Don’t you want to create meaningful relationships with your customers? Of course, you do…

Developing strong relationships with customers has always been critical for brands and it has become more vital in this privacy-first world. Yes. First-party data is a holy grail for marketers, but collecting data is not always easy.

While most marketers claim they know how to collect their first-party data, here are a few things that go wrong.

1. You collect data from your website visitors and use the same data to improve your social media advertising.
2. You buy genuine data from a certified data broker and use the data to improve your social media advertising.

Taking an aerial view, you are collecting first-party data, but which one is the best for you? Can you tell us? Wait, let us help you here.

In the first scenario, you are collecting data yourself and you have complete control over what data is to be collected. Also, you have control over the security of the data.

In the second scenario, it seems that you have first-party data, but apparently, it is the third-party data that you use. The data is from an authentic source and you can verify the same, but you do not have any control over the security of the data.

If consumer trust and compliance are your priority, you must always collect first-party data. Let us understand more here.

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First-Party Data

The data collected by your company is First-party Data. Any kind of data that you collect from the people visiting your website, using your products, or visiting your physical locations is first-party data.

Now with first-party data, privacy is expected. When a consumer shares his data with you, he will expect that you are not selling or sharing that data with any other company. While you collect data from your customers, you should have a data-privacy policy. These policies will create transparency and build trust between consumers and your brand.

Best Practices for first-party data

1. Create a Plan

Before using first-party data, you need to create a plan. If you are contemplating some steps, here are a few to help you.

• Know what to collect: No matter how much data you collect, if you do not know what you are collecting, the data will be a sheer waste. Thus, you must know what you are collecting. Whether it is internet usage info, demographics, or interest in a product, companies must gain a full understanding of the data to-be collected.
• A checklist to help: A perfect marketing strategy is devised after long hours of discussions, team collaboration, knowing business goals, and creating checklists for improvements. You must use the data to run through checks and brainstorm solutions.
• Break up responsibilities: While first-party data can tell you a lot about your business, you need to have dedicated teams from customer service to advertising making sure you have a specialized task force for everything.

2. Optimize your website

Nothing can make up for a malfunctioning website and so marketers need to optimize their websites in the best possible way. First-party data reveals how user-friendly your website is and that is why first-party data is a valuable asset to improving and optimizing your user experience.

3. Advertising and Pay-per-click

Pay-per-click techniques along with other types of digital marketing techniques are crucial for the growth of a business. PPC is done primarily by linking the site to keywords and commonly searched phrases. Marketers can use first-party data to enhance the effectiveness of PPC marketing techniques. Doing this helps in:

• Getting a thorough understanding of leads.
• A comparison of new Vs. old customers.
• Search accuracy related to keywords.

4. Email and SMS list

Another effective way marketers can use first-party data is by adding their users to the email and SMS lists. The data is collected when the customer inputs information while:

• Purchasing from your website.
• Submitting a question.
• Staying up-to-date for promotions and other brand announcements.

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Wrapping up

If you want to take the extra mile and offer the best experience to your customers, it is time to switch to first-party data. As the world of digital commerce is in constant flux, marketers must keep pace with this break-neck competition.

Understand the importance of first-party data and ensure that you collect it righteously.