Why First-Party Data is the Future of Marketing?

Google is eliminating third-party cookies in 2023 to protect data privacy and comply with regulations such as GDPR.

Users will be given the opportunity to decide what they want to share about themselves.

As a marketer, you’ll need to get innovative at capturing customer data on your own.

This blog post explores why first-party data is the future of digital marketing and how you can build user trust by embracing a cookieless future.

Let’s look at the different types of data before diving into the importance of first-party data.

1. First-Party Data

This is the data a company collects directly from customer interactions. For example, behavior or actions taken across your website and apps, CRM data, subscription-based email or products, and customer purchase history.

2. Second-Party Data

This is the data a company collects from other companies’ first-party data via data partnerships. For example, contact information, purchase history, website, app, and social media activity.

3. Third-Party Data

This is the aggregated data a company collects from external data providers that do not have a direct relationship with consumers whose data is being collected. For example, contact information, purchase history, and interview and focus group responses.

4. Zero Party Data

This is the data shared intentionally and proactively with a brand by a consumer. For example, customer surveys and polls.

Out of all these, first-party data is the most valuable to a marketer, with Google and Facebook being the most powerful data collectors.

What Does First-Party Data Mean for Digital Marketing?

Taking consent, consumer trust, and the human digital experience into consideration should already be a priority, but the sunset of third-party cookies makes them essential.

A strong first-party data ecosystem is necessary that makes customer profiles available throughout the customer journey and recognizes them across digital channels.

As a result, you could collaborate with partners such as Google, Facebook and eCommerce platforms to make use of first-party data.

Taking a closer look at first-party data implementation, let’s see how it’s worth the hype.

Why First-Party Data Is the Future of Digital Marketing?

Businesses are finding third-party cookies to be more trouble than they’re worth due to the emergence of data privacy legislation.

Most of the criticism aimed at third-party data relates to its reliability, as the data is derived from unknown sources. What should one do, then?

Adapt to a cookieless future by disabling third-party cookies, such as Apple and Firefox have done.

It is crucial to harness the power of first-party data. These Insights give your brand a sense of control over its future.

Every customer touchpoint gives you an opportunity to learn more so that you can build stronger relationships.

Lean into first-party data from website visitors and mobile apps to gain insights into how they interact with your business and how you can serve them better.

B2B partnerships are a great way to extend reach and build on insights from first-party data.

When you serve personalized ads, users feel like what they’re seeing is useful and relevant.

The rule of thumb here is that the more value and relevance your ads offer, the more receptive your users will be.

This helps ensure trust with people visiting your website and using your products, which makes compliance with data privacy regulations easier.

Benefits of First-Party Data Over Third-Party Cookies

1. First-Hand Information

Having first-party data means you’re not dependent on large networks to store data.

You also don’t have to log in every time to try to send out posts and attract customer attention.

Companies that provide you with second or third-party data decide what and how much data you receive.

Moreover, data quality suffers if it’s irrelevant to your brand or customer interest.

As soon as you obtain this data on your own, you have control and can make the most accurate use of it.

Having customer data, especially contact information, enables you to launch mobile messaging and email campaigns directly.

2. Compliance With Privacy Laws

As a result of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) introduced in 2018, businesses have realized that it is vital to own data with user consent.

This is because new regulations, as well as device and platform developers, have given people the power to choose who can use their data.

It’s now important to make it clear how your customers will benefit from sharing data with your brand. This will ensure user control and transparency.

If customers are providing data and consent then you’re already one step ahead of competitors who aren’t already following privacy regulations.

Without doing so, you could be subject to data privacy complaints, resulting in hefty fines and reputational damage.

To be privacy-ready, you’ll need to rethink marketing strategies with first-party data in mind.

3. Less Expensive And More Conversions

First-party data is less expensive than third-party data because there are no middlemen involved. It can be accessed for free.

However, this may be a little time-consuming because you have to process data all by yourself through Google Analytics 4. However, the accuracy rate makes the effort worthwhile.

If you offer forms and downloads and enable people to subscribe to newsletters, you can easily convert traffic into usable data and then retarget it.

4. Signals Trustworthiness

As user consent is taken before collecting first-party data, transparency is built.

This leads to data security and builds trustworthiness amongst users.

Embracing the ‘Cookieless Future’

Chrome will no longer support third-party cookies from 2023 onwards, ending programmatic advertising.

The cookieless future is fast becoming a reality. This is in line with consumer privacy. Marketers will have to rely increasingly on first-party data.

The cookieless world has been on the horizon for some time. People also view it as Google’s attempt to leverage Privacy Sandbox as an alternative.

As much as this is going to make it challenging for ad-tech companies, it’s definitely not going to put an end to online marketing or targeted advertising.

The costs involved in purchasing third-party cookies will see a dramatic decrease, and effective business outcomes from digital marketing will grow.

As a result, third-party cookies, and others that can be used maliciously, will no longer be a problem.

Wrapping-Up

We discussed why first-party data is key to marketing success. As soon as you understand its benefits, you will have no trouble ensuring the data security of your customers.

It’s important to test and tweak your first-party data plan to ensure your marketing efforts have the data necessary to deliver peak relevance.

From 2023 onwards, permission-based marketing will be crucial, since it allows users to freely choose what they want to share.

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