Here’s how much data executives are paying for customer data platforms — and who they’re buying from

Chief data officers are paying anywhere from $50K to $800K per year to accurately track and target their customers across digital platforms.

With the imminent deprecation of third-party cookies, companies will need to reevaluate their strategies for gathering valuable customer data while ensuring compliance and security.

Customer data platforms (CDPs) can help marketing and data teams reduce their reliance on third-party cookies to track customer journeys for strategic insights and targeted advertisements.

Major companies are actively evaluating and investing in CDP vendors. For example:

Petco Health and Wellness relies on unicorn Tealium to manage vendor tags, launch revenue-generating campaigns, and improve website performance.
The Washington Post and The New York Times track customers in their subscription media businesses using ActionIQ.
Yum! Brands utilizes Treasure Data’s CDP to gain customer insights across its various brands and third-party platforms.

To understand how data teams make customer data platform purchasing decisions, we mined CB Insights’ software buyer interviews, as well as Analyst Briefing surveys submitted to CB Insights by vendors.

Here are 4 key takeaways from our analysis:

Alternatives to cookies: Companies are evaluating CDPs to mitigate challenges with third-party cookies as well as to better understand the customer journey across devices.
Understanding of the customer: Companies highly value CDPs that understand the nuances of different businesses and how they interact with their customers. For example, a company that sells physical goods will prioritize different forms of customer engagement than a digital media company.
Flexible pricing: Leaders in CDPs offer pricing that is flexible and is based on how many events (or interactions) they forecast having with their customers, meaning that pricing can be tailored to each business.
Intensive implementation: CDPs require heavy upfront data migration from various sources to reach their full potential. Because this requires a lengthy implementation period, buyers need to ensure they are choosing a CDP that can meet their business needs.

Below, we’ll highlight several key customer data platforms, how much their buyers are paying, and vendor-specific buyer perspectives.

How much are data executives paying for customer data platforms?

Based on interviews with software buyers and Analyst Briefing survey data submitted by vendors, we found that annual contract values typically range from $50K to $800K.