A lot of e-commerce marketers are starting to talk about zero-party data.
This seems to be a trend that has started in the last 12 months or so.
I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, producing content and engaging with other people’s content, and just about every day, I see a post about zero-party data.
The concerning thing to me is that when I have conversations with up-and-coming brands (several times per day), most have never heard of zero-party data. The most common response is, “what’s that” or “I’ve never heard of that”.
So, what is zero-party data?
Zero-party data is data that your customers voluntarily and proactively share with your brand. This data can include:
- Preferences
- Personal data
- Purchase intent data
- How they wish for a brand to engage with them
This data is typically collected through surveys, quizzes, and direct feedback.
This data is quite a bit different than first-party data, which most marketers are already familiar with.
First-party data is typically collected through customer interaction on a brand website, apps, and other owned assets.
So let’s dig into the difference between both.
- Data Collection Method: As mentioned before, zero-party data is given voluntarily by customers, making it explicitly clear and reliable, as it is collected with consent and specific intention. First-party data is gathered implicitly as users interact with a brand’s digital assets, which can sometimes include assumptions about user preferences and behaviors.
- Privacy and Trust: Zero-party data is highly transparent in terms of collection and use, which builds stronger trust and loyalty between customers and brands. It is inherently compliant with privacy regulations since it is provided by consumers with consent. First-party data, while also privacy-compliant and directly collected, doesn’t involve the same level of explicit user consent to specific questions as zero-party data.
- Relevance and Accuracy: Because zero-party data comes directly from customer inputs about their preferences and desires, it tends to be more accurate and relevant for personalization purposes. First-party data, while useful, might not fully capture the customer’s current needs and preferences as it is based on observed behaviors that could be misinterpreted.
- Value and Engagement: Zero-party data can often provide deeper insights into what a customer is looking for at any given time and can enhance engagement by allowing more personalized and targeted marketing strategies. First-party data provides a broad view based on past interactions, which is valuable for trend analysis and predictive modeling but might not capture real-time shifts in consumer attitudes or preferences.
Now that we know what zero-party data is, the million-dollar question is how do you still start collecting this kind of data?
It all starts when someone lands on your website. As an e-commerce marketer, you have been trained to do everything in your power to collect an email address when someone visits the website. We do this through pop-ups and offers. In fact, I just had an awesome podcast episode talking all about the importance of email collection. You can listen to that here.
The way that we collect zero-party data is to trigger some form of a survey after someone opts into your email list. This allows us to collect additional data points on each user so that we can start to understand who they are, what they are shopping for, different needs and pain, points, etc. Sendlane just launched their version of forms and can natively collect this data for you. If you’re not using Sendlane another good option is Formtoro.
Once you collect this data, it should be pushed into your email marketing platform and used to build segments that you can send hyper-targeted communication to.
We’re not going to get into the strategy behind that in this post, but some of the ways brands are using this kind of data are to:
- Provide Personalized Product Recommendations
- Send Customized Marketing Communications
- Develop Products & Drive Innovation
- Enhance The Customer Experience
- Grow Loyalty Programs
- Drive Interactive Marketing Campaigns
As you see, you can get extremely creative with how you use this data.
So, if you aren’t actively collecting zero-party data, the first step is to start. Go get the tools and gather the data and I’ll be back in a few weeks with another post about how to use this data to guide your digital marketing strategy.
Greg is the founder and CEO of Stryde and a seasoned digital marketer who has worked with thousands of businesses, large and small, to generate more revenue via online marketing strategy and execution. Greg has written hundreds of blog posts as well as spoken at many events about online marketing strategy. You can follow Greg on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.
