How to Choose a CDP: 3 Shortcuts to Find Your Next Customer Data Platform

Have you decided it’s time for a customer data platform (CDP)? Or are you feeling stuck with an underperforming CDP? Either way, it’s time to take advantage of your greatest business asset – your customer data – and implement a CDP that works for your needs. 

Whether you’re looking to upgrade or searching for your first CDP, the choice between over 190 CDPs can be daunting. Select the wrong one, and you could fall behind your competitors.

The good news is that Treasure Data is here to help. Quantify how a CDP could help you increase customer acquisition, customer lifetime value (LTV), and retention using our CDP Value Calculator. If you already have a CDP but have buyer’s remorse, break free with our CDP Trade-Up program and enjoy a fast, cost-effective switch.

Want to do some CDP comparison research on your own first? We’ve pulled together the top resources to aid in your search. Here are the best places to start.

1) CDP evaluations from independent analyst firms

A number of independent analyst firms provide insights into your CDP options. These resources show how each provider measures up and helps data and marketing leaders select the right CDP for their needs.

Gartner compares CDPs

Gartner is one of the most well-known independent technology research firms. CDPs first appeared in the Gartner Hype Cycle in 2016. Gartner debuted its definitive reports on the CDP market in 2024 and will update them annually. 

Here are two reports it provides:

•   2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Customer Data Platforms
•   2024 Gartner® Critical Capabilities for Customer Data Platforms

How to use these resources

Use the Magic Quadrant and Critical Capabilities reports together to help you fully understand the capabilities and use cases each CDP vendor supports. Gartner conducts in-depth assessments of each vendor through demos, detailed questions, and briefings with vendors and select customers. 

Magic Quadrant

The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of the competitive positioning of 17 CDP providers at a certain point in time. This unique research methodology allows Gartner to rank vendors against a uniform set of evaluation criteria relating to the completeness of vision and ability to execute – in terms of both the company and the product. CDP vendors are placed in one of four quadrants: Leaders, Visionaries, Niche Players, and Challengers. 

When you review the Magic Quadrant, the best place to start is the Leaders Quadrant. The strengths and weaknesses of each vendor are described, providing you with a solid overview of each. Vendors in the Leaders Quadrant are evaluated as executing comparatively well today and are well-positioned for tomorrow. Treasure Data was named a Leader alongside a small selection of other CDP providers. 

If your CDP is listed among the Visionaries, Niche Players, and Challengers – or worse, not listed at all – you may want to reconsider it. Even if it is among the Leaders, you still need to consider your use case(s), which is why the next report is critical (no pun intended). 

Critical Capabilities

The Vendors’ Product Scores for Customer Data Management Use Case is just one example of the detailed evaluations included in the Critical Capabilities report

The Critical Capabilities report evaluates 17 CDP providers on a five-point scale against 13 critical capabilities and four primary use cases, including Customer Data Management, Segment Development and Activation, B2B and ABM, and Customer Experience. 

The report is designed to be used as companion research to the Magic Quadrant, diving deeper into each CDP provider’s capabilities for specific or customized use cases at the product and service level. 

The Critical Capabilities range from customer profile unification to personalization and decisioning, and more. Once you have identified the most important use cases for your business success, you can match them against the Gartner use cases and capabilities and see which offerings are the best fit.

Forrester’s CDP evaluations

Another well-known research and advisory company, Forrester, debuted its first B2C CDP Wave report in 2024. This report, The Forrester Wave™: Customer Data Platforms For B2C, Q3 2024, looks at CDPs for the B2C market and will be updated every 18 months. Forrester has also published a B2B version of the CDP Wave report since 2019. 

How to use this resource

The Forrester Wave is a research-based evaluation framework that compares and assesses CDP technology vendors. It includes a visual representation of what Forrester considers the 12 most significant CDP for B2C providers across four categories: Leaders, Strong Performers, Contenders, and Challengers. Treasure Data was also named among the Leaders in this report.  

The Wave includes 29 criteria ranked on a 5-point scale broken down into three primary areas: current offering (features and capabilities), company strategy, and market presence. The capabilities ranged from data management and enrichments to journey orchestration, predictive models, privacy, integration, and more. 

Again, if your CDP is listed among the non-Leaders or not listed in the report, you may want to re-evaluate your CDP partner. 

And, if you’re looking for additional resources related to Forrester, check out insights from Joe Stanhope, VP, principal analyst at Forrester, on how to pick the right CDP for your business.

IDC’s CDP comparisons

IDC is a premier global market intelligence platform. In 2022, it published the first CDP research report by a major analyst: IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Customer Data Platforms Focused on Data and Marketing Operations Users 2022 Vendor Assessment (IDC #US48858321, March 2022). 

Since then, IDC has published additional reports, including its B2B and B2C MarketScape reports in 2024 and the CDP Market Trends in 2024. The MarketScape reports are updated every 24 months.

How to use these resources

The IDC MarketScape model assesses quantitative and qualitative characteristics of CDP providers and their products. The B2C report covers 18 CDP providers, and the B2B report covers 8 CDP vendors, breaking them down into Leaders, Major Players, Contenders, and Participants. Treasure Data is featured in both reports as Leader in B2C and Major Player in B2B.

Both reports evaluate the go-to-market and functional capabilities that support users in marketing technology and operations, data science and analytics, IT and DataOps, and privacy and compliance functions at organizations.  

Use these reports to evaluate each vendor’s strengths and challenges and to determine which CDP providers are best suited to your industry, company size, and use case requirements.

Real Story Group presents CDP options

Real Story Group is an independent technology research and analyst firm that provides research and insights to over 3,000 organizations worldwide. It has published 30 CDP vendor evaluations, explaining the strengths and weaknesses of each CDP provider.

How to use this resource

Use this resource to gain an independent perspective on CDP providers and their products. Also check out Real Story Group’s webinar The Right Way to Select a CDP and CDP Symposium, which features best practices from top brands that have implemented CDPs and realized value.

2) How to choose a CDP using customer reviews

Research and analyst firms are only one way to get valuable insights into CDP providers. You can also gain incredible insight into choosing a CDP from customers like you. 

Check out this four-minute video to learn how Yum! Brands Chief Data Officer Cameron Davies identified the need for a CDP and chose Treasure Data. You may also want to hear how Fortune 1000 company Service Corporation International (SCI) approached its CDP search and the success it’s seen in its first year with Treasure Data.

Reviews are also a fountain of knowledge from those who have implemented and used a specific CDP. Here are some key resources where you can read real customer reviews about CDPs.

G2

G2 provides thousands of customer reviews for the Customer Data Platform category. It offers over 260 listings for CDP, which you can sort by G2 Score, Popularity, or Satisfaction. G2 Score is based on community member reviews and data aggregated from social networks and other online resources. 

How to use this resource

With G2, you can view individual CDP vendors or compare CDPs across a number of categories and features, including data management, data governance, journey mapping, privacy, and integrations. 

For example, Treasure Data’s G2 page has over 140 reviews with a 4.5/5 star rating (on average). 

Use G2 to easily learn the pros and cons of each CDP from verified reviewers. Individual reviews provide reviewers’ likes and dislikes, how they use the CDP, and the benefits it generates for their company. 

You can also use the review data to shed light on important factors around getting started with a CDP, such as Time to Implement, ROI, and Ease of Setup. Check out the overall review sentiment for Treasure Data across these three factors below.

Gartner Peer Insights

Gartner provides an independent review platform called Peer Insights, which has over 680,000 free Gartner-verified ratings and reviews. Its Customer Data Platform category contains thousands of reviews of 66 products, which you can sort alphabetically and by average or number of ratings.  

How to use this resource

Use this review platform in the same way you would use G2. Research CDPs listed on the platform by looking at customer reviews of each platform’s features and functionality. For example, Treasure Data’s page has over 95 reviews with a 4.3/5 star rating (on average).

Gartner makes it easy to learn what CDP customers like and dislike about their CDPs. It also includes features such as the top deciding factors and feature comparisons.

3) CDP Institute

Last but not least, CDP Institute is a unique resource to the CDP community. It is dedicated to promoting best practices in managing customer data, including data security, privacy, and responsible customer data management. It was founded in 2016 by David Raab, a long-time marketing technology consultant and industry analyst who coined the term “customer data platform.”

How to use this resource

Raab published the first industry report on Customer Data Platforms in September 2013, evolving it over the years into one of many key reports from the Institute, including the CDP Vendor Comparison. This report offers side-by-side comparisons of CDP vendors against a list of features. It does not rank the features, only listing whether the vendor provides a feature or not.

Use this report to identify the CDPs that provide the features you are looking for. 

Along with a variety of blogs, training, and reports on CDPs and managing customer data, the CDP Institute has an open Slack group with more than 2,500 members. It also offers 30-minute free consultation services open to anyone with questions about their current situation. 

Individual membership in the Institute and access to its resources is free of charge.

Get started with your CDP evaluation

Selecting a CDP can be confusing. Before getting started, evaluate your organization’s readiness for a CDP. Once you’re ready to find the right one for your organization, look for a vendor that is focused on your use cases and will partner with you as a trusted advisor (like Treasure Data). Use these resources to help you get started finding your first CDP or the last CDP you’ll ever need. 

Once you’ve narrowed down the options and created a shortlist, conduct an RFP (using our free template) and/or proof of concept (POC) to evaluate each platform against your defined criteria. With any technology decision, seeing the solution in action is the surest way to gauge its true value.