First-party data is quickly becoming a game changer when it comes to helping businesses learn as much as possible about their target audience and use that information to better serve their current and potential customers. Approximately 96 percent of web traffic is completely anonymous, which means that finding ways to dig deeper into who is accessing your website and what they hope to obtain from it can go a long way toward getting to know your target audience. Here are some of the most important things to know about what first-party data is and how it can benefit your business!
What Is First-Party Data?
Simply put, first-party data involves gathering information about your customers directly from them instead of using a more traditional third-party service. First-party data can be collected by using customer surveys, app data, purchases or other transactions, social media conversations, digital or in-person customer service interactions, and a variety of other methods for gathering information straight from your customers. This can be a much more helpful method for using your customers’ opinions to improve the overall experience you are able to offer them than attempting to create accurate assumptions using the less-personal data that cookies and other third-party tracking services are capable of providing.
Why Is First-Party Data Important?
While third-party cookies were once the tried-and-true method for gathering information about your website visitors, various types of emerging privacy policies have impacted the extent to which companies are reasonably able to use them to search for and store data. By gathering information directly from your target audience through surveys, various steps in the purchase process, and other interactions with your current and potential customers, first-party data gives your business access to more in-depth information that you know has been willingly provided.
Benefits and Capabilities of First-Party Data
While first-party data is a relatively new concept, this modern alternative to third-party data has already been proven to benefit both businesses and their customers in a wide range of ways. Some of the most significant benefits of exploring first-party data include:
- Gathering data with the clear consent of your customers, which improves your ability to ensure that your data collection aligns with privacy laws, company policies, and customers’ preferences
- Accessing more thorough data because your customers are able to provide as many details as they want, rather than forcing your business to rely on the surface-level information that third-party data typically provides
- Assisting your business with building and maintaining relationships with your customers because you are able to obtain more accurate insights into why your customers make the decisions they do
- Improving your conversion rate by helping your business take steps to better align with what your customers are looking for
- Reducing your ROI to help make your business’s marketing budget stretch further
Choose Prospect Hub for Top-Notch First-Party Data Management
Our new first-party data solution, Prospect Hub, is a cutting-edge first-party data solution that can help your business turn anonymous site visitors into valuable data that can be used to benefit both your business and your customers. By identifying up to ten times the amount of website visitors that your business might gather using traditional third-party data, this innovative tool can go a long way toward helping your business obtain the insights you need to provide the best possible experience for your customers. Learn more.