Why Sports and Entertainment Brands Must Implement a CDP

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a software solution that collates user data from multiple channels and tools to create a unified, single customer view. It acts as a centralised customer database that stores information from a customer's touch-points with a brand. This data generates business insights that can be used to create hyper-personalised marketing campaigns for each user.

Customers typically interact with a brand through multiple channels before and after making a buying decision. A sports fan, for example, is going to interact with their team various times — browse their website for tickets, watch match highlights, attend a live match, like their social media posts, etc. 

These interactions occur between the same user and brand but on different platforms. A CDP integrates with all of these channels and collates the user's data (demographics, product interactions, app interactions, behavior, etc.) onto one centralised location. Without a CDP, this data is stored in standalone silos within the analytics system of each platform. 

The marketing and sales teams then have a complete customer profile that they can use to create personalised marketing campaigns that increase engagement and sales. 72% of consumers only engage with marketing messages personalised to their interests. Considering the volume of brand messages a person is bombarded with today, it makes sense. An average person sees 4,000-10,000 brand messages every single day! For a brand to be impactful, it must deliver personalised experiences, and for that, customer-specific data is required.

A CDP also helps brands analyse past purchases and current interests to predict future potential purchases. It tracks conversions and real-time interactions to understand a user's interests. This allows it to create more focused segments that can be used for cross-selling and upsell campaigns. 

This is especially important for sporting brands. Since live events have deadlines and customers' interest in merchandise peaks during the on-season, brands must leverage this limited window of opportunity and not just sell core products but also push cross-sells and upsell. 

A CDP gives sporting brands the information to quickly recognise high-quality buyers so that upsell and cross-sell campaigns can be created and run on autopilot. It analyses the products a customer has previously purchased and been interested in (by viewing a sports event, visiting an online merchandise shop, checking ticket prices, etc.) and helps the brand target the user with specific suggestions.

About 65% of a company's business comes from existing customers, and the impact of loyalty is magnified for sporting brands. Emotions drive most purchases, and loyal fans don't hesitate to make purchases, whether it's tickets or merchandise. However, the challenge lies in differentiating between four groups - loyal fans, casual fans, loyal fans losing interest, and casual fans gaining interest. 

Each group will not respond the same way to the same message - a loyal fan does not need much coaxing; an ad that says 'see you there' will sometimes do the job. However, a casual fan may need some push and discounts before committing. CDPs constantly track user interactions and segment users into one of the four categories based on their frequency and engagement levels. Companies can then use this data to create personalised campaigns that generate higher ROIs than common campaigns for all users.

Implementing a CDP also streamlines marketing and sales by giving teams a unified view of each customer. Without a CDP, customer interaction data is stored on standalone analytics solutions across platforms. This results in teams moving back and forth between platforms when creating campaigns. The availability of insights on one platform helps teams collaborate more efficiently - marketing teams can use insights from sales activities to refine their ad campaigns and vice versa.

Personalisation of service is crucial for any brand doing business online. People have a plethora of options to get the products and services they want, and they always gravitate towards brands that 'understand them.' CDPs help sporting brands get the data they need to increase not only sales and revenue but also loyalty and engagement.

Pareekshith Shetty

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Pareekshith Shetty, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Proem Sports