First-party data: What is it and how to collect it through interactive content
This is a guest post written by Shivani Mody, a content marketer at Outgrow.
Third-party cookies are getting phased out and the need for a more dependable source of data is rising by the hour.
While some browsers have minimized the utilization of third-party cookies, Google Chrome is planning for a complete elimination of third party cookies by the end of 2023. This radical change in data-collection methodologies calls for a reliable source of data that can continue to fuel data-driven marketing.
This is where first party data enters the picture.
First-party data is the data businesses collect first-hand from their audiences directly from their own channels. But how exactly can you leverage this source of data for your marketing campaigns?
In this blog, we’re going to discuss exactly. Let’s dive in.
What is first-party data?
In simplest terms, first party data is the information that you collect from your own sources. The sources can be information submitted from visitors on your website, social media followers, or customer surveys.
First-party data can provide you with direct insights about your audience, enabling you to create better, more personalized content for your advertising and marketing campaign.
Benefits of collecting first-party data
1. Insights from the audience
First-party data can give you insight into the preferences and habits of your audience. For example, a user survey can help you understand trends in the broader market. Analyzing behavioral data from your website or product, can help you understand how customers are engaging with your brand.
Collecting first-party data provides marketers with important information that they need to run their marketing campaigns and optimize their buyer funnel.
2. GDPR compliance
When you collect first-party data from your own channels, you can ensure that you’re compliant with data privacy regulations such as GDPR. For example, if you’re collecting data through an interactive content piece on your website, you have direct control over where and how information is collected and make sure visitors have properly consented to providing their information.
3. Custom segmentation & retargeting
Once you’ve gathered data from sources like your website, social media platforms, and interactive content pieces, you can use this information to create custom segments based on different criteria such as firmographic or demographic information.
4. Personalized experiences
When you have clarity about your audience’s preferences and expectations, you can provide them with personalized offers and deliver more value to their experience with your brand.
For example, let’s say you learn from a survey sent by you that budget constraints are top of mind for prospects. You can tailor your marketing and sales strategy for those prospects with customized pricing.
5. Cost optimization
First-party data can also help you optimize your ad spend. By utilizing the data you collect to tailor your advertisements to your audience’s interests and preferences, you increase the likelihood that your message will resonate.
Ways to collect first-party data
1. Lead forms
One of the most popular ways to collect first-party data is through lead forms. Forms can be used to gate different types of content, such as an interactive content piece, a newsletter signup page, an e-book, and more. You can collect demographic or firmographic data through lead forms.
2. Behavioral data from your website
Analyzing the behavior of the users who visit your website — such as the number of visits, clicks, or sign-ups, can give you important insights about your customers. By observing key trends and patterns, you can customize your marketing and sales offers accordingly.
3. Social engagement
You can also analyze your engagement on your social channels to understand the needs and goals of your audience. Regularly monitor your followers, comments, likes, and shares to spot key patterns.
4. Customer surveys
Responses collected via interactive experiences such as customer surveys can be an important source of first-party data. Through surveys, you can ask questions that are directly related to the information you’re looking for.
How to collect first-party data through interactive content
So far, we’ve talked about different ways to collect first-party data. In this section, we’ll focus specifically on using interactive content to collect first-party data. Here are a few examples.
1. Quizzes
Quizzes are fun, interactive experiences that allow the users to answer a set of questions and provide a personalized outcome at the end. To create one easily, try a no-code quiz maker platform that allows you to add a lead generation form to collect first-party data.
Outgrow: Branding Strategy, Voice, and Colour Palette Generator
In this example, the quiz asks general questions about a brand, such as their goal, industry, unique approach, etc. After analyzing the responses, the quiz generates a brand archetype for the user.
2. Chatbots
A chatbot is an interactive tool that starts conversations with the prospects who visit your website. Chatbots can help prospects find more information about your products or assist clients with onboarding.
HubSpot uses the information submitted through their chatbot to provide more relevant content, products, and services.
3. Calculators
Interactive calculators are online tools used for performing simple as well as complex mathematical computation that can be deployed throughout a buyer’s journey to collect information.
Users answer a set of relevant questions to find custom solutions to their problems. The real-time and to-the-point result is what drives users to use and share calculators.
Email Marketing ROI Calculator by Outgrow
This Email Marketing ROI calculator asks for information about email metrics like the number of emails sent per campaign, email opens, click rates, and more and then processes that information to calculate the ROI of an email campaign. The data provided from this calculator can then be further analyzed to inform marketing and sales strategies.
Final words
First-party data is becoming more important in the digital marketing game. With the elimination of third-party cookies, it's time to focus your efforts on improving your data collection methodologies and get the best out of the raw information you gather.
