Navigating the Shift to First-Party Data in Digital Marketing

With the decline of third-party cookies due to privacy concerns and regulations like GDPR, companies are turning to first-party data as a powerful alternative for collecting customer information. Marketing professionals must adapt to these changes by leveraging first-party data to deliver personalized content and maintain effective advertising strategies.

Understanding First-Party Data

First-party data is information collected directly from users through various interactions with a company’s website, app, or CRM system. Examples include:

Usage data from websites or apps (e.g., average time spent, number of sessions, purchase history)
CRM database information
Voluntarily submitted data from surveys and prompts (sometimes called “zero-party data”)

How to Gather First-Party Data

To effectively collect first-party data, consider these methods:

Encourage users to sign up on your site or app, providing incentives for voluntary data submission.
Create high-quality gated content that requires users to provide contact information.
Run lead-generation campaigns to gather leads and related information.
Utilize a CRM system to track user interactions across social media, events, surveys, and more.

Best Uses of First-Party Data

First-party data can be employed in several impactful ways:

Retargeting and Similar Audiences: First-party data is highly reliable for retargeting users who have previously converted or were close to doing so. It also helps identify similar audiences, boosting ROAS.

Segmenting Users and Predicting Behaviors: Segmenting users based on shared traits allows for better prediction of behaviors, enhancing monetization efforts with targeted promotions and deals.

Market Analysis Before Launching New Features and Products: Combining first-party data with third-party data offers a comprehensive market analysis, providing insights into the success potential of new innovations.

Creating Personalized Content: First-party data enables the creation of personalized content and advertising, meeting customer needs and enhancing user experience.

The Relevance of First-Party Data

Relevance is key to the value of first-party data. Ads and content must be tailored to avoid inconveniences and wasted resources. For example, dynamic remarketing should consider recent purchases to avoid showing irrelevant ads, while personalized discounts based on purchase history enhance user satisfaction.

Final Thoughts

The shift from third-party to first-party data requires marketing professionals to rethink their strategies. This change presents an opportunity to enhance digital marketing efforts with reliable and relevant data, leading to better personalization and improved performance.

Aviv Braun

Leading the department of marketing at Give & Tech, while also being the founder and manager of the "Product Marketing 101" course and working as a senior digital marketing manager. Always eager to combine Technology, Psychology and Creativity.