Twilio report highlights CDP trends & AI adoption in 2025

Twilio has published its annual Customer Data Platform (CDP) report, offering insights into how businesses will use customer data in 2025.

The report addresses the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and personalisation, emphasising the growing significance of CDPs in the current business environment. Key highlights of the report include a notable 57% increase in the use of predictive traits and a significant number of businesses re-evaluating their marketing technology (martech) stacks to stay competitive.

A prominent trend identified in the report is the shift towards interoperability in martech solutions. Companies are moving away from traditional, monolithic platforms, opting for more flexible and composable stacks. These integrated ecosystems allow businesses to use superior tools that work seamlessly together, fostering innovation and enabling quick adaptation to changing market demands.

Another major trend is the integration of data warehouses with CDPs. Over the past year, Twilio customers have managed nearly 10 trillion rows of data with cloud data warehouses such as Snowflake and BigQuery. Integrating these warehouses with CDPs allows businesses to combine historical data with real-time insights, facilitating more personalised customer interactions.

Analytics tools remain crucial within Twilio's platform, which is the most connected category. They play an essential role in understanding customer behaviour and, when integrated with CDPs, support smarter, real-time decision-making that enhances customer engagement.

The report also highlights the growth of predictive AI, with Twilio launching Predictive Traits last year. This feature enables businesses to forecast customer behaviour through machine learning, and its adoption has increased by 57% compared to the previous year. Predictive AI is necessary for driving more personalised and effective customer engagement strategies.

Chris Koehler, Chief Marketing Officer at Twilio, commented on the current trends, stating, "Integration capabilities are no longer just a 'nice to have'—they're a business-critical requirement. In a world where businesses are shifting from monolithic platforms to composable stacks, the ability of tools to connect seamlessly has become the second-biggest driver of martech replacement decisions, trailing only cost."

The report outlines evolving practices in customer data management, emphasising enhanced interoperability, integrated data warehouses, and the growing application of predictive AI within marketing technology. It presents a factual overview of these developments, offering a structured summary of the trends shaping customer engagement strategies for 2025 without drawing subjective conclusions.