. It is clear that customer-centricity will be required of all businesses in the future. Therefore, it is crucial for businesses to create a 360-degree customer persona and utilise data analytics to tailor the customer experience for connected consumers.

According to Forrester, a leading global leading research company, customer data platform is a software that collects and unifies first-party customer data from multiple sources to build a single, coherent, complete view of each customer. Based on the insights, businesses can provide a personalised experience for customers.

Dat noted that customer data platform can support businesses, especially in retail industry to optimise conversion rates, motivate customers to return, as well as increase the average order value. As a result, businesses can achieve their ultimate goals of boosting revenue and improving customer retention based on their available resources. Global retail giant Amazon first sold books with a view to bringing the best online experience for customers so that customers will return and buy more books on the e-commerce platform next time.

In Vietnam, businesses and retailers are taking their first steps to implement customer data platforms, which is quite slow compared to the consumer shift to digital channels over the past two years of the pandemic. Vietnamese businesses should adopt a comprehensive solution of customer data platform with inbuilt features instead of building a completely new solution by themselves.

According to the latest report by CDPI, there are 25 customer data platform vendors in the Asia-Pacific region by July 2021. 11 out of 25 vendors are specialised in delivery CDP, which is capable of providing the most comprehensive CDP solution according to CDPI standards. These systems provide data assembly, analytics, and marketing delivery through many channels like email, web site, mobile apps, and online advertising.

Among them, Antsomi, a Singapore-based marketing technology company, is the first vendor in the CDPI list of 11 businesses with its Customer Data Platform 365 solution. It provides a comprehensive customer data platform to meet all end-to-end needs of corporate customers, including recording, analysing, and suggesting scenarios to support business implementation. Businesses can maintain smooth operation without paying fees for additional features.

Notably, Customer Data Platform 365 can be localised for every Southeast Asian market from retail data to marketing and sales channels. In Vietnam, this solution can be adapted to integrate into point of sale and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, which are installed by more than 90 per cent of retail chains in Vietnam. This platform can also support online marketing via Zalo, Tiki , Sendo, SMS, or customer care system of the enterprise to each customer.

In today’s context, when businesses will eventually move and take customer centricity, it is not enough to just stop at taking care of the current shopping experience. In the future, the problem for businesses for sustainable development is to predict customer-driven needs and trends, thereby preparing accordingly in product development and even business development. Adjust business strategy to optimise resources, costs, time, and ensure the highest efficiency.

When customer centricity becomes more important in today's competitive landscape, it is not enough for businesses to just take care of the shopping experience. Enterprises must predict the needs and trends of customers to develop products while adjust business strategies to optimise resources, costs and time to ensure the highest efficiency.