Why First-Party Data Should Be Your First Priority

Marketers are continually inundated with news of increasing privacy measures being put into place by major digital players like Google and Apple. It’s no longer enough to just simply prepare for the cookieless world; brands need to start securing high-quality first-party data as soon as possible. 

Why Your Brand Needs First-Party Data 

As consumers are becoming increasingly protective of their online presence, what data is being collected, and how it’s being shared and monetized, marketers must transform to take steps to protect consumer data privacy. The intention is to provide users with transparency how their personal data is being used, giving people more control over their personal information online. With the combination of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), Google Chrome, the largest web browser, pledging to phase out third-party cookie usage by 2022, and Apple’s ongoing iOS 14 updates, the cookieless world is now upon us. 

How To Successfully Connect With Consumers

What’s important to your customers should be important to your brand. To gain the trust of prospective customers, transparency will be of utmost importance. Consumers are increasingly aware that ads contribute to their ability to access apps and websites for free. It’s important to communicate to users how they can get a more personalized experience that can actually enhance their online experience by providing those key personal details. 

When focusing on first-party data collection, you don’t want to scare away customers by asking too many questions right away. To entice customers to voluntarily provide more information, provide incentives through discounts, loyalty programs, and exclusive or early access to new launches. Get creative, but remember, in a brand-customer relationship you want to make sure things are balanced so both parties feel like they are winning.   

Start with the basics: a simple sign up form can give you information such as names and contact information, and purchases can tell you about your customer’s product interests and shopping habits. Once your customer builds out their basic profile, you can start to dig deeper into different behaviors as they interact with your brand, from browsing data to reviews and overall interests. Or by encouraging users to create an account, giving you further access to how and when they shop, additional demographic information, or other ways to contact them moving forward.    

Deliver Personalized Experiences with First-Party Data

The benefit of getting your data directly from your target customers is that you create an opt-in culture. With first-party data, your brand can reach customers with targeted ads, content, and product selections that appeal to their needs and come across as helpful. Personalized content is not a new concept, but it’s becoming increasingly important and even expected. When a customer opts-in to give you access to their data, they are trusting you and forming a relationship with your brand. Brands can then rely on accuracy to better tailor their digital efforts across channels and platforms for a more uniform, omnichannel experience.

For brands, customer experience should be a primary focus, more so than ever before. Advertisers should put an increased emphasis on their messaging in order to maximize a user’s experience and retain their opt-in status. By complying, users have signified they are ok with seeing offers personalized to them, this is an opportunity to really make a connection. Knowing this can also help brands analyze user patterns and personas to improve how they go to market, communicate with consumers and even develop future products or services.

Buyers are coming to your brand to fill a need or solve a problem they have. By giving the control to the consumers, they may now pay closer attention to what personal information they are willing to provide in order to have a better online experience. Providing some personal information can be good and even be more helpful than previously realized.