If you work in digital marketing, you cannot avoid having been exposed to conversations about how a CDP fixes most, if not all, of your problems. For companies who have bought into the Adobe stack, you'll likely be looking at Adobe RTCDP.
A CDP isn't an impulse purchase (if such a thing exists in Marketing) but is often a long process. However, this shouldn't put you in a waiting position. If you have Adobe Target, you can start your CDP journey today and harvest some low-hanging fruits. If you need to consider a CDP, then using Target can help you build a business case for why purchasing one is valid.
Kasper Andersen, Partner
In this article, you will learn how Adobe Target can work like a Customer Data Platform (CDP), its good and bad parts, and how it can help you move towards using a complete CDP. This guide will show easy steps to help you get started.
Can Adobe Target Work as a CDP?
Adobe Target has many features similar to those of a real CDP. This means it can be a good choice for businesses that want to use customer data to make things more personal without paying for a full CDP. However, there are some differences between Adobe Target and a real CDP.
A traditional CDP collects data from many sources, such as websites, emails, and in-store purchases, and combines it with ID stitching to create a complete picture of each customer. Adobe Target, however, doesn't have the same advanced ID stitching and is primarily intended for testing and improving experiences. Adobe Target can collect and use customer data, but it only has some tools a real CDP has to gather data from many sources.
Still, Adobe Target does have some CDP-like functions when used with Adobe Experience Cloud. Customer Attributes can bring in offline data like purchase history and CRM data. For example, Adobe Target can use information from a CRM to suggest products that customers might like. This can help create a consistent experience across all channels.
Adobe Target is good at combining customer data to create groups and personalize messages, just like a CDP. However, personalization will be on a group level rather than the 1:1 personalization a CDP can deliver.
How Adobe Target Collects Data
Adobe Target has some tools that help collect and organize customer data. When a visitor visits your site, Target creates a Profile based on the cookie ID and 'stores' information in the Profile that you tell it to.
This is done using mbox profile parameters.
This is great for returning visitors, as you can now personalize and promote messages based on the visitor's previous behavior.
Personalization goes wrong when the same visitor accesses the site from a new device. A new device means a new cookie and a new Target profile.
Target has a fix for that.
If your visitors are logging in, you can pass a DeclaredID to Adobe's Visitor ID Service or through a mbox parameter named mbox3rdPartyId.
When mbox3rdPartyId (or the Visitor ID Service) is set, it stitches the cookie IDs across devices to ensure that the Profile stays the same across devices.
Now, it begins getting interesting as Target begins behaving like a CDP.
One key feature available when setting the DeclaredID is using Customer Attributes. This lets Adobe Target collect data from CRM, Call centers, and other sources all in one place. For example, a business can use Adobe Target to target customers who are evaluated as having a high churn risk and use that information to show a relevant message to reduce the churn.
Adobe Target can also collect data in real time, which helps keep customer profiles up to date. If a customer leaves items in their shopping cart, Adobe Target can offer a discount immediately to help close the sale.
Benefits of Using Adobe Target as a CDP
- Personalized Experiences: Adobe Target allows grouping more significant segments and personalization of them based on their common attributes.
- Real-Time Responses: Adobe Target can react to customer actions instantly. For example, if a user is looking at a specific product, Adobe Target can immediately show them more related products.
- Works with Adobe Tools: Adobe Target works well with other tools like Adobe Analytics. This helps businesses get more information about their customers and use it to improve their marketing.
Challenges of Using Adobe Target as a CDP
Not as Powerful as a Full CDP: Adobe Target has tools different from those of a real CDP, which does not allow one to get a complete view of each customer.
Data Silos: Adobe Target is limited to how much offline data can be onboarded.
ID Stitching: Adobe Target has fundamental ID stitching, which cannot be compared to a real CDP.
Step-by-Step Guide: Setting Up Adobe Target as a CDP
Overall, there are three steps you need to perform to begin to do cross-device personalization with CRM data.
- Pass DeclaredID to Adobe
- Configure Customer Attributes (import CRM or other data sources)
- Create an Audience off of your newly imported CRM data
Pass DeclaredID to Adobe
As mentioned, this can be done using Visitor ID Service and the mbox parameter mbox3rdPartyId. I'll only walk you through the simplest of the two, the mbox3rdPartyId approach.
Ideally, your visitor's DeclaredID is already exposed in your data layer when users log in. If not, your IT department might have to expose it for you.
I'm also assuming you're using Adobe Tags (aka. Adobe Launch) as your Tag Manager solution and already know how it works regarding libraries and publishing flows. Here goes:
1. Create a data element for the DeclaredID (if it doesn't already exist) and map it to your data layer element. For me, it looks like this:
2. You may already have an existing rule that triggers Target on all pages. You can edit this or create a new one.
3. In your actions of the rule, add or click on the existing Adobe Target - Add Params to All Requests.
4. Add a new parameter mapped to the data element in step 1. Make sure the parameter name is spelled correctly. Otherwise, it won't function as expected.
5. Publish your new changes.
Technically, you're done now.
By deploying the mbox3rdPartyId, you can now do cross-device personalization, as Target will now ID sti...or rather, cookie stitch visitors with a DeclaredID. Of course, the visitor must log in on both devices for Target to stitch.
Your segmentation is still limited to behavior collected by Target, so let's move on to ensure you can segment on offline/CRM data.
Configure Customer Attributes
Customer Attributes allows you to import offline data and tie it to the DeclaredID. Any offline data you can map to the DeclaredID can be uploaded into Customer Attributes, and by doing so, it becomes available to create Audiences in Adobe Target.
Data points examples:
- - Membership level/type
- - Membership points
- - Next best offers
- - Next best action
- - Churn risk
- - Customer Lifetime Value
- - Lead score
- - etc.
Before you start, ensure you know what data you want to upload and that the data can be mapped to the DeclaredID set on your site. Once you have that, you can get started with configuring the Customer Attributes:
1. Navigate to People
2. Navigate to Customer Attributes in the top menu.
3. Click +New
4. Creating the new Customer Attribute is pretty straightforward. The most important field is the Alias ID. When taking the mbox3rdPartyId approach, you can give it any name. If you've taken the Visitor ID Service, it is important that the alias matches the alias you've set in the implementation.
5. Upload your file with the data and confirm the schema. Ensure that the first column contains the DeclaredID.
6. Finally, activate the Customer Attribute for Target.
Depending on your Target license, you might be limited to activating only three columns at a time.
More importantly, you can automate the file upload. You could do this via your Marketing Automation tool (e.g., Adobe Campaign, Marketo, or something else).
The benefit here is that you—in most cases—already have your CRM data integrated into these solutions. So, instead of creating a new integration, you benefit from having your Marketing Automation spit out a daily, weekly, and monthly file that Customer Attributes then pick up and load to ensure your data is kept up to date.
Create an Audience with your new onboarded data
If you've been able to follow along this far, then it is time to be excited, as this is where the fun begins.
When creating a new Audience, you should select Visitor Profile. Here, your Customer Attribute will be auto-populated with the data columns that you activated.
It is simply going crazy building Audiences and using them in your activities.
Let's recap what you've achieved so far:
- You're setting a DeclaredID for your visitors who log in. This allows you to A/B test and personalize cross-device.
You've enabled and activated a Customer Attribute that imports offline data, allowing you to build segments on this data — a classic use case for why to invest in a CDP.
Recap of the benefits of using Adobe Target as a CDP
- Works with Adobe Tools: Adobe Target works well with Adobe Analytics and other products.
- Real-Time Personalization: It uses real-time data to give personalized content right away.
- Prepare for a CDP: Investing in a CDP involves getting teams together. You can slowly kickstart that process and even build a business case for why an investment in a CDP makes sense for your business.
- Eager Businesses: It's suitable for companies who wants to move NOW and cannot wait for when budget is available.
- Keep in mind that Adobe Target is not a CDP. However, it can be a great place to start for most companies considering a CDP but are struggling to build a proper business case or if you want to take your personalization program to the next level.
Conclusion: Is Adobe Target a Good CDP for You?
Adobe Target is a good option if you want to start creating personalized experiences for your customers without a complete CDP. It has tools for using customer data, creating audience groups, and providing real-time customized content. Adobe Target also works well with other Adobe tools, which makes it a good choice for many businesses.
If you are starting with personalization or already using Adobe products, Adobe Target can help you get many of the benefits of a CDP without the high cost. It's beneficial for smaller businesses that want to use customer data to improve the customer journey.
If you want to learn more about Adobe Target as a CDP or how other Adobe tools can help you use your customer data better, contact us! We'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment or share this post if you found it helpful!
