The ultimate guide to CDPs for technology & B2B SaaS
Learn everything there is to know about CDPs in technology & B2B SaaS, including global trends, key insights, use cases, how leading technology & B2B SaaS companies are leveraging personalization, and a framework for evaluating CDP vendors.
Trusted by leading technology & B2B SaaS companies
Why are technology & B2B SaaS companies adopting CDPs?
AI has leveled the playing field in the world of technology, and great products are no longer enough. With 80% of revenue coming from just 20% of customers,1 customer loyalty is everything. Data is your only advantage to stand out in a sea of virtually endless options.
Industry leaders in technology & B2B SaaS differentiate themselves with personalization
Hightouch creates a year-in-review campaign for all customers every year
Docusign is powering customer 360 for the entire sales organization
Ramp has a fully automated outbound sales team which drives 25% of all sales pipeline via personalized emails
technology & B2B SaaS use cases
Acquisition campaigns
Drive lead generation and new user acquisition by targeting decision-makers and lookalike audiences with firmographic and behavioral data, offering free trials or personalized demos.
Suppression campaigns
Reduce wasted ad spend by suppressing active customers from acquisition campaigns using CRM data, reallocating budget toward net-new accounts to improve ROAS.
Retargeting campaigns
Re-engage users who visited the site or started a demo but didn’t convert by serving tailored ads emphasizing pain-point solutions, recovering lost leads and nurturing prospects.
Cross-sell campaigns
Promote complementary SaaS tools or add-ons by using product usage data to target accounts with relevant upgrades, increasing account expansion and customer retention.
Referral campaigns
Leverage existing users to generate new leads by offering referral incentives like free months or premium features, driving cost-effective signups through user advocacy.
Account-based marketing campaigns
Focus on specific high-value accounts or industries using a combination of personalized content, multi-channel outreach, and intent data to increase engagement and conversion rates among key decision-makers.
Free trial promotions
Acquire new users by advertising free trials to qualified prospects through personalized ads, increasing trial sign-ups and overall lead generation.
Conversion APIs
Improve campaign optimization by sharing online and offline conversion data with ad platforms, enabling algorithms to better identify high-likelihood converters and optimize campaign performance.
Technology & B2B SaaS media networks
Monetize software usage data by analyzing engagement patterns and creating high-value B2B audience segments, selling insights to SaaS providers targeting scaling businesses.
Upsell & cross-sell campaigns
Promote advanced tiers, additional seats, or integrations based on product usage data, increasing ARR.
Onboarding campaigns
Send step-by-step guides and in-app tips to help new users adopt the product quickly, improving activation.
Account reactivation campaigns
Re-engage churned or inactive accounts by offering special discounts or trials, recovering lost revenue.
Usage expansion campaigns
Identify and promote underutilized features to existing users, increasing product adoption and engagement.
Churn prevention campaigns
Reduce cancellations by proactively addressing customer pain points and providing personalized support.
Milestone celebrations
Celebrate user achievements such as reaching reporting milestones, driving loyalty and retention.
Dynamic home page content
Display personalized messaging based on firmographics to increase engagement and lead generation.
Dynamic onboarding experiences
Customize in-app onboarding flows based on user roles, highlighting relevant features like analytics for managers or collaboration tools for team members to streamline adoption.
Dynamic search results
Improve feature discovery by tailoring in-app search results to highlight popular tools, FAQs, or relevant integrations based on user behavior.
Recommended features
Suggest high-value features, such as automation tools or integrations, based on usage data to increase adoption and retention.
Next best action
Guide users toward impactful actions like adding team members, integrating with third-party tools, or setting up automations to drive deeper engagement.
Personalized resources
Suggest relevant articles, guides, webinars, or case studies based on users' roles, industries, and past interactions with your platform to provide valuable insights and solutions tailored to specific users.
Dynamic features dashboard
Personalize the user dashboard by highlighting relevant features based on user roles and past behavior to encourage feature adoption.
Proactive trial reminders
Send targeted reminders about expiring trials, emphasizing the benefits of upgrading to a paid subscription to improve conversion rates.
Usage goal tracking
Reinforce engagement by showing users their progress toward automation, workflow completion, or other milestones, motivating them to fully adopt the product.
What technology & B2B SaaS companies should consider when evaluating a CDP
90%5 of marketers say their traditional CDP does not do what they need, so why do they keep buying them?
| Category | Traditional CDP | Composable CDP |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Operates as a separate entity, removed from your company’s data | Integrates directly within your company’s data infrastructure |
| Security & data storage | Data is stored and maintained in the CDP’s data infrastructure | Data is stored and maintained in your existing data infrastructure |
| Data access | Supports user and event data | Supports both online and offline data |
| Data modeling | Uses predefined models that may not fully capture user behaviors or SaaS account hierarchies | Supports tailored models to handle SaaS-specific data like account usage metrics, customer hierarchies, and churn risk |
| Audience management | Supports broad segmentation but struggles with categories like product usage cohorts or account roles | Enables granular segmentation using engagement data, account types, and purchasing intent |
| Customer journey customization | Provides standard templates for campaigns like onboarding or feature announcements | Powers fully adaptable journeys for SaaS events like product adoption, upgrades, renewals, or account expansion |
| Identity resolution | Relies on out-of-the-box algorithms that may not unify profiles across CRM product logs and trial systems | Supports custom algorithms to unify customer profiles across CRMs, usage data, and customer support tools |
| Pricing | Bundled pricing: dependent on monthly tracked users (MTUs) & feature add-ons | Unbundled: individually priced features with no MTU billing |
| Average implementation time | 6-12 months | 1-4 months |
- ArchitectureIntegrates directly within your company’s data infrastructure
- Security & data storageData is stored and maintained in your existing data infrastructure
- Data accessSupports both online and offline data
- Data modelingSupports tailored models to handle SaaS-specific data like account usage metrics, customer hierarchies, and churn risk
- Audience managementEnables granular segmentation using engagement data, account types, and purchasing intent
- Customer journey customizationPowers fully adaptable journeys for SaaS events like product adoption, upgrades, renewals, or account expansion
- Identity resolutionSupports custom algorithms to unify customer profiles across CRMs, usage data, and customer support tools
- PricingUnbundled: individually priced features with no MTU billing
- Average implementation time1-4 months
- ArchitectureOperates as a separate entity, removed from your company’s data
- Security & data storageData is stored and maintained in the CDP’s data infrastructure
- Data accessSupports user and event data
- Data modelingUses predefined models that may not fully capture user behaviors or SaaS account hierarchies
- Audience managementSupports broad segmentation but struggles with categories like product usage cohorts or account roles
- Customer journey customizationProvides standard templates for campaigns like onboarding or feature announcements
- Identity resolutionRelies on out-of-the-box algorithms that may not unify profiles across CRM product logs and trial systems
- PricingBundled pricing: dependent on monthly tracked users (MTUs) & feature add-ons
- Average implementation time6-12 months
Why Hightouch for technology & B2B SaaS?
Your CDP vendor should mold to your data — not the other way around. Hightouch is purpose-built to handle the complexity of technology & B2B SaaS.
Leverage any data point in your warehouse – not just users, accounts, and events.
Build and activate audiences directly from your warehouse.
Integrate with your existing data infrastructure on your warehouse.
Leverage any data point in your warehouse – not just users, accounts, and events.
A complete CDP for technology & B2B SaaS
Members
Overlap
Product evaluators who didn’t convert
2,988 members
1,974 members
Free trial users who didn’t upgrade 2,988
Webinar attendees 1,974
Member overlap 378 or 12.65%
Customer Data Platform resources
Explore Customer Data Platforms by industry
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What is a Composable CDP?
Learn why Composable CDPs are seeing such rapid adoption, how they work, and why they're replacing traditional CDPs.
Free CDP RFP template: streamline your vendor evaluation
Building a tailored CDP RFP is key to choosing the right platform for your business. Use our free template and evaluation framework to focus on the most important features and values for your goals.
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