Marley Spoon invests in customer data platform

This article was originally posted on cmo.com.au.

Marley Spoon is making a global investment into building its own first-party data hub, selecting mParticle as its technology partner to deliver a new customer data platform (CDP).  

A spokesperson confirmed the meal delivery box provider will be rolling out mParticle’s solution across all countries of operation - Australia, Europe and the US – and across its five brands: Bezzie, Chefgood, Dinnerly, Liloomi and Marley Spoon. The timeframe for rollout has not yet been confirmed.

By adopting mParticle’s Audience builder offering, Marley Spoon said will be able to unify customer data from across its brand portfolio into single customer profiles, gaining a holistic view of engagement. Off the back of this, the Marley Spoon’s CRM team said it plans to develop a richer understanding of customers and identify opportunities for cross-selling and personalised promotions.  

Marley Spoon global head of CRM, Karan Gupta, said mParticle was chosen as the preferred tech vendor contender for several reasons.  

“We needed a single view of the customer in order to better understand what makes a customer use Marley Spoon for the first time and ultimately retain them more effectively. Implementing a CDP was a no-brainer,” he said.  

Marley Spoon caters to multiple market segments by providing numerous brand offerings. For instance, the Marley Spoon brand offers high-quality meals at a premium price, while Dinnerly offers a budget meal kit product, and Chefgood provides a ready-to-heat offering for customers who have limited prep time.  

Marley Spoon said it wanted to ensure it could use customer data to offer the right product to each customer at the right time and ultimately improve retention as needs change, tastes evolve and subscriptions change. For example, if a customer churns from Marley Spoon because they don't have time to cook, the team can offer them a promotion for Chefgood.  

But with each brand's customer data siloed in disparate systems, it was impossible to do this cross-sell personalisation at scale.  

“By implementing a centralised customer data infrastructure, Marley Spoon will be able to drive efficiency and deliver more relevant, meaningful experiences to their customers,” mParticle chief marketing officer, Jason Seeba, said.  

According to CMO’s latest State of the CMO 2022 report, four in 10 Australian marketing teams have invested in a CDP so far, and 27 per cent plan to invest in the platform capability over the next 12-24 months.  

Yet a joint study by Epsilon, Adobe and Publicis Groupe and conducted by Forrester Consulting last year found CDP adoption and return on investment was being hampered by a lack of data maturity and actionability. For example, 58 per cent of respondents with a CDP admitted to challenges merging all data into one place, while 57 per struggled with keeping customer profiles refreshed and up to date. In addition, 45 per cent are having trouble resolving identities across different data sources, and 51 per cent are struggling to put insights to work in their various marketing and CX applications.      

mParticle provides an artificial intelligence (AI-powered) CDP. Founded nearly 10 years ago, the company’s client base includes NBCUniversal, JetBlue, Venmo and Airbnb. Over the last year, the vendor has raised US$150 million in funding to support its growth plans and acquired two startups, Vidora and Indicative.