Marketers want to collect more data to better personalize customer experiences, but it’s challenging due to regulatory and privacy issues. And that’s where zero-party data enters the picture.
As Google plans to block third-party cookies on its Chrome browser by the end of 2023, marketers are worried about how they will acquire meaningful data that will elevate the entire customer experience.
Because consumers give zero-party data voluntarily it makes it more valuable for brands. It helps you collect specific information that will positively impact future customer interactions and help you create better customer profiles.
Zero-party data is valuable to your brand, but people don’t typically think of promotions when it comes to long-term engagement.
But we’ll show how you can use promotions to collect quality zero-party data that will allow you to strengthen your customer relationships and build long-term loyalty.
What is Zero-Party Data and Why is It so Important For Marketers?
Zero-party data is when customers intentionally and willingly share with your brand on various parts of the customer experience. According to Forrester, zero-party data can include preference center data, purchase intentions, personal context, and how the individual consumer wants the brand to recognize them.
This kind of data is extremely important to you because it’s customers intentionally raising their hands to volunteer specific information that will help you create elevated experiences and establish a baseline for brand advocacy.
Some examples of zero-party data are communication preferences, product preferences, purchase intentions, personal context, customized account configurations, and how the person wants to be recognized by your brand.
To distinguish zero-party data from other forms, first-party data is data that your company owns and is collected directly from your customers as they interact across your website and various brand channels. This data relies on acquiring consent from customers, such as when they fill out a form to download a whitepaper or agrees to have their browsing behavior tracked when visiting a website.
Some examples of first-party data are email addresses, phone numbers, purchase history, support history, and loyalty program information.
Third-party data comes from various sources. Some examples of it are age, education, websites visited, and survey responses.
So, how do you acquire zero-party data?
When the value exchange isn’t clear, customers don’t have an incentive to share zero-party data. Design digital interactions with your customers that only ask for a few data points and focus your collection efforts on the data you need to deliver an immediate impact.
Every brand interaction you have with your customers across email, web, mobile web, and push notifications is considered a microexperience.
And sync your zero-party data with your CRM data. This creates a better experience for customers and minimizes the risk of a disjointed experience.
What Marketers Should Know About Promotions and Zero-Party Data
Some might view promotions as short-term, quick-hitting measures that brands use to jumpstart customer engagement. But promotions can serve you in so many more ways and engage your customers at the same time.
Promotions help you collect quality zero-party data, which should be part of your overall data strategy. Zero-party data gives you a big opportunity to ask for information you can’t buy or infer, such as purchase intent or product preferences.
Then you can leverage that data for personalized recommendations.
Start by analyzing the data you have and then ask customers for the information that would elevate their experiences. Zero-party data is so valuable because customers are volunteering it to you so they can gain a better experience and become brand advocates.
Here are a few key things to remember about zero-party data:
- Make sure you know what you will do with this data once you receive it.
- Show customers a clear value they will receive for volunteering this information.
- Keep it fresh by letting your customers know which data points you’ve been using already to better personalize their experiences.
- Consider 81% of consumers say they’re more likely to engage with a brand if it offers an incentive.
- Fifty-five percent of consumers agree that receiving messages, offers, or promotions that are relevant for them is a key reason they join loyalty programs.
Promotions are a great way to incentivize consumers and collect zero-party data from your customers.
With zero-party data, brands no longer have to infer customer behavior or preferences through secondary behavior. Instead, by fostering trust and building connections, customers will then volunteer their data — believing that it will help improve their brand experience.
Examples of Promotions That Helped Produce Zero-Party Data for Brands
Here are some real-world examples of how major brands used promotions to collect zero-party data from their customers.
Rocket Mortgage Super Bowl Squares:
We helped Rocket Mortgage with a gamification promotion executed in real time and the objective was to leverage a partnership with the NFL to drive awareness, affinity, demand, and new-to-file leads for Rocket Mortgage.
For Super Bowl LV, Rocket Mortgage launched the world’s largest Super Bowl squares game. To play, consumers answered dynamic lead qualification questions, then picked their squares, which were later assigned numbers. This promotion pulled in data about participants’ interest in buying a house.
On game day, the score was tracked via Sportradar’s real-time sports data and every time the score changed, one lucky player with the corresponding square was drawn in real time for the chance to win $50,000. Plus, all players were automatically entered into a drawing for two $500,000 grand prizes.
Gamification incorporates addictive elements originally designed for video games into the loyalty program. Things like progress bars and milestones keep customers coming back to earn points. It makes any promotion fun and easy to understand.
Volvo #VolvoSafetySunday:
We helped Volvo with this unique sweepstakes promotion tied to the Super Bowl and Volvo’s reputation for safety. The objective was to reinforce a brand promise in an organic moment.
Volvo pledged to give away $1 million worth of cars, letting fans configure their dream Volvo online for a chance to win it if either team scored a safety.
The $1 million worth of cars celebrated the more than one million lives saved by the three-point safety belt, a Volvo invention.
After that achievement, Volvo set a new goal: To save “a million more” with current and future safety innovations designed to address the remaining challenges in vehicle safety: speed, intoxication, and distraction.
Safety remains a core focus for Volvo Cars. Volvo invented the three-point safety belt in 1959 and opened its patent to all automakers in the name of safety. It remains the single most important and influential safety innovation in today’s passenger vehicles and is credited with saving more than one million lives around the world.
19 Crimes Infamous Insider Rewards:
We helped 19 Crimes (an Australian wine brand) with its Infamous Insider Rewards loyalty program.
Members completed tasks mapped out in the dashboard to accrue points they can use to enter a sweepstakes to win prizes such as swag, VIP perks, and chances to win exclusive prizes.
This is a great way to have your loyalty program members use their points to enter a sweepstakes to win a prize or experience.
With any promotion you use to collect zero-party data, you can implement polls and surveys to acquire more non-purchase data.
Let Promotions Make Zero-Party Data a Priority for Your Brand
Promotions can serve as a long-term strategy for your brand and your customers and help you collect valuable zero-party data that can be used for future interactions to magnify the customer experience.
Deliver a clear value exchange because that will make gathering zero-party data via promotions easier. When your customers see the value you’re offering, they will tell you what they want out of their experience with your brand.
Another great thing about zero-party data is it’s much more transparent than how brands have historically collected data. This is your opportunity to ask your customers what information you want from them to better personalize the overall experience.
If you want to chat about promotions, zero-party data, or an end-to-end loyalty program, please reach out to us here at any time.
ebbo
ebbo helps brands achieve their customer loyalty goals with full-service, end-to-end solutions and also creates original educational content straight from the experts to help loyalty marketers stay on the cutting edge of customer engagement.