Recently, the iOS 14.5 data-tracking update and law-suits on Facebook for collecting user data made netizens extremely conscious about how their data is being tracked, shared, and used.
With online shoppers becoming aware and having more authority over their data, third-party data may soon become insignificant for personalized marketing.
On the flip side, consumers increasingly demand personalized experiences wherever they shop!
That’s where zero-party data fits in beautifully to help businesses retain a balance between marketers and customers.
In the words of Forrester Research who coined this term in 2018:
"Zero-party data is that which a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand. It can include preference center data, purchase intentions, personal context, and how the individual wants the brand to recognize [them]."
In simple terms, customers voluntarily share information about their identity, preferences, likings, and more is zero-party data.
Compared to traditional third-party data, zero-party data is definitive and reliable data directly from the customers!
The key differentiator is –here, the customer is trusting your brand and happily validating you to utilize their personal data to serve tailored and rewarding shopping experiences in return.
Here is a straightforward example of zero-party data and its use case.
Whenever you land on any apparel website, you might get a pop-up asking specific questions like:
Are you buying for Him or Her?
What are you shopping for today?
The moment you choose suitable options, you share your style and mood preferences with the store. It’s a data signal (zero-party data!) that allows the store AI to know what type and category of fashion you are interested in buying. Based on that, it serves you personalized recommendations.
Similarly, eCommerce marketers can drive customer conversations with curated surveys, polls, and quizzes that help the personalization engine to learn and analyze the shopper’s intent and interests in real-time and instantly tailor the store experience for that individual shopper.
And there is no limit to what more amazing things you can do with this super-valuable data.
- Use it to power your automated email campaigns
- Run cost-efficient targeted ads
- Steer buying journeys
Combining all these experiences boost conversions and sales on your eCommerce store.
That’s how zero-party data is not only solving the data challenges for the eCommerce universe but also making the lives of customers easy, fast and seamless.
What is zero-party data?
