CDP Evaluation Scorecard + 10 Demo Scripts + Completed Sample

A CDP selection is a six-figure decision, and most teams walk into it with a features checklist the vendors could have written themselves.

This scorecard puts you back in control of the evaluation.

What's inside:

• 39 weighted requirements across 8 categories: identity resolution, data ingestion, segmentation, activation, privacy and governance, analytics, architecture, and commercials. Set Must, Should, or Nice priorities and the 3x/2x/1x weighting does the rest. Fully editable, so you can cut what doesn't apply and add your own.
• Score up to 4 vendors from 0 to 5 per requirement. Any must-have scoring 2 or lower flags red and counts as a gap on the results dashboard. One gap is a hard conversation. Three is an elimination.
• 10 scripted demo scenarios, each with what to ask the vendor to show and what good looks like. Force a bad merge and make them unmerge it. Have your marketer, not their sales engineer, build the segment. Make them compute your actual bill from your volumes, on screen. Same scenarios for every vendor means demos you can actually compare.
• Results dashboard: overall weighted scores, per-category comparison, must-have gap counts, Year 1 cost and 3-year TCO inputs, and a recommendation block formatted for your steering committee.

Plus a completed sample evaluation of three vendor archetypes (packaged suite, warehouse-native, and mid-market), scored across all 39 requirements. It ends the way real evaluations do: a close race decided by gaps and TCO, with a contingent recommendation you can model yours on.

Who it's for: Anyone running or about to run a CDP selection, and consultants who lead evaluations for clients. Also works as a mid-contract health check against what your current CDP actually delivers.

Built by a senior MarTech solution architect with 15+ years in enterprise marketing stacks, including hands-on CDP architecture and identity resolution work. The demo scripts come from real evaluations, including the questions vendors hope you won't ask.

Format: Excel (.xlsx), works in Excel and Google Sheets. Instant download, two files.