First-party and Zero-party data: Benefits to Marketing and Sales Teams

Drafting a marketing or sales plan without having access to reliable data is a recipe for disaster. With the rapid pace at which customer behavior is evolving, marketers and sales teams require regular access to data to formulate different promotional and selling strategies. One of the regularly used tools for collecting customer data online is third-party cookies. These are the cookies set by another website than the one you are currently browsing and collect user data for a third party. Businesses across domains have used third-party cookies to track customer data and then draft targeted ad campaigns for their products and services.

But as Google is planning on phasing out third-party cookies from its flagship ‘Chrome’ browser, marketers have been compelled to shift their focus from third-party cookies to zero-party and first-party data. Zero-party data offers direct insights into customer behavior and does not warrant any analysis. At the same time, first-party data originates from users’ online activities and requires in-depth analysis to draw useful insights. While both these forms of data collection have been around for some years, their usage has increased manifolds in recent years as marketers are starting to use zero-party data and first-party data to create successful marketing strategies without relying on third-party cookies.

Benefits of first-party data

The first part of the data is essentially the data collected directly from the customers. As this data is directly sourced, it helps address their needs as it is directly related to them. Some of the standout benefits of first-party data are: –

1. Lowers costs: –

As this data is sourced directly from the customers, expenses incurred by middlemen for collecting data or for purchasing data from other parties are saved.

2. Improved accuracy: –

As there is a close connection between the customer and the company, the chances of any errors are reduced. Accurate data is the cornerstone of efficient marketing strategies.

3. Privacy compliant: –

As the customer has directly provided the consent for data collection, companies are safe under the provisions of different privacy laws.

4. Better control: –

Companies have better control over customer details under first-party data, and the complete information is made available to different departments for decision-making.

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Benefits of Zero-party Data

Zero-party data is customer data shared intentionally and proactively with the brand. This data can relate to purchasing intentions, preference center data, and expectations from the brand. This term was introduced by Forrester Research and has since become popular for its various benefits like,

1. Improved communications: –

As the customers tell their preferred mode of communication, marketers will likely achieve better results for their communication efforts.

2. Customer requirements: –

Marketing teams can carefully draft forms to secure the desired information from the customers. This would help offer products and services better suited to customer requirements.

3. New Initiatives: –

With a better understanding of customer requirements, product development teams can undertake new initiatives to create better and improved products.

4. Privacy Compliance: –

This data is voluntarily shared by the customers and is therefore compliant with various provisions of privacy legislation worldwide.

Processes That Help With Data Collection

Before you start processing the data, it is important to understand various methods and processes that can be used for accurate data collection. Here are the different processes you can follow for your data collection efforts: –

• For Zero-party Data

• • Online quizzes and contests
  • Conversational pop-ups
  • Social media polls
  • Post-purchase survey
  • Account creations
  • Newsletter sign-up
  • Product/Service Installation

• For First-party Data

  • On-site user registration
  • Single sign-on using Google or Facebook profile
  • Demographic-based user profiling
  • Content Sharing
  • Surveys
  • Event-based tracking
  • Customer feedback
  • Warranty Registration

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Tools for data collection

You can use various tools to collect customer data and analyze it. These platforms or tools have been developed exclusively for data collection and offer great features to make the entire experience customer friendly. Some of the most popular data collection tools are: –

1. Google Forms: –

Brands widely use Google Forms for customer data collection. These forms can be imported to Excel to create impressive graphs and tables for presentations.

2. Forms on Fire: –

It is a cloud-based data collection platform widely used for digitizing forms. It helps simplify the data collection processes and further assists with in-depth data analysis.

3. Fulcrum: –

Is an excellent data collection tool compatible with Android and iOS. This tool supports effortless form creation and ensures data collection directly from the Android or iOS app.

4. QuickTapSurvey: –

This excellent survey creation tool also supports offline functionality. Users can create impressive surveys and capture important customer data within a few minutes.

You can use any of the methods mentioned above to collect customer data and analyze it to draw useful inferences. With the cookie-less online world about to become a reality soon, it is best to transition to alternative data collection sources as soon as possible.

BONUS READ – Jon Miller, CMO at Demandbase chats about the evolution of ABM in this webchat with MarTechSeries: