Transform Your Marketing in 2024: The Power of First-Party Data

The digital space is entering a new era of privacy-first marketing.

As regulations tighten, first-party data has emerged as an indispensable asset for online brands.

In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of first-party data in 2024 and how you can use it to enhance your long-term marketing strategies.

What is first-party data?

First-party data refers to the information collected directly from your shoppers as they interact with your site, app or marketing channels.?

As an online retailer, you already have access to a large amount of this information.

To compile it into an actionable database, we recommend that you begin to gather data from your:??

• Website interactions?
• Purchase history?
• Email subscriptions?
• On-site behaviour?

Leveraging these sources will give you an accurate and detailed understanding of your customers and help you create highly targeted marketing campaigns.

Suggested reading: Dive deeper into ethical data collection in our article ‘6 Ways to Collect First-Party Data: Sources, Examples and Collection Methods'.

The changing digital landscape

User demand for increased privacy, transparency and control over their data has led to a lot of uncertainty in the digital landscape.

Most recently, Google scrapped its four-year-long plan to remove third-party cookies.

Instead, they’re adopting an updated approach that will see “a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d be able to adjust that choice at any time.”

This unexpected reconsideration should prompt retailers across the industry to re-evaluate their data usage.

Learn more about the announcement in our article 'Google Abandons Third-Party Cookie Phase-Out: What It Means for eCommerce'.

Benefits of first-party data in 2024

First-party data will play an essential role in privacy-first marketing strategies.

Let’s delve into the benefits and opportunities first-party data can provide for your brand.

1. Increased accuracy and relevancy

First-party data offers an increase in reliability and relevancy as it comes directly from genuine user interactions.

This eliminates any room for potential errors or discrepancies through third-party data collection methods.?

The reliability and accuracy of first-party data will play a crucial role in improving your business performance and shaping your marketing campaigns for the future.

2. Enhanced personalisation

First-party data presents a valuable opportunity for you to personalise your customer experiences and create targeted marketing campaigns.?

We recommend using your first-party data to:?

• Enhance on-site personalisation: Deploy dynamic Recommendation units across multiple touchpoints on-site. Using your customer’s behavioural data, you can connect shoppers to their perfect purchase and increase your average order values.?
• Retarget abandoned browsers: Integrate Recommendations into your Email & Messaging campaigns to draw lost shoppers back into the buying funnel. Send targeted email sequences based on individual on-site behaviour to encourage conversions and retention.?

Using customer data in this way allows you to take a personalised, holistic approach across multiple marketing channels.

3.? Comprehensive customer insights

Your first-party data serves as a bank of comprehensive insights into your audience’s wants and needs.?

To create a deep understanding of your customers, you might look specifically at their:?

• Preferences?
• On-site behaviours and interactions
• Past purchases and buying analytics?
• Demographic information?
• Engagement metrics?

These insights can be used to identify behavioural patterns, popular products, and emerging trends.

4. Prioritisation of compliance and trust

First-party data makes it easy for retailers to follow privacy laws and remain compliant.

Adopting transparency will make your shoppers feel more informed about the data collection process and give them greater control over the information they choose to share with your brand.?

In return, this openness encourages users to feel comfortable with sharing additional information such as their email or mobile number.?

Overall, focussing on first-party data and compliant practices will help establish trust and loyalty amongst your audiences, ultimately driving growth for your brand.

What you can do: Salesfire understands the importance of first-party data in eCommerce strategies.?

For example, using Salesfire’s data capture strategy men’s fashion retailer Stuarts London experienced a 159% increase in email sign-ups.

This allowed them to increase their customer data at an unprecedented scale, expanding their marketing and retargeting opportunities.

Futureproof your strategy with first-party data

The value of first-party data is unparalleled.?

Now is the time for retailers to get ahead of the upcoming changes and futureproof their data strategies.

First-party data not only provides you with insight into your shopper’s purchasing and browsing behaviour but also allows you to better serve your customers with personalised marketing campaigns that secure conversions.

To discover why first-party data is crucial for your strategy, read our full article ‘What Is First-Party Data and Why Is It Important in 2024’.