To improve your sales processes and launch marketing messages that expand your reach and drive conversions, you must have access to data.
That’s where first-party customer data comes in. First-party data is information you collect directly from your leads and current customers as they make purchases, use your services, and interact with your brand.
With many large tech companies, like Google, kissing third-party data goodbye, collecting first-party data is quickly becoming a necessity.
On this page, we’re diving into all things first-party data, including what it is and how to use it to drive more sales and revenue for your company!
Just keep reading!
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What is first-party customer data?
First-party customer data is information you collect directly from your current customers. In other words, you’ll use tools or software to collect customer data from your website or marketing channels rather than collecting the information from a third-party company.
First-party customer data examples
Customer data can include various information about your customers.
A few first-party customer data examples include:
Names
Email addresses
Phone numbers
Ages
Locations
Interests
Purchases
Job titles
Company names
First-party customer data sources
So, where exactly can you collect first-party data? Here are some common first-party customer data sources:
Website behaviors and interactions
Email subscriber lists
Social media followers
Purchase and transaction history
Surveys
Lead generation forms
First-party, second-party, and third-party customer data: What’s the difference?
Now that you know the answer to the question, “what is first-party customer data” you might also ask yourself, “Wait, what about second-party and third-party data?”
Let’s explore some of the major differences between these data types below.
First-party data
As we mentioned above, first-party data is data you collect directly from your customers and audience. You can collect first-party data from website visitors, email subscribers, and paying customers via surveys, lead generation forms, website analytics platforms, and more.
Second-party data
Second-party data is first-party data that is shared with partners or collaborators.
The main difference between second-party data and first-party data is that your partner or collaborator will usually collect and share the information with you rather than you collecting it yourself.
For example, let’s say you own a theater and offer a sweepstakes competition where people can win free tickets to a show. To run your sweepstakes, you partner up with a TV network. The TV network will include a sweepstakes entry form on its website where people will need to include their name and email address to enter the competition.
Then, the TV network will share the entries with you, and voila, you’ve now got your hands on second-party data in the form of names and email addresses.
Third-party data
Third-party data is information collected by another organization or business other than your own that you can collect or purchase.
While some third-party data is publicly available, like the U.S. Census or Bureau of Labor Statistics, you’ll mostly need to purchase third-party from another company.
With rising concerns about consumer privacy online, several big tech companies, like Google and Apple, are phasing out third-party data, so it’s important to note that this data will become scarce in the future.
How can you use first-party customer data to help your business drive more revenue?
So, how exactly can you use customer data to help power growth for your business?
Let’s take a look at some first-party data use cases:
In other words, you can discover the different steps customers took and the order they took them in before becoming a customer.
That means you can learn which messages, content, and web pages are the most effective in nurturing your leads and encouraging them to convert. You can also learn where customers first discovered your brand. Plus, you can discover where prospects dropped out of your sales funnel.
As a result, you can optimize your lead generation strategies and ensure you send the right messages at the right time for future prospects to expertly drive more leads and conversions for your business.
Launch highly-targeted ads
When you launch an ad campaign, your number one goal is to reach the people most likely to purchase your products or services to maximize your sales and revenue.
With first-party data, this goal becomes infinitely easier to achieve. Instead of relying on third-party data from another company’s customers, you can collect data from your own customers.
That means you can learn more about the people who already purchase your products or services, like their demographics, pain points, and interests. You can even learn which channels customers use to interact with your brand the most.
Armed with this valuable information, you can launch highly-targeted advertisements on the channels that resonate most with your target audience.
Additionally, you can use your customers’ demographic and interest data to take advantage of audience targeting features that ensure that your ads always reach the people most likely to make a purchase.
Implement closed-loop sales and marketing strategies
Insights from first-party data enable your sales and marketing teams to better track your leads in an endless loop.
In other words, your marketing team can better understand which channels drive the most (and best) leads for your business, enabling them to optimize your strategies for even more (and better) leads.
And your sales team can better identify which processes and messages encourage leads to convert into loyal, paying customers, enabling them to improve their operations to earn more sales.
As a result, you can implement more closed-loop sales and marketing strategies that drive continuous leads and conversions for your businesses, earning you a higher return on investment (ROI).
Create unique, personalized experiences
Collecting data from your customers also enables you to implement more personalized experiences throughout your website and sales process.
People love seeing content tailored to their unique interests and pain points. In fact, 77% of people choose, recommend, and pay more for brands that provide personalized experiences.
When you collect first-party data, you can learn about your customers’ interests, demographics, job titles, and more so you can implement personalized messages that resonate with future prospects.
Collect and leverage first-party customer data with Nutshell
Searching for the best way to collect and leverage data from your audience? Say hello to Nutshell.
With Nutshell, you can gather data about your audience’s unique interests, pain points, demographics, and more.
Plus, you can use Nutshell to better understand how people interact with your brand and content so you can learn which messages and channels drive the most leads and conversions. Want to see how Nutshell can help you gain deep insights into your audience? Start your free trial today!
