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Zero and first-party data explained

Updated
Jan 20, 2025
Published
May 9, 2024

Successful businesses understand their customers perfectly and tailor marketing and ad content to their needs every time, creating stronger and more meaningful business-customer relationships. Zero and first-party data are at the heart of this success, as they offer the most accurate, consent-driven insights into customer preferences and behaviors.

Understanding how to effectively capture and use zero- and first-party data is crucial for building trust and maximizing marketing potential. In this post, we will focus on these two data types and explore their unique advantages and transformative role in modern marketing strategies.

Zero- and first-party data <br>

What is zero-party data?

By definition, zero-party data is the information customers share with the business willingly. It’s the information your customers are happy to provide in exchange for something you offer, like a better experience, discount, tailored offer, brand loyalty program membership, early launch access, etc.

Examples of zero-party data:

  • Loyalty program membership (member ID, points balance, or tier level)
  • Interactive responses (quizzes, polls)
  • Preferences (like favorite product categories)
  • Purchase intentions (like wishlist items)
  • Interests (topics like fitness, photography, or travel)
  • Demographics (self-reported age, gender, or income range)

At the same time, zero-party data is the hardest to obtain, as it requires direct input from the customer. To collect such data, you must offer the client something worthwhile.

Zero-party data, arguably the most valuable data from your clients, is gathered through direct contact with a customer. It is highly accurate, reliable, individual, and collected ethically (with the customer’s explicit consent). 

What is first-party data?

First-party data is information you collect about your customers from your channels to learn how a customer interacts with your business. It’s all the information you can gather from your encounters with your clients using your tools.

Examples of first-party data:

  • Interactions and behaviors of mobile app and website users
  • CRM data
  • Contact information
  • Purchase history
  • Social media information
  • Email campaign engagement
  • Support history
  • Loyalty program information

The critical difference between zero-party and first-party data is that with zero-party data, customers have to input data and expect something in return. First-party data is information you gather based on customers' interactions with your brand. 

First-party and zero-party data were grouped for a long time because they come directly from a business's interactions with its customers. If, at some point, due to browser restrictions and data regulations, more and more marketers turn to cookieless tracking as an alternative to traditional methods. It’s vital to distinguish between the types of data you collect and know how to work with each one.

Role of zero-party data

While the future of third-party data remains uncertain, zero-party data stands strong. It is undeniably the most valuable data asset a business can possess. It empowers companies to enhance the quality of their marketing efforts and tailor them to the unique needs and preferences of their customers. Zero-party data is not just crucial for building strong, loyal customer relationships, it is the most valuable asset for personalization.

Role of first-party data

First-party data must be more prominent in the face of the shift from the dominating role of third-party cookies. Any business can gather and manage this data type, making it a reliable and adaptable resource for the future. 

This data allows you to enhance personalization and maintain and nurture customer connections. You can also refine targeting (by utilizing customer behavior and purchase history data).  Thankfully, first-party cookies are not going away like the third-party ones might, at least not in the foreseeable future.

How to use zero and first-party data in server-side tracking

Using server-side tracking for managing zero and first-party data has a lot of benefits. Firstly, server-side tracking is reliable because you control the data transmission and management. Also, it helps you provide better data protection. What’s more, it can help you create privacy-compliant advertising

Server-side tagging allows you to send first- and zero-party data from your CSM, CRM, or database to the Google Tag Manager server. Then, you can deliver the data from sGTM to advertising and analytics platforms such as Facebook, Google, TikTok, etc. It can help you collect more information about your customers' events even without them visiting your website. 

Offline conversions help improve the attribution and performance of advertising campaigns. They occur when a customer, after interacting with your online ads, takes action offline, such as calling your call center or visiting your physical store. By linking these offline actions to your online campaigns, you can better understand the impact of your digital advertising efforts and optimize them for better results.

We have a guide on how to send data from your CMS, CRM, or any third-party platform directly to sGTM. Once the data reaches sGTM, you can easily configure it to be sent to any other destination or service, giving you full control over your tracking and data flow.

You can also store zero- and first-party data on the server and enrich your web events. For example, if a user creates an account on your website or makes a purchase, you can use the stape store to enrich pageview events for them. Alternatively, for those who visit your website from the ad and then convert offline, you can enrich purchase events with necessary cookies (for example, fbp and fbc for meta) before sending the purchase event to meta.

Building a custom CDP (Customer Data Platform), a system that collects and manages customer data from various sources, and enriching event data using server-side GTM allows you to combine all your customer information in one place, making it easier to understand and reach out to them more effectively.

Overall, server-side tracking is the most reliable and viable way to capture and handle customer data in a cookieless way, if the deprecation of third-party cookies happens at some point eventually. 

Strategies for collecting and using 1-st party data - best practices

You should collect first-party data because it’s vital for understanding how customers interact with your business. Unlike third-party data, which is unreliable and sometimes compromised in accuracy, first-party data is accurate, reliable, and is always there for your business to use. 

How to collect 1-st party data and use it:

  • Use first-party data analytics tools. Google Analytics is an excellent tool for gathering and working with first-party customer information.
  • Encourage your customers to create accounts. You get more data by encouraging them to create accounts in exchange for receiving a perk or a better experience. You can get valuable information like ​​customer name, email address, and shipping address. This can help you identify users better, track their behaviors, and cater to their needs.
  • Ask for feedback and study it. Gather all the feedback from your customers and examine it to identify tendencies and points of improvement.
  • Create polls, surveys, quizzes, and questionnaires. This interaction will help you better understand your customers and identify ways to better serve them.
  • Use the power of CRM systems. With a customer relationship management system, you can keep customer data in one place, segment it, and effectively utilize it for marketing and advertising.
  • Implement server-side tracking. This allows you to obtain high-quality web data and fully control it. Moreover, it empowers companies to be independent from third-party data sources. It also protects business data, as owners decide whom to share the captured data with.

Remember that effectively collecting and managing first-party data means being transparent. Let your customers know what data you collect, why you want it, and how you protect it. This will also help you get your customers on board by ensuring their information is safe with you and used only in their best interest. 

Prove that you can use customer data to improve the shopping experience and provide better service overall. Show your customers that it’s worth trusting their data with you.

Conclusion

Naturally, any business attempts to use customer data whenever and wherever it comes from. Finding the correct ratio for collecting and using zero, first, second, and third-party data is essential for the company's well-being in the changing marketing and advertising era. 

As businesses work on mastering user tracking without cookies, it becomes evident that relying on zero and first-party data is the right approach. Using server-side tracking is the simplest way to cope with the depreciation of third-party cookies while getting the most of the data you gather. 

Don’t hesitate to contact Stape support. We will answer your questions and resolve any issues you might be experiencing as quickly as possible.

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