How to collect zero-party data, and why is it so important for marketers?

Since Apple killed IDFA and google announced the third-party data blocking process starting from 2023, it looks like the marketing world is moving to a whole new era of data gathering. 

Talking about IFDA, (Identifiers for advertisers), it is a targeting and tracking system that comes within every iOS mobile device to measure the effectiveness of advertising. Think of it as something like cookies on your browser. Cookies and IDFA had pretty much the same role to play in the third-party data gathering process. It means that when Apple killed IDFA and google announced to do the same with cookies, the advertising industry started thinking about collecting data more ethically. 

Read this article to learn how you can quickly gather valuable data without using any 007 spying system! 

Before we move further on this topic, let’s stay in the IDFA and cookies environment and understand what these two systems were doing with every move that we took on the internet when buying, watching, liking or whatever we do as active users of the internet. To understand this, we need to start from the first, second, and third-party data. It is nothing new for an experienced marketer but still something to discover for many business owners who run their businesses alone and struggling to gather valuable lead generation. 

Long story short – iOS uses the IDFA that comes within Apple’s mobile device. By assigning a single device to a single IDFA, advertisers can track IDFAs within their campaigns and gain demographic and behavioral data of that particular user to better the advertising target. 

Google is using cookies which are on every single website. So advertising companies can also spread their cookies around every website, gather data about users, and assume future choices based on users’ behavior. 

What happens with the data?

So here is where the ethical part starts, and the complete comprehensive privacy comes in. Before Apple and Google announcements advertisers were, in fact, diving into the fog trying to gather tons of data, analyzing and assuming what user X would be interested in based on its activities. Thanks to killing the third-party data, advertisers no longer have to guess. So let’s take a few sentences on what exactly is first, second and third-party data. 

• First-party data: Data collected from the audience through cookies from the website or dealflow CRM software. Also, from social media profiles, subscription-based emails, surveys, customer feedback, and scraping data from the web.
• Second-party data: It is the data collected from another company which is usually a partner company. This data can be given or sold for the benefit of both. 
• Third-party data: Is aggregated and bought from provider companies with no direct relations with the user and is relatively low-quality data. 

No big heads are needed to see that in every type of mentioned data gathering ways, there is something from spying system 🙂 And this is where the Zero-Party Data hits in. Why assume, guess, or buy data from providers when you can simply ask your audience what they want? If I had to compare, zero-party data is more like a private concierge in the shopping system. The beauty of zero-party data is within its simplicity and clearness. Imagine it as a schemat of micro questions you ask your audience directly and gather the feedback data. Just like you’d do it in an offline store, trying your best to serve your clients when they enter your door. 

Zero-party data is the direct information you get from your audience voluntarily given to you! 

How to gather zero-party data? There are some reliable marketing automation tools you can use to collect zero-party data from your audience. 

Quizzes

People love quizzes, especially when they can discover something fun or new about themselves. Quizzes are sharable, engaging, and they also bring this touch of uniqueness to your clients. Beuty brands know it well, and this is why big brands like Sephora, Fenty, and many more started to manage the shopping experience beginning with a quiz, ending on personalized offers. Read more about how beauty brands increase the sell when using a quiz. Thinking of a quiz, imagine it as a part of a continuous data gathering system. You don’t pop up with a 30 question quiz, but as a micro-moment in the shopping experience. Create short quizzes ask a few questions at a time. Help your clients save time and offer precisely what they need among thousands of products!

Example – Product Recommendation Ecommerce Quiz ( here is a link to quiz templates )

Interactive calculators

Clients love to calculate everything that’s countable! Interactive Calculators are a great way to gain trust, give clients an estimation of costs no matter the industry! Wedding planners, real-estate companies, banking services, car dealers, restaurants (e.g., a tip calculator), cleaning companies, and many more industries working on B2B or B2C can save so much time on calls and emails by just creating a calculator on their websites! In addition, your potential clients leave their emails so you can get back to them with a better offer or meeting appointment offer. 

Example – Wedding Budget Calculator ( here is a link to calculator templates )

Surveys & Forms

Nothing new that using an online survey or form gives you the most valuable feedback! Gain customer service feedback, product experience, even events and live experience in real-time! In addition, using surveys and forms helps to elevate your services! Try our surveys & forms so you can get first-hand data directly from your audience! 

Example – Customer Satisfaction Survey – CSAT ( here is a link to survey templates )

Online Polls

Are a great way to see instant feedback, and people love to see how others voted. It’s like micro-dosing of dopamine. Use this interactive, engaging tool to pump your audience’s blood once in a while 🙂 

Example – Political Poll ( here is a link to online poll templates )

The key to effectively using zero-party data collection is their system interweaving through the customer journey. Think of it from a wider perspective, not just one time shot. It is crucial in creating compelling user profiles. Gather all data continuously and send it to your CRM or Customer Data Platform – CDP. 

We hope this article was helpful. Feel free to share and try youengage interactive platform to start gathering zero-party valuable data and boost your business where the sky is the limit 🙂