Nowadays, it can take from twenty-five to thirty touch points to make a sale because prospects are bombarded with messages, and it’s harder and harder to cut through the noise. However, catching the attention of the lead is not the only problem salespeople face. With loads of channels, messages, and workers involved, we could actually miss a buying signal or a valuable data point along the way.
Keeping track of dozens of tools can get messy, so to prevent that, you should invest in customer data platform software. A customer data platform (CDP) is a data management tool that collects relevant data about your clients and unifies it in one place to create constantly evolving and accurate customer profiles.
Solutions like that keep track of behavior patterns and buying signals and gather all kinds of available information from the web. This allows you to understand your current and potential clients better, craft personalized buyer experiences, and get a better return on investment (ROI) from your data.
If that's exactly what you want from your data, then check out this list of the top fifteen customer data platforms with tips to find the one best suited for your business. 
How to Choose the Best CDP Software
To select the best CDP solution for your business, consider the following questions:
Who should be involved in decision-making?
Besides C-level management that greenlights such important decisions, you should also consider the right decision-makers who will be using a CDP directly. If you have a CRM, some data is there already, so you’ll need a representative from that side. Plus, you should include stakeholders from sales, customer success, and marketing.
What can I use a CDP for?
We know that having a CDP is beneficial; however, it’s easy to get caught up and forget the actual tasks you want it to solve. Here are some questions to ask:
- Do you want to create a more personalized experience on your site?
- Do you need better targeting of your audience?
- Would you like to understand your customers better?
- Are you looking to consolidate all of your data into one place?
Whatever the reason is, you should brainstorm ideas and come up with several use cases.
Which factors should I consider?
When you start comparing vendors, there are a few ways you can classify them:
- Time to value. This is the period of time it takes to get a CDP set up and running. Also, note if the vendor is offering assistance with it or if you have to dedicate your own resources.
- Cost. Since developing a customer data platform in-house can be very time-consuming and expensive, CDP vendors have a variety of subscriptions at different price ranges.
- Ease of use. The best CDPs don’t require a lot of groundwork; they may need system adjustments at first, but further updates should only take a couple of clicks to maneuver.
How do I compare CDP providers?
You should make a list of questions about how their CDP works, the tools it can be integrated with, the data sources it uses, its compliance with GDPR and CCPA, what analytics it offers, and if it includes any bonus services.
Best Customer Data Platforms for 2023
Today, the competition between CDP vendors is high, which is good for you because you’ll have plenty to choose from. However, there is also the chance you can get lost in the number of options. To help you out, we’ve created a list of the fifteen most popular customer database platforms.
1. CIENCE GO Platform
Pricing: By request
Free Trial: Not available
CRM Integration: Available
Browser Extension: Not available
The CIENCE GO Platform combines multiple elements of a great, modern CDP:
CIENCE GO Data is a sales intelligence platform that offers over 200 million accurate records applicable for any industry, paired with a custom approach to provide you with a 360-degree view of prospects. All of the records get verified daily and match your ideal customer profile (ICP) perfectly.
CIENCE GO Flow gives you the ability to capture event data from any website and harness that information in a 360-degree view of all your interactions. The GO Flow source can also transport real-time data streams to almost any destination (100+ integrations).
Together, these offer robust CDP use and data flexibility. Besides a comprehensive data plan, GO offers ICP development, web pixel (real-time ID of data), reporting and analytics, data licensing and validation, audience activation, custom research, data enrichment, deep profiling and micro-segmentation, and professional outreach support.
2. Adobe Real-Time CDP
Pricing: By request
Free Trial: Not available
CRM Integration: Available
Browser Extension: Not available
Real-Time CDP collects B2B data from across systems and unifies it into real-time profiles ready for activation across any channel. The tool provides hundreds of prebuilt and customizable connections to build complete profiles and activate audiences. It also delivers a flexible and configurable data governance framework that keeps data safe while giving teams the access they need.
3. Oracle Marketing
Pricing: By request
Free Trial: Available
CRM Integration: Available
Browser Extension: Not available
Oracle Marketing is a CDP solution that converts data from multiple channels into a single profile for a better understanding of a customer perspective. Its key features include data quality management, A/B testing, launch of marketing campaigns, real-time data, lead nurturing, marketing automation, and various app integrations. It is meant to show a greater ROI on digital marketing and build customer loyalty through excellent campaign performance.
4. Segment
Pricing: From $120 per month
Free Trial: Available
CRM Integration: Available
Browser Extension: Not available
Segment is a CDP software that offers collecting, controlling, and cleansing data for better audience engagement. It’s perfect for data collection and integration, data centralization, audience management, and omnichannel messaging. Segment monitors every signal that comes from every channel you use and transforms it into smart personalization tips that allow your engagement to feel individually crafted.
5. Emarsys
Pricing: By request
Free Trial: Not available
CRM Integration: Not available
Browser Extension: Not available
Emarsys is an omnichannel CDP tool that streamlines data from multiple platforms for the benefit of your business. It is most suitable for e-commerce, retail, and travel businesses. It provides AI-optimized data collection, real-time analytics, A/B testing, and third-party tools integration. It also offers marketing automation, customer lifecycle management, sales intelligence, and analytics.
6. Bloomreach
Pricing: By request
Free Trial: Not available
CRM Integration: Available
Browser Extension: Not available
Bloomreach is a CDP software that focuses on delivering extra personalized customer journeys through data collection. This commerce experience cloud offers AI-driven search, customer engagement, marketing automation, merchandising, and a content management system. It offers solutions for businesses in any industry to create client experiences with a personal touch.
7. CaliberMind
Pricing: By request
Free Trial: Not available
CRM Integration: Available
Browser Extension: Not available
CaliberMind is a CDP software that analyzes, cleans out, organizes, and activates the data you have. It helps to see where your funnel is leaking, what is your perfect client like, how to shorten the sales cycle, and what prospecting techniques are working for you. CaliberMind’s philosophy is that no lead or investment should ever go to waste.
8. Insider
Pricing: By request
Free Trial: Not available
CRM Integration: Not available
Browser Extension: Not available
Insider is one of the top-rated CDP companies that enables marketers to gather data from all the channels for a united, highly individualized customer experience. This CDP has three main offerings: to connect (using unified profiles and segmentation), to predict (analyzing online customer interactions), and to individualize (using built-in AI and machine learning).
9. mParticle
Pricing: By request
Free Trial: Not available
CRM Integration: Not available
Browser Extension: Not available
mParticle is an AI-powered customer data platform designed to increase customer loyalty and retention through the proper use of data. It creates comprehensive customer profiles that gather, unify, and synchronize data. It gathers the data through secure APIs and connects it with the tools you use. The data that’s gathered is then transformed into a data audience that evolves along with your needs.
10. Listrak
Pricing: By request
Free Trial: Not available
CRM Integration: Available
Browser Extension: Not available
Listrak is one of the customer data platform companies that can do it all: behavioral triggers monitoring, cross-channel orchestration, predictive personalization, customer behavior analytics, segmentation and personalization, foundational marketing, and gathering all the collected data in one place. You can track your customers’ journeys, send relevant messages in any channel, and use AI insights and behavioral triggers to maximize customer engagement and revenue.
11. ActionIQ
Pricing: By request
Free Trial: Not available
CRM Integration: Available
Browser Extension: Not available
ActionIQ is a CDP platform vendor that transforms customer data into meaningful experiences by managing data governance, costs, and performance. It gathers data from any source you use, unifies it to create a full-view profile, carefully segments it, implements it in the multichannel outreach, and monitors it live. It serves both B2B and B2C industries and brings the work of various departments into one place.
12. SAP
Pricing: By request
Free Trial: Not available
CRM Integration: Available
Browser Extension: Not available
With the customer data platform from SAP, you can gather data from across your enterprise to make informed business decisions, strengthen customer relationships, and gain new revenue. SAP allows you to combine customer data with back-office data and get a 360-degree view of your lead. It is only collecting permission-based data to comply with the data production rules and build client trust. It also provides insight activation so you can promptly act and react during the decision-making process.
13. Treasure Data
Pricing: By request
Free Trial: Not available
CRM Integration: Available
Browser Extension: Not available
Treasure Data is one of the top CDP platforms that unites your teams around a single data platform, provides real-time data analytics, and offers expert support to fuel your growth. Among the special features are more than 180 out-of-the-box connectors that unify all your data and an enterprise-grade security and privacy system that keeps your data protected.
14. Totango
Pricing: From $249 per month
Free Trial: Available
CRM Integration: Available
Browser Extension: Not available
Totango is an intelligent customer data platform that connects the dots on customer information and keeps a handle on customer health changes so you can take needed sales actions at the right time. It offers a 360-degree view of the financial data from the tools like Salesforce and Netsuite, product usage data, survey responses, satisfaction scores, behavioral data, and every interaction with a customer.
15. Lytics
Pricing: By request
Free Trial: Available
CRM Integration: Not available
Browser Extension: Not available
Lytics is one of the best CDP platforms for digital marketers that want to build personalized experiences quickly, easily, and affordably. It unifies your customer data in one complete profile, sets up real-time tracking of buying signals, and automates your workflows. Its solutions can be tailored to your buyer persona, industry, or prospecting needs.
Strengthen Your Data Impact with a CDP
The best salespeople know how to hit the right spot when prospecting: what pain points are the companies facing right now, how ready they are to buy, where they come from, and what is important to them. While one or two people may have a gift to guess those things, the majority have a lot of actionable data to back up their techniques.
CDP companies are responsible for finding that data for you—whether it’s already tangled in your archives or has to be researched from scratch. A good CDP platform would research, track, and organize all of the information you need to provide better customer service, strengthen customer relationships, and bring in better sales results.
