The latest Forrester Wave Report unpacks and analyses some of the biggest B2C customer data platforms (CDPs) on the market.
Having grown quickly from new kid on the block to must-have tech solution, CDPs have undergone a lot of change in a short span of time.
Naturally, this has led to some common pitfalls that today’s offerings have had to overcome by finding ways to provide users with quick access to curated, high-quality customer data.
Forrester has rated “12 of the top vendors in the market,” evaluating them on a set of 29 criteria and ranking them as either Leaders, Strong Performers, or Contenders.
So, without further ado, let’s see how this year's CDPs performed.
ActionIQ (Leader)
ActionIQ’s focus on composability makes it a “top choice” for enterprises looking for a balanced CDP that can provide support for both marketing and IT stakeholders.
This all-in on composability strategy was also key in helping the company to achieve “top marks” in data ingestion, data management, and data governance.
The vendor also garners praise for its sophisticated product roadmap, AI-powered functionality, and data-handling capabilities.
Adobe (Leader)
Adobe’s Experience Platform enables the company to combine real-time CDP with analytics and journey orchestration capabilities.
In doing so, the tech firm delivers a CDP offering for the “entire marketing lifecycle,” alongside an enviable list of partners.
In addition, Forrester highlighted Adobe’s impressive policy management functionality, which allows the vendor to excel at journey orchestration and data governance.
Salesforce (Leader)
The Report commends Salesforce’s Data Cloud CDP for going beyond marketing to including customer experience functionality.
Described as having an “ambitious vision,” Data Cloud delivers centralized data management, warehousing, workflows, and AI, within the Salesforce ecosystem.
Moreover, the vendor’s customer audience targeting is highlighted, with Forrester outlining the company’s use of both traditional and AI-driven tools; its reporting and dashboard capabilities, powered by Tableau technology; and its extensive global reach.
Treasure Data (Leader)
Like Salesforce, Treasure Data also receives praise for extending its CDP capabilities into other areas, including the contact center.
Additionally, Forrester believes that the vendor “distinguishes” itself from its competitors via its robust integrations for insights and engagement, and superior data ingestion and management capabilities.
Features such as generative AI (GenAI) functionality, expanded journey orchestration capabilities, and real-time engagement support are also spotlighted.
Zeta Global (Strong Performer)
Zeta’s strongest CDP credentials lay in its data enrichment infrastructure. In particular, the Report praises the company’s data hygiene, data enhancement, and identity resolution capabilities as “some of the strongest” in the evaluation.
Elsewhere, the vendor’s customer targeting and journey orchestration features also receive favorable feedback.
However, as something of a newcomer to the space, Forrester suggests that Zeta needs to make a stronger case as “a standalone CDP.” The Report believes that the tech firm’s “most significant strategic gap” is its limited partner network and global coverage.
Tealium (Strong Performer)
Described as a “master” of data connectivity, Tealium combines this skillset with a strong partner ecosystem that allows it to deliver far-reaching data and activation optionality.
The vendor also provides users with robust consumer consent management features and a wide range of data ingestion and integration options.
Despite these impressive features, Forrester believes that the company has considerable customer journey shortcomings, claiming that it “significantly lags” its competitors in the journey orchestration functionality category.
mParticle (Strong Performer)
The major mParticle takeaway is the company’s “category-leading” customer success support capabilities.
The vendor also drew praise for its intuitive customer and journey analysis tools, strong data ingestion management – especially for event data – and AI-powered model generation.
Unfortunately, despite doubling down on AI through the acquisitions of Vidora and Indicative, mParticle has failed to adequately maximize the benefits of the tech, with Forrester describing its innovation releases as “inconsistent.”
BlueConic (Strong Performer)
As a stalwart in the CDP space, unsurprisingly, BlueConic offers particularly impressive marketing features and support, with Forrester stating that it “sets the standard” for CDP marketing use cases.
