How the cookies have crumbled. 1st party data is the new business gold mine.

It's no secret, cookies are on their way out and businesses need to evolve their data strategies so their digital initiatives don't get left in the dust. While many organisations feel like digital media and online measurement has become increasingly difficult, astute organisations are able to keep ahead of the competition by implementing a 1st party data strategy that will drive their online targeting, measurement and roadmaps towards success.?

To help organisations that are still grappling with the concept, we’ve outlined the definition, examples and practical use of 1st party data below:

Firstly, let's start with the basics, what is 1st party data??

First party data, 1st-party data or 1P data is information collected from your customer base, subscribers, and site visitors when they interact with your site or marketing, or when they make a purchase.?

Some examples of 1st party data are:

• Demographics - age, education, employment, marital status
• Website data - How users have engaged with your website?
• Newsletter subscriptions - Signups to your company email lists
• Customer brand interactions - Social media subscriptions for example
• Purchase history - What users have previously purchased
• Location - Where people live

Sounds simple enough, but how do we collect 1st party data? By gathering information from users in the following use cases:

• Website activity - tracking user behaviour on your website can inform your marketing, UX and development strategies?
• Newsletter sign-ups - good old fashion email newsletters help businesses communicate and profile their audience. This classic medium shouldn't be overlooked
• Point of sale - use this purchase opportunity to gather customer data and inform your digital strategy - this data can be uploaded to your marketing campaigns to close the loop on performance and improve digital campaigns or used to refine audience definitions for future campaigns
• Website enquiry - request opt ins when when a user inquires about a product or service
• Website visitor lists - create audience lists for your marketing campaigns to manage communication down the buying cycle.?
• App users - users who have downloaded and used your app

And now for the important bit that most businesses are after, how do I use 1st party data to improve my organisation? 1st party data can be used in the following ways:

• Improve digital media strategies - as the digital ecosystem clamps down on privacy, businesses find themselves with less targeting options. 1st party data allows businesses to bolster their digital marketing targeting while older methods deprecate.

• Enhance digital platforms - 1st party data acts as an excellent way to improve your digital platforms and build a customer centric experience. Companies that track users behaviour on their site and request feedback are able to get real world insights into what is working and what needs improvement.?
• Personalise communication - 1st party data allows businesses to provide a personalised communication experience for their customers. This offers a great way to increase the likelihood of commercial behaviour from your users.
• Find new customers - 1st party data allows customers to get an objective view on their existing customers which in turn allows them to target new customers with similar demographic profiles.
• Increase customer lifetime value - 1st party data allows businesses to increase customer lifetime value by understanding their previous customers buying behaviour and identifying ways to upsell to customers.

1st party data is going to get a lot of airtime in the next year and for good reason. It's important for companies to ensure that they have strategies for the collection, storage and implementation of their data assets to help their digital strategy drive the results they need.

Hello Infantry is a Full-Service Digital Agency Seamlessly Integrating Design, Development, Marketing and Data. www.helloinfantry.com