First-party data is the most lucrative data for companies and marketers. Brands have been chasing First-party data for years.
But time is changing. With ethical laws and privacy laws, it is becoming difficult for marketers to gather First-party data.
Governments are working on laws that can ensure user data privacy. But, it is hard for marketers to work without tracking cookies.
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| What Is First-Party Data and How Do You Use It?: eAskme |
But is this the end?
No, it is not.
There are always ethical ways you can harness First-party data legally.
Do you know how to do it?
Let’s dig deeper into how to collect First-party data and how to use it.
But before you make your move.
Let’s start with the basics of first-party data, the types, and how to gather it.
First-party data: What is it?
First-party data is the customer data a marketer collects for his company or brand. Marketers use paid-owned digital media to collect user data for research and marketing.
First-party data is more reliable and accurate than second or third-party data.
Data Types:
There are three types of user data available:
- First-party data
- Second Party Data
- Third-Party data
Let’s find out the differences, ways of data collection, and the ways to use it.
First-Party Data:
As the name suggests, First-party data is the data that a business collects directly from customers.
How to collect First-party data?
Here are the examples of how you can collect First-party data for your business:
App or Web analytics:
You can track user behavior on your website or app using Google Analytics. It is easy to collect important data points such as time on site, page views, locations, demographics, purchases, clicks, etc.
Email List:
Email list building is another way to collect First-party user data.
CRM:
Customer relationship management tools or software can help you collect purchase data such as login information, purchase history, customer service, favorites, etc.
Social Media:
Social media profiles and pages are also helpful for collecting first-party data.
Surveys:
Surveys and Polls are also helpful to gather contact information, email IDs, and demographics.
Feedback:
Feedback forms are also helpful in collecting data about user interest or product reviews.
The ethical way to collect First-party data is to ask for user consent.
You can also use tracking pixels like Facebook pixels for your app or website. It will help you collect user data after getting consent.
After getting the customer’s consent, you can collect essential data for your marketing needs.
It is the most critical data that is influential to impact your business success.
Second-party data:
Second-party data is not the third-party data.
Second-party data is not collected like the first-party data. It is simply spreading from one company to another.
Where third-party data is purchased online, second-party data comes for free or from business relationships or cooperation.
Here are a few of the best examples of Second-party data:
- With Second-party travel data, agencies can plan customized packages, recommendations, and discounts.
- Health apps can collaborate with tracking apps to provide personalized recommendations and health insights.
- Tech educational brands can collect data from schools to create future-ready educational programs.
The primary use of Second-party data is to power up the first-party data. With mutual data sharing, businesses get relevant data from trusted resources.
Third-party data:
Third-party data is the data that comes from third-party services. Businesses can hire expert data services to collect data. But in Third-party data, you do not have any connection with the customer.
Most of the time, companies purchase Third-party data from research agencies or statistics collectors.
Here are the examples of how Third-party data is being collected:
- Social media
- Government agencies
- Public Records
- Website cookies
- Online activity trackers.
Third-party data has its pros and cons.
The benefit is that it saves you a lot of time, and you can quickly get massive amounts of data from your target customer base.
The major con of Third-party data is that you cannot mindlessly rely on it.
Third-party data examples:
- Real estate businesses collect data from property services and public records to analyze markets, appraisals, etc.
- eCommerce sites purchase customer data to understand what and when they can upsell or cross-sell a product.
- Health businesses get Third-party data to understand the demand and healthcare industry.
Third-party data is not as reliable as first-party data. The best use of Third-party data is to analyze market and customer behavior.
First-party data and limitations:
Every data has its limitations. First-party data is no different in this case.
Here are a few First-party data limitations:
Limited:
First-party data relies entirely on customers' wishes. It will not be effective if your research is limited to a small target audience.
Low Sampling:
Limited data can cause low sampling. This issue becomes more prominent when you need to understand the target market's demographics.
Outdated:
First-party data can quickly become outdated as customers can change their phone number, email ID, or address.
Investment:
First-party data needs you to invest more time and effort to keep it relevant. You cannot just gather and forget it for later use. You must use tools to filter the data, find relevant information, and start working on marketing strategies.
Even though there are limitations to first-party data, it is the best data if collected correctly.
Let’s find out how you can use First-party data in the best way to get the desired results.
How to use First-party data?
Once you have access to First-party data, the next big thing is to know how to use it.
Here are a few examples of how you can use First-party data:
1. Content Optimization:
Content optimization is essential for content marketing success.
First-party data helps fix content-related issues.
You know when and where your customer engages the most. It will help you plan your ads, blog posts, social media posts, etc.
2. Ego Boost:
Boosting your customer's ego is another way to bring loyalty to the brand. With First-party data, you can send customized offers to your existing customers. For example, you can send a special discount on a customer’s birthday.
Customers feel rewarded this way and most likely stick with the brand.3. Improve Products and Services:
First-party customer feedback data gives you essential information about your products and services. You will find what your customers love, hate, or don’t care about your products.
Use this information to fix the issues and create the right product for your customer.4. Optimize Targeting:
First-party data is the best data to start with your marketing campaigns.
With massive first-party data, you can easily use it to target look-alike audiences in ad campaigns.
This will open the door to broader audience targeting.
You can also segment customer data to use it in existing campaigns.
5. Predictions:
First-party data helps your business make predictive decisions. You understand the flow of customer interest. It will help you to influence the customer journey.
Now you know the importance and use of “First-party data.” Do you think it is the end?
Once again, it is not.
Here comes the “Zero-Party data”.
Now, what is Zero-Party data?
Let’s find out.
Zero-Party data:
Third-party cookies are leaving the picture. Even Google will remove third-party cookies for 1% of Google Chrome users in 2024.
It will set a trend where businesses will be forced to think about Zero-Party data.
Zero-Party data do not have anything to do with the cookies. It comes directly from the customer.
Here are the examples of how you can collect Zero-Party data:
- Business interactions with customers.
- Forms
- Surveys
- Comments
With Zero-Party data, you will get the following:
- User account information
- Feedback
- Reviews
- Survey reports
- Purchase intent
- Personalized data
But, it is not easy to collect Zero-Party data.
Yet, you can make it easy if you offer your customers some incentive. For example, you can ask customers to participate in surveys and offer them discount coupons. Coupon marketing always works in this case.
Zero-party data is also reliable data on where customers engage with your business. It is highly converting data. You can use it to increase the number of returning customers.
Conclusion:
Whether it’s first-party, second-party, third-party, or zero-party data, you always need to ensure customer privacy when collecting the data.
Remember: Ethical data collection practices are becoming legal and essential to building trust.
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