6 Ways to Collect First-party Data to Accelerate Business Growth

Google plans to eliminate third-party cookies from Chrome by Q2 2025 to showcase its emphasis on consumer privacy and tracking protection. A "1% third-party cookie restriction" is already being rolled out, in which Google randomly selects websites and disables third-party cookies on them.

It's a wake-up call for website owners to reduce their dependence on third-party data and focus on first-party data collection.

Tools like QR codes, website forms, surveys, contests, and chatbots do an excellent job of collecting first-party data.

Let's understand first-party data collection, why you should collect it, and proven strategies for doing it effectively.

What is first-party data?

First-party data is the data you collect directly from your consumers. It's obtained from interactions between your brand and customers.

Since it comes directly from consumers (with their consent), it's highly accurate and provides valuable insights.

Examples of first-party data collection include:

• A site visitor fills out a signup form to join the email list or download a lead magnet.
• A consumer fills out a survey form.
• A customer joins a loyalty program.
• A customer submits feedback.

As you can see, first-party data comprises all data coming directly from consumers. It can range from just the name and email address to in-depth insights like location info and product interests.

First-party vs. second-party vs. third-party vs. zero-party data

How is first-party data different from second and third-party data?

Second-party data is acquired from a trusted partner or source. You use someone else's first-party data to inform your business decisions. Note that second-party data is private data exchanged between two or more parties and is not accessible to everyone.

Third-party data includes large data sets collected by data aggregators or providers. These providers don't collect data directly from consumers but aggregate it from various sources. Hence, the data not only lacks reliability but also poses data privacy concerns.

There's also zero-party data, which is quite similar to first-party data. The only difference is that consumers voluntarily share zero-party data without a brand's effort to collect it. This can be surveys, feedback, personal preferences, industry information, and so on.

Six reasons why you should collect first-party data

Considering Google's move to eliminate third-party data, first-party data collection is more important than ever. That said, collecting first-party data offers several advantages, such as:

• Personalized customer experiences: Access to relevant and accurate customer data helps brands create personalized customer experiences.
• Compliant data collection: Since first-party data is collected from customers with consent, compliance issues associated with data collection are eliminated.
• Improved data integrity: Unlike third-party data collected from various sources, first-party data comes directly from consumers. This enhances data accuracy and integrity.
• Enhanced unified customer view (UCV): First-party data collected from marketing and other sources helps you build a 360-degree unified customer view of each consumer.
• Reduced data costs: In 2021, over $22 billion was spent on third-party data acquisition and activation in the US alone. First-party data collection can significantly alleviate these data-related costs.
• Better marketing and customer engagement: First-party data, being accurate and reliable, enables brands to improve their marketing campaigns and customer engagement.

How to collect first-party data - 6 foolproof ways

Let's now address the elephant in the room. How do you collect first-party data?
Here are six proven ways to do so.

1. QR codes

Several brands have been using QR codes to collect data long before first-party data collection became the norm.

Earlier, we identified first-party data sources, such as websites, lead magnets, loyalty programs, and feedback/survey forms. QR codes make it easier for brands to bring consumers to these channels, thereby facilitating first-party data collection.

For instance, a footwear brand can put a form QR code on the product box, which takes users to a feedback form. The form can have fields to collect essential customer data, such as name, phone number, email, location, and feedback.

You can then use this data to create unique customer profiles, divide them into demographic and psychographic segments, and run tailored marketing campaigns.

Additionally, dynamic QR codes provide useful customer data when scanned, such as the user's location and device information.

2. Websites and landing pages

Websites are another potent tool for collecting first-party data. Website visitors know your brand and are already engaged. Hence, collecting data from them becomes easier.

You can incorporate signup forms on the website to gather customer information.

Let's say you have a SaaS product. You can have a signup form for your mailing list containing fields like name, email address, and industry information.

The same goes for landing pages. You can have a form on the landing page to collect relevant information from the visitors.

3. Chatbots

Chatbots are a common sight on websites nowadays, and rightly so! 80% of internet users have interacted with chatbots, and 73% of users expect websites to have chatbots.

However, chatbots are more than just an interaction and engagement tool. They can also be effective tools for collecting first-party data.

Configure your chatbots for lead generation to collect first-party data.

Let's say a user initiates a chatbot conversation and requests to contact a live agent. The chatbot can ask for a few details - name, contact details, and industry information - before connecting them.

4. Surveys and feedback forms

Customer surveys and feedback help you gather valuable insights and drive your business in the right direction. If you take customer satisfaction seriously (which you absolutely should), you must start collecting customer feedback.

But did you know that you could also collect first-party data with feedback forms?

Just include some additional fields depending on the data you need to collect, and you're good to go.

For instance, if you're a digital marketing agency targeting potential clients with over $1 million in annual sales, you can add a field for annual revenue to segment your clients.

5. Loyalty programs, contests, and giveaways

Loyalty programs are a traditional and highly effective strategy for collecting valuable customer data. They are mainly popular in retail and hospitality and can increase repeat purchase rates by 75%.

Loyalty programs are an equally effective tool to collect first-party data.

When onboarding customers to a loyalty program, you can ask them specific questions and gather crucial information. Moreover, brands can track the activity of their loyalty program members to get in-depth insights into consumer behavior.

6. Lead magnets

Lead magnets are exclusive content or tools shared with consumers in exchange for their contact and business information. As the definition suggests, the purpose of lead magnets is to collect customer information - first-party data.

You need to create high-value content or tools in exchange for which consumers are willing to share their information. Once you have the right lead magnet, ask consumers to fill out a lead capture form to access it.

Make sure to tailor the lead capture form as per your needs to collect the right customer data.

The following lead magnets have the highest conversion rates:

• Videos (24.2%)
• Written content - ebooks, guides, reports, etc. (22.8%)
• Visual content - infographics, charts, etc. (11.8%)
• Tools or access to something (11.8%)

Final thoughts

As Google's move suggests, collecting first-party data is no longer a choice for brands - it's necessary.

The good news, however, is that it's not as difficult as it might seem. Several first-party data collection strategies exist, and they're quite easy and effective.

Get started with the techniques mentioned above to collect first-party data and deliver tailored, personalized customer experiences.