Is First-Party Data Marketing’s New Super Power?

Since third-party cookies are no longer employed to protect user privacy, and don’t comply with regulations like GDPR, companies now must find new ways to collect useful information about their customers. Most organizations use cookies to collect data, track user behavior and remarket, and this presents a new challenge that is vital to tackle.

As a result, the advertising and tracking of activities across different platforms will now be significantly different from using data from external sites. Marketing professionals now must find alternatives to deliver personalized content to prospects and customers.

The most widespread and common answer marketing professionals are pivoting towards is first-party data. But before we make first-party data our new ‘super power’, we must first understand it well.

What is First-Party Data?

The term “first-party data” refers to information collected directly from our users instead of collecting data from third parties.

Some examples of first-party data are:

Usage data submitted directly by your website or app (such as average time spent on site, time of day, number of sessions, purchase history, etc.)
CRM database information about customers

Voluntarily submitted data such as customer answers to prompts and surveys on your website/app (some refer to this as “zero-party data”).

How Do You Gather First-Party Data?

Some options include:

Give users the option to sign up for your site and give them a compelling reason to do so. This will help you gather voluntary information about them and their usage (this is even more impactful for app usage).
Create quality gated content, which asks users to give their email addresses/contact information before accessing it.
Run lead-generation campaigns that will collect leads and information about them.
Collect information about all users’ interactions with your brand on social media, online and physical events, answers to surveys/prompts, and more using a CRM system.

Best Uses of First-Party Data?

Some of the best ways to use first-party data include:

Retargeting and Similar Audiences:

The best data for these uses is first-party data. The reason for that is that it is the most reliable data and can be used to boost ROAS by retargeting users that have converted in the past or were close to doing so. Another option would be to use this data for similar audiences and find users who share traits with those valuable potential clients.

Segmenting Users and Predicting Behaviors:

Users who share various traits are likely to behave similarly, so gathering information about different segments and their behavior regarding our site/app allows us to better understand them and predict their behavior in certain situations more accurately. For example, this could boost monetization efforts by showing the ideal times for a promotion and the most effective deals for specific audiences.

All kinds of data, from behavioral data to customer feedback, can provide insights into what kind of innovations will succeed. It is nevertheless necessary to consider third-party and second-party data when performing market analysis, especially if you are using both first-party and third-party data.

Creating a Market Analysis Before Launching New Features and Products:

Creating Personalized Content:

Information from first parties can be used to cater to customers’ needs by serving them different content and advertising based on their data. This serves as an opportunity for a rare win-win; using our knowledge of our user’s needs and creating value by adjusting our ads and user experience.

The Relevancy of First-Party Data?

The main thing that needs to stand before our eyes is value, which derives from relevancy.

When an ad shows an item I searched for by using dynamic remarketing but doesn’t consider the fact that I already purchased it, that’s inconvenient, being a waste of both time and money.

An example from the other side of the relevancy spectrum is an app that gives us information about a discount on a product someone usually purchases on a monthly basis. We are aware that our data is being collected and stored – but we see the value in it for us. It’s a reasonable trade-off that feels less intrusive.

Final Thoughts

The move away from third-party data to first-party data is one that is substantial and calls for us marketing professionals to reconsider our approach to digital marketing. With that being said, change is also an opportunity.

With the reliability and relevance of first-party data, marketing efforts can provide better value and personalization, improving the user experience and our digital marketing performance.

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