2024: The Year of First-Party Data

In the vast landscape of digital analytics, it’s First-Party data’s time to shine. It’s like avocado, it’s always been there, but then social media and #health came about which meant it took off!

But watch out Avo…it’s first-party data’s time to rise and thrive!

First-party data refers to the information that companies collect directly from their audience or customers. This data is obtained through various touchpoints like website visits, app usage, purchase history, surveys, subscription/registration data, and interactions on social media.

First-party data has always been a thing, an insightful thing.

It hasn’t changed itself, it’s what is going on around it which is now making it more important than ever. It’s being used instead of, or along side other types of data.

The Benefits of First Party Data

So, why the sudden spotlight on first-party data? Well here are the pros of First-Party data:

• Enhancing Privacy Regulations & Protection – there is increasing emphasis on user privacy, with changes in data tracking policies by tech giants, effecting cookie-based and cross-site tracking, meaning collecting third-party data has become more challenging. First—party data is directly sourced, so isn’t affected.
• Trustworthy & Reliable - First-party data is gold because it's information that individuals willingly provide to companies they trust. It's accurate and reliable, unlike third-party data, which can be prone to inaccuracies and leave room for guess work.
• Better Insights, Personalisation and Targeting - it allows companies to understand their audience better, giving valuable insight into customer behaviour, trends and preferences. Enabling more personalised marketing and experiences, targeted campaigns and generally supporting the business make more informed decisions.
• Building Customer Loyalty – The data is collected with transparency and with user consent – no funny business! Along with more understanding and personalised experiences, customers are much more likely to return.
• Sustainability - As the digital landscape evolves, relying on first-party data positions businesses to adapt to changing regulations and consumer expectations, ensuring a more sustainable approach to data usage into the future.

The rise of First-Party data is being driven by the privacy and compliance changes, but we are embracing it for its glorious accuracy and allowing companies to understand, engage and serve their audiences better. I’m sure we will be hearing a lot more about it this year.

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