Explained: Zero-party data vs first-party data vs third-party data

Consumers have been provided with greater protections for their privacy than ever before. Regulations such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are designed to protect personal data and impose sanctions on organizations that do not comply or attempt to circumvent these regulations. 

Another significant shift is Google Chrome’s planned withdrawal of support for third-party cookies which will mark the end of the era of third-party data for marketers, advertisers, and agencies. 

As a response to the cookieless future, many companies are beginning to transition away from third-party data by investing in strategies that involve collecting and using first-party data to fuel personalization. Another type of data has emerged as a result — zero-party data. 

Before implementing any strategy, it’s essential we’re all on the same page — what do these terms actually mean? We review zero-party data vs first-party data vs third-party data. 

• Zero-party data 
• First-party data 
• Third-party data 
• Do marketing teams need to reduce their dependence on any one kind of data? 

The differences between zero-party, first-party and third-party data 

Zero-party data 

What is zero-party data? 

Zero-part data, also known as explicit, opt-in, or self-reported data, refers to information that customers intentionally and explicitly share with a business, without any prompting beyond the initial request. It is considered one of the most reliable and valuable forms of data for marketing because it directly reflects consumers’ preferences, interests, and intentions. 

This type of data is acquired through conscious and deliberate interactions, where customers engage with brands on platforms designed to collect their inputs. Common methods include filling out preference forms, participating in interactive quizzes, and providing feedback in surveys specifically designed to gather insights into their desires and expectations. Additionally, zero-party data can be collected through digital engagement mechanisms like loyalty programs or during registration processes where users voluntarily provide details about their preferences and needs. 

Unlike first-party data, which is derived from observed behaviors and interactions on a company’s own platforms, or third-party data, which is purchased from external sources, zero-party data is provided by customers under the premise that it will enhance their experience or provide a more personalized service. This direct line of communication ensures that the information is not only accurate but also rich with context, allowing companies to make more informed decisions, tailor their marketing efforts more precisely, and build deeper relationships with their customers. 

As zero-party data is explicitly consented to by consumers, it addresses privacy concerns more directly and aligns well with stringent data protection regulations like the GDPR. This enhances customer trust, as they have clear visibility and control over the information they share. 

The benefits of zero-party data 

Zero-party data is an invaluable asset for businesses, providing several strategic advantages that are crucial in the modern digital landscape: 

• Enhanced customer insights: By collecting zero-party data, businesses gain precise and explicit information about their customers’ preferences, needs, and interests. This data is voluntarily shared by customers, ensuring it reflects their true sentiments and desires, which can be pivotal for crafting highly targeted and relevant marketing campaigns. 

• Increased trust and transparency: Zero-party data is obtained with clear consent from customers, which enhances transparency between the customer and the business. This open exchange fosters a sense of trust, as customers know exactly what information they are sharing and for what purpose it will be used. 
• Customer empowerment: Customers feel empowered when they can actively control the information they share with businesses. This empowerment enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty, as customers appreciate a brand that respects their privacy and values their input. 
• Regulatory compliance: Given the stringent requirements of data protection laws such as the GDPR, collecting zero-party data is a safer and more compliant approach to data collection. Because it is given explicitly by users, it inherently complies with these regulations, reducing legal risks associated with data usage. 
• Cost efficiency: Relying on zero-party data can reduce the need for investment in third-party data sources, which may not only be costly but also less reliable. By leveraging direct customer insights, businesses can optimize their marketing strategies and allocation of resources more effectively. 
• Better personalization: With accurate and directly obtained customer information, businesses can personalize experiences to a much finer degree. This leads to more effective marketing, increased customer engagement, and ultimately, higher conversion rates as offers and communications are more closely aligned with individual preferences. 

The challenges of zero-party data 

While zero-party data offers significant benefits, obtaining and utilizing it effectively presents several challenges that businesses must address: 

1. Privacy and security requirements: To collect zero-party data ethically and legally, businesses must implement robust privacy and security measures across all digital platforms. This involves ensuring that data collection processes are transparent and comply with data protection laws such as GDPR and CCPA. Establishing such comprehensive privacy practices can be resource-intensive and complex, requiring ongoing attention to legal changes and technological upgrades. 
2. Customer trust: Building the level of trust necessary for customers to willingly share personal information demands consistent and transparent communication about how their data will be used and protected. Maintaining this trust requires meticulous management of customer data to avoid breaches that could damage relationships and brand reputation. 
3. Data quality concerns: While zero-party data is generally reliable, there is a risk that the quality of data could be compromised if customers provide inaccurate information, whether unintentionally or due to motivations influenced by incentives. Ensuring the authenticity and accuracy of zero-party data is crucial, as any decision based on faulty data can lead to misguided marketing strategies. 
4. Incentivization dilemma: Offering incentives for data might lead customers to provide information that does not accurately reflect their true preferences but is rather aimed at gaining rewards. This scenario can skew the data, making it less useful for understanding genuine customer needs and desires. 
5. Scalability and reach: Collecting zero-party data is generally more labor-intensive than gathering other types of data because it relies on individual customer interactions. Scaling these efforts while maintaining the quality of engagement can be challenging, especially for larger audiences. 
6. Integration with other data: Integrating zero-party data with other data types, such as first-party behavioral data or third-party demographic data, can be complex but is necessary for a comprehensive view of the customer. Ensuring seamless integration while preserving the integrity of the zero-party data requires sophisticated data management systems and processes. 

First-party data 

What is first-party data? 

First-party data, also known as customer, proprietary, owned, or in-house data, refers to the information that businesses collect directly from their interactions with customers. This type of data is sourced from the company’s own channels, such as websites, apps, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, social media interactions, and subscription-based emails, among others. Known also as customer, proprietary, owned, or in-house data, first-party data is crucial because it is gathered directly under the company’s control and typically includes a rich variety of actionable insights. 

 Key characteristics of First-Party Data: 

1. Direct Collection: First-party data is collected from direct engagements with customers. This includes data from actions like purchases, website visits, app usage, and direct customer feedback. 
2. High Relevance: Because it comes directly from the source — the customers — this data is highly relevant and specific to the company’s audience. It reflects actual customer behaviors, preferences, and interactions with the brand. 
3. Ownership and Privacy: The data is wholly owned by the company that collects it, reducing reliance on third-party data brokers and enhancing data privacy, as the collection and use of the data are governed by the company’s own privacy policy. 
4. Applications: First-party data is versatile and can be used across various aspects of business operations, including: 
5. Marketing Optimization: By understanding customer behaviors and patterns, companies can tailor their marketing strategies to be more effective and targeted. 
6. Product Development: Insights from first-party data help inform product design and innovation by revealing what features or services customers prefer or need. 
7. Customer Experience Enhancement: Analyzing customer interactions and feedback leads to improved service offerings and more personalized customer experiences. 
8. Regulatory Compliance: Collecting and using first-party data is generally less fraught with legal risks compared to using third-party data, as it involves direct relationships with customers who have engaged with the brand, often under clear terms and conditions. 

The benefits of first-party data 

First-party data, often referred to as customer, proprietary, owned, or in-house data, offers numerous advantages for businesses looking to enhance their marketing strategies and customer experiences: 

1. Reliable and accurate insights: Since first-party data is collected directly from interactions with customers, it provides highly reliable and accurate insights into customer behaviors, preferences, and interests. This reliability enables businesses to make informed decisions based on real-time and relevant data. 
2. Recent and up-to-date information: Unlike third-party data, which may become outdated or stale, first-party data is constantly refreshed through ongoing interactions with customers. This ensures that the information used for targeting and personalization is current and reflective of the most recent customer activities and preferences. 
3. Deeper understanding of user behavior: By analyzing first-party data, companies can gain a comprehensive understanding of user behavior across various touchpoints and channels. This insight allows businesses to identify patterns, trends, and opportunities for engagement, leading to more effective marketing strategies and campaigns. 
4. Personalization opportunities: Leveraging first-party data enables brands to create personalized experiences tailored to the unique preferences and interests of individual customers. By segmenting audiences based on their behavior and preferences, businesses can deliver targeted content, offers, and recommendations that resonate with each customer, ultimately driving higher engagement and conversion rates. 
5. Enhanced customer relationships: Personalized experiences built on first-party data foster stronger relationships between brands and customers. By delivering relevant and timely content, businesses demonstrate an understanding of their customers’ needs and preferences, leading to increased loyalty, satisfaction, and advocacy. 
6. Compliance with Privacy Regulations: Collecting and using first-party data is inherently more compliant with privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, compared to relying on third-party data sources. Since first-party data is obtained directly from customers with their consent, businesses can ensure compliance with data protection laws while maintaining transparency and trust with their audience. 

The challenges of first-party data 

While first-party data is a critical asset for businesses, its effective management and utilization come with several notable challenges: 

1. Data duplication and silos: One of the most common issues with first-party data is the risk of duplication, where the same customer information is recorded multiple times across different systems. This can lead to data inconsistencies and inaccuracies. Moreover, data often exists in silos within different departments or platforms (such as sales, customer service, and marketing), making it difficult to have a single, comprehensive view of the customer. 
2. Over-collection and data bloat: There is a tendency among businesses to collect as much data as possible, under the assumption that more data equates to better insights. This over-collection can lead to data bloat, where the sheer volume of data becomes unmanageable and unusable. Managing this excessive data not only requires additional resources but can also complicate compliance with data privacy regulations. 
3. Lack of unified customer view: Without advanced data integration and management tools, it is challenging to consolidate data from various sources (such as online interactions, offline engagements, and third-party platforms) into a unified customer profile. A holistic view of each customer’s journey is essential for creating personalized marketing campaigns and improving customer experiences. Without it, businesses may struggle to understand customer needs fully and miss out on opportunities for effective engagement. 
4. Technological and analytical requirements: Effectively harnessing first-party data requires sophisticated technology for data collection, integration, analysis, and visualization. Organizations must invest in and maintain advanced data management systems, analytics tools, and potentially even artificial intelligence (AI) to process and make sense of the data. This can be a significant hurdle, particularly for smaller businesses with limited budgets. 
5. Skill gap: Alongside technological investments, there is also a need for skilled personnel who can analyze and interpret the data accurately. The lack of data science expertise within an organization can hinder the ability to derive actionable insights from first-party data. 
6. Privacy and security concerns: Although first-party data collection is generally more compliant with privacy laws, managing it responsibly remains a challenge. Businesses must ensure robust security measures are in place to protect customer data from breaches and comply with evolving data protection regulations. 

Third-party data 

What is third-party data? 

Third-party data refers to information that is collected by an entity that does not have a direct relationship with the data subject. This type of data is sourced from external organizations such as data brokers, aggregators, marketing firms, and other entities that compile and sell data they’ve collected from various sources. This type of data is usually obtained indirectly and can be invaluable when used in combination with other first-party and third-party data sets. 

Key characteristics of third-party data: 

1. External collection: Unlike first-party data, which is gathered directly from customers, third-party data is collected by entities that have not interacted directly with the individuals whose data is being used. These entities gather information from a variety of sources, including websites, surveys, public records, and other third-party companies. 
2. Broad range of sources: Third-party data can include a wide array of information types, from demographic details to behavioral insights. This data might be aggregated from public records, loyalty programs of other businesses, social media platforms, and commercially available databases. 
3. Versatility and scale: Because third-party data often encompasses a broad spectrum of information from diverse populations, it can be used to enhance audience segmentation and expand market reach. It is particularly useful for businesses looking to supplement their existing data with additional insights that they cannot collect on their own. 
4. Use cases: This data is invaluable for companies looking to enrich their understanding of customer demographics and behaviors. It is frequently used in market analysis, targeted advertising, and enhancing customer profiles with additional attributes that are not captured through first-party data. 

The benefits of third-party data 

Third-party data is an essential resource for businesses seeking to deepen their market intelligence and refine their marketing strategies. Here are some key advantages: 

1. Enhanced audience segmentation: Third-party data provides access to a broader array of demographic, psychographic, and behavioral details than what a company might be able to gather on its own. This information is invaluable for creating detailed customer profiles and segments, allowing businesses to tailor their marketing and sales strategies more precisely to meet the needs of different audience groups. 
2. Scalability of data: The sheer volume and variety of third-party data available can help companies scale their operations quickly. Businesses can access large pools of data without the time and expense required to gather it organically, providing a significant advantage in terms of speed and reach. 
3. Improved targeting and personalization: By integrating third-party data with their own first-party data, businesses can significantly enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of their targeting efforts. This integration helps refine audience targeting for marketing campaigns, ensuring that messages are more relevant to the recipients based on comprehensive insights into consumer behaviors and preferences. 
4. Look-alike modeling: Third-party data is crucial for look-alike modeling, where businesses identify and target new customers who resemble their best existing customers. This modeling technique expands market reach and can effectively increase customer acquisition by pinpointing prospects most likely to convert. 
5. Understanding consumer intent: Third-party data can offer insights into consumer intent that are not always apparent from first-party data alone. This includes data on consumer interests, purchasing behaviors, and engagement across different platforms, which can help predict future buying behaviors and optimize marketing strategies accordingly. 
6. Competitive benchmarking: Access to third-party data enables companies to benchmark their performance against the wider industry. By comparing metrics such as customer engagement, conversion rates, and product preferences, businesses can identify areas where they need to improve and opportunities to differentiate themselves from competitors. 
7. Cost-effectiveness: While collecting large amounts of first-party data can be resource-intensive, purchasing or accessing third-party data can be a more cost-effective way to obtain insights quickly, especially for smaller businesses or those just starting to scale their data capabilities. 

The challenges of third-party data 

While third-party data can be a valuable resource for expanding insights and enhancing marketing efforts, it also comes with significant challenges that businesses need to consider: 

1. Source transparency: One of the primary issues with third-party data is the lack of transparency regarding its origins. Buyers often do not have clear information about where the data comes from, how it was collected, or the methodologies used. This opacity can make it difficult to assess the reliability and relevance of the data. 
2. Data quality and accuracy: Since the data is collected and aggregated by third parties from multiple sources, there can be variations in quality and accuracy. The data may be outdated, incomplete, or incorrect, which can lead to misguided decisions and strategies. Ensuring the freshness and validity of third-party data is often a challenge, as sellers may not regularly update their datasets. 
3. Privacy and compliance risks: Utilizing third-party data involves navigating complex privacy laws and regulations, such as GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California. Compliance becomes particularly challenging when the exact details of data collection practices are unknown. Businesses must ensure that the data was collected ethically and legally to avoid legal repercussions and damage to their reputation. 
4. Common access and uniqueness: Third-party data is generally available to any company willing to purchase it, meaning multiple competitors might access and use the same sets of data. This widespread availability dilutes the competitive advantage that exclusive data might provide, as similar companies could be targeting the same customer segments based on the same data insights. 
5. Integration challenges: Integrating third-party data with existing first-party data can be technically challenging. Differences in data structure, format, and quality may require significant effort and resources to align, merge, and make the disparate data sets actionable within existing systems. 
6. Cost considerations: Although initially seeming cost-effective, the long-term financial commitment to continuously purchasing up-to-date third-party data can add up. If the data does not yield the anticipated ROI due to issues like poor quality or lack of relevance, it could result in a negative investment. 
7. Ethical concerns: There are also ethical considerations regarding the use of third-party data, particularly if the data subjects are unaware their information is being sold and used commercially. This can raise ethical questions about consumer consent and the broader implications of data privacy. 

Do marketing teams need to reduce their dependence on any one kind of data? 

As marketers strive to keep up with the ever-changing marketing landscape, they are turning to a variety of data sources to better inform their decisions. 

By diversifying their data portfolio, marketers can take advantage of multiple sources of information and create a more rounded view of the customer journey. 

This allows them to uncover insights that traditional single-source data may not have been able to provide. 

Benefits of a diversified data portfolio: 

1. Unique insights: Different types of data provide unique insights. For instance, while first-party data offers depth and relevance, third-party data broadens the scope, introducing new dimensions to consumer profiles. Zero-party data, voluntarily provided by consumers, delivers precision in understanding specific consumer preferences and intentions. Combining these data types can provide a holistic view of the customer journey, from awareness to purchase and beyond. 
2. Risk mitigation: Relying on a single source of data exposes the business to higher risks, especially if the data source becomes compromised, less accessible, or outdated due to regulatory changes or shifts in technology (such as the decline of third-party cookies). A diversified approach safeguards against these vulnerabilities by ensuring that no one source can critically impact the marketing strategy. 
3. Enhanced accuracy and validation: Using multiple data sources allows marketers to cross-verify and validate the accuracy of insights. For example, patterns observed in first-party data can be confirmed with trends seen in third-party datasets, enhancing confidence in the strategies developed from these insights. 
4. Adaptability to market changes: The marketing landscape is continuously evolving with changes in consumer behavior, technology, and regulations. A diverse data portfolio enables marketers to quickly adapt and respond to these changes. For instance, if new privacy regulations restrict certain data usage, having alternative sources ensures that marketing efforts can continue with minimal disruption. 
5. Innovation and competitive advantage: Access to varied data types can spur innovation by revealing untapped opportunities and new audience segments. Marketers can experiment with different strategies, driven by diverse insights, giving them a competitive edge in attracting and retaining customers. 

Strategies for diversifying data sources: 

• Expand data collection methods: Incorporate a range of data collection methods such as customer surveys, social media engagement, transactional data analysis, and behavioral data tracking. 
• Partner with data providers: Establish partnerships with credible third-party data providers to enhance existing datasets, ensuring that these partners comply with all relevant privacy regulations. 
• Leverage technology: Invest in advanced data management and analytics technologies that can handle multiple data types and extract actionable insights from complex datasets. 
• Continuous learning and adaptation: Stay informed about emerging data sources and technologies. Regular training and development for marketing teams can help capitalize on these new opportunities.