Last week I was working on an article for Martech.org on customer data platforms and their close kin – that is, other technologies that are almost but not quite CDPs. It highlights the importance of knowing exactly what technology you need, and exactly what a given vendor is offering.
Unfortunately, it’s very hard to get all the details about a technology in just a few calls and demos. There are always gotchas, and you’re always left saying, “wait, you do what?”
One of the biggest barriers in this process is your own preconceptions. When you think of a given technology, you think, “Oh, it certainly does such and so,” and when they tell you it does such and so, you assume it does it the way you think that technology ought to operate.
It’s ain’t necessarily so.
You can’t accept, “Oh, sure, we do that.” You need to dig into the details to see precisely how they do it, because I can guarantee you they’re not going to do it exactly the way you expect. Their way might be better, or it might be worse, but it will be different.
For example, let’s say you’re examining a fulfillment vendor and you notice that most of their clients sell monthly magazines. You ask if they can do weekly issues. They say yes. But what they mean by doing weekly issues is that they always run a label file on Monday and you need them to run it on Friday.
That’s a very simple example, but it can easily get much more complicated. The only way to find out is to ask lots and lots of questions.
At first I was thinking that Detective Columbo was a good model here. You remember his signature, “just one more thing” as he was about to leave. That was very effective at jarring his prey into giving up an important detail.
The real hero here is a former Kiplinger colleague named Karen. She was very good at asking the same question many times with just slight variations. She was able to uncover hidden problems that way.
Keep asking the question. It’s annoying, you’ll feel bad doing it, but it’s the only way.
Also, when they give an answer, say it back to them in your language. Pay careful attention to the way they use words. It’s almost certain that they’ll use the word in a slightly different way than you do.
Pick some important terms and concepts and review them very carefully.
- Customer vs. lead
- Engagement
- Conversion and renewal
- Content
- Campaign
- Page view
- Personalization
- Churn rate
Review the way you manage files. What the export format looks like. Get into the weeds about it.
Be a pain in the rear. Ask questions until you’re certain you understand how the technology really works. But I warn you, even after your best efforts there will still be gotchas.
