Zero-party data.
First-party data.
Cookie apocalypse.
You've heard it all but what does it mean when it comes to your digital marketing efforts?
What do you do once you don't have third-party data? (Google will get to it eventually and kill them off)
It's time to focus on your customer again. To get to know them. To collect, you know it, zero-party and first party-data.
Let's break it down.
Zero-party data: It's all the data you customer shares with you, intentionally. This is data that the user gives you in exchange for a coupon, the data that you get as the user completes the purchase. You get the point, the customer gave it to you, on purpose.
First-party data: It's all that data you collect, not the data you get sent by Facebook etc. It's the data in your web analytics, your CRM, your social media profiles, your customer feedback.
Understanding the difference is key to your marketing efforts post third-party cookies.
Understanding the difference also creates urgency - you should have been collecting zero-party data yesterday.
But how do we collect zero-party data?
Be creative.
What can you provide that the user values?
What would they exchange their data for?
Anything from offering a coupon for an email, finding the perfect style, a fit assessment, a quiz that only shows results based on your style.
And then what?
Now tie that all together with your first-party data and you have a breath of information that helps you market and personalize your site better.
Post third-party cookies the marketing landscape will shift but ultimately it will be for the better.
Marketing will come back to focusing on the customer, on building trust, on retention.
I personally can't wait for the new and innovative ideas that will arise our of this shift.