Motivated by consumer privacy concerns, web browser companies and other technology leaders have been gradually weaning themselves away from third party cookies. Long a holdout, Chrome recently announced its deadline for deprecating this tracking technology.
NB: This is an article from Persado
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As a result, successful digital marketers will need effective first party data strategies for delivering relevant and personal customer experiences in a more private web ecosystem. Implementing a successful first party data strategy should be at the top of every marketer’s list in 2024.
What is first party data?
First party data (also known as 1P data) is information an organization collects directly from its audience without intermediaries or third parties. Brands may collect this data from website visitors, social media followers, email subscribers, and people registered in their CRM system. Examples of the kinds of first party data a brand may associate with a customer include:
- Website visits
- Activity on the website
- Digital interactions
- Purchase history
- Demographics
- Behavior
- Subscriptions
- Interests
- Preferences
Having a first party data strategy gives your brand a plan for how it will collect customer and prospect data and use it to deliver personalized experiences. For some marketers, having a first party data strategy is relatively new and therefore challenging. They may not have needed one in the past if their organization was able to achieve its customer targeting goals using third party insights.
The shift to first party data over third party data is not all bad, however, as there are some advantages. Primary among them is that only your brand has the exact combination of customer insights available through owned channels. Third party data sources, in contrast, can be purchased by anyone, and therefore do not provide a competitive advantage. Overall, using first party data enables a more positive and personalized customer experience.
Why brands need a first party data strategy
Brands value first party data because of its versatility and better accuracy and timeliness than third party data. It can allow you to:
- Develop more targeted loyalty programs
- Boost engagement and retention rates
- Retarget website visitors on social media in real time based on purchase history
- Achieve more personalization
- Analyze customer behavior more accurately
- Optimize CX
- Build direct relationships with your customers to unlock higher customer lifetime values
- Retarget shoppers with abandoned carts
- Better understand what customers want and where to add value
First party data gives brands the power to create more relevant experiences for target audiences. When used wisely, first party data can help build direct customer relationships, generate more value, and improve marketing team performance. Unlike third party data, which remains static until it is purchased again, first party data gives brands insights into changing customer behavior and preferences in real time.
What should a first party data strategy include in 2024
Gartner predicts that by 2025, 75% of marketing programs leveraging customer data will produce less incremental revenue from it than they spent to acquire, manage, and activate it. Putting yourself among the 25% of companies that gain competitive advantage from their customer data means having a powerful first party data strategy. Consider the following for 2024:
