t is hard to appreciate the significance of zero-party data without first comprehending the characteristics that set it apart from other data types. To accomplish this, you need to understand the many categories of information that may be gathered about your clients.

Data, welcome to the zero-party

Zero-party data is information that a consumer voluntarily and willingly provides to a business in exchange for a product or service. It may comprise data from a preference center, the individual's buying intents and personal surroundings, and how they wish to be known by the brand.

When it comes to consumer engagement, retention, and loyalty, zero-party data is redefining how businesses connect with their online customers. The development of online data collection is indeed on the verge of a significant shift. You, as a marketer, need to begin establishing the groundwork for zero-party data gathering now.

As described above, Zero-party data refers to data that has been provided voluntarily by the customer. You can learn more about your customers by taking surveys, participating in online activities, or creating a customer profile. You can then utilize this data to generate tailored and precise product recommendations, interactive events, and targeted ads for each consumer.
There are a lot of things you can learn about a person by looking at their profile, such as their birthday; whether or not they like fruit; take their tea with milk; if their preferred color is turquoise; if they are a Yankees fan; and a lot more.

The data collection, marketing, and customer contacts will be more of a discussion than a one-way exposition of data and services when you communicate with your consumers. As a result, your company will benefit from specialized data that will help you better understand your clients and provide them with the finest products for their needs.
Following this description, we will have a look at different types of data and the pros and cons of each.

First-party data
First-party data is precise. You don't have to examine the source because the consumer is the one supplying it. Furthermore, it is accessible and free to your business, so there are no questions regarding how the information was obtained. The anticipation of a valued exchange on the other hand is a disadvantage. Some clients expect something in exchange for sharing their personal data. There may also be a misalignment between what buyers believe and what they genuinely desire.

First-party data is directly collected from a company's channels and sources. Mobile applications, websites, social media networks, SMS messages, email, and many more touchpoints are examples of these channels. In addition to demographic information, first-party data may comprise information such as visited websites and interactions, purchase history, hobbies, time spent on the website, etc.
Because you gathered it, this data is one of a kind and belongs to your business alone. This gives you an advantage in the market. In addition, the data is trustworthy since you are aware of its origin and that no other parties are involved.

First-party data is always in short supply. It takes a considerable amount of effort and time to gather information about new clients, and you need a lot of it to be helpful. First-party data also makes it simple to identify and categorize your customers. It is possible to evaluate your online traffic and target certain items or topics of interest, such as sports or cars. First-party data might be the most genuine since it is yours, and you are liable for obtaining all necessary consent to use the data. Having access to first-party data offers you the ability to keep information on your users and examine their profiles in more depth.

Second-party data
First-party information obtained from a reliable third party is referred to as second-party data. Because this data isn't offered freely, it can give better worth over third-party data, often available to anybody who wants to purchase it. This data (second-party) enables a company to attain higher scalability than it could achieve depending on its first-party data.

Third-party data
The term "third-party data" refers to any information gathered by a third-party company that does not share a direct connection with the user. In many cases, a third-party data source collects data from various sites and channels and then aggregates it. A single business can't match the depth and breadth of information provided by third-party data. First-party data is accessible, free and is created deterministically, but still, it can't beat the extent and size of third-party probabilistic data. Whereas a single publisher may have a great deal of information about a user based on their interactions with their site, they will probably know very little regarding the remainder of the user's profile because most sites offer unique content or goods that attract people.
In addition, third-party information suppliers reduce the data to targetable audience groups, eliminating the advertiser's need to conduct any analysis that would have been necessary under the previous circumstances.

Using cookies to generate data
Cookies are small text files containing information generated by a web server and sent to a web browser by the server. Web browsers will save any information they receive for either a fixed amount of time or for the duration of a person's session on a particular website, whichever comes first. They will append the appropriate cookies to any further requests that the user sends to the web server in the future. Cookies are saved on users' devices in a particular file that is created by their web browsers and make it possible to specifically link a user's behavior on a website to that person. Cookies allow a website to "remember" the activities of users or the preferences of users, which enables the website to personalize the experience for each individual user.

Third-party cookies
Cookies that belong to a website apart from the ones shown in the browser cookie settings are referred to as third-party cookies. Most commonly, tracking is accomplished through the use of cookies provided by third parties. On the other hand, first-party cookies are linked to the same website as the browser. These are in contrast to third-party cookies.
The unfortunate reality is that you can no longer put your faith in data provided by a third party. In addition, you'll have to make a quick switch to a new plan of action. As it turns out, "owned marketing" is in your hands, and you're probably already using it.

Own your marketing, own your data
Marketing channels that you own are referred to as owned marketing. Each of them is a branded marketing channel that you own and control.
To get the most out of your "owned" marketing channels, you need clients genuinely interested in what you have to say. Because of this, it's critical to expand your customer database and acquire zero-party data, which will allow you to contact more customers and deliver more targeted communications.
Zero-party data is now a priority. It allows companies to develop more tailored experiences for their customers, which leads to increased levels of engagement and extended customer lifetime. Because consumers are becoming more conscious of the need to protect their personal information, businesses will have to rely more and more on data that does not involve a third party to establish reliable and tailored connections with their clients. Data collected through clickstreams, surveys, and social media are just some types of information that may be obtained through third-party data-gathering platforms. Nevertheless, getting data from zero-party sources is a little bit different.

Brands may acquire zero-party data through interactive funnels, such as quizzes, surveys, calculators, forms, and more, using accessible technologies that do not need coding. At this point, any non-technical personnel is capable of gathering data straight from their clients in a method that is both entertaining and engaging. This was not always the case.
The use of zero-party data is not limited to only large brands, though. The practice of gathering data directly from a company's clients may be beneficial to any organization. At each stage of the customer journey, businesses of any size may collect reliable, accurate, and exciting data for the client if they use interactive funnels. In the past, gathering zero-party data mainly consisted of laborious human processing, tracking, and data entering. This is not achievable in the society we live in today, and if it were, it would be prohibitively expensive.

Zero-party data collection removes the "creepy aspect" that customers frequently feel when interacting with a company. Is there a worse feeling as a customer than knowing that a corporation has your personal information even if you didn't give it to them in the first place? Using a zero-party data approach reduces this creepiness because the data is gathered openly and straight from the client. It removes the guesswork in tailoring consumer experiences to each individual. It also aids businesses in gauging and establishing a relationship of trust with their clients.

Zero-party data has several advantages. Brands may now construct highly customized marketing strategies for their customers due to this technology. Zero-party data can provide many other benefits besides a more personalized user experience:
1. You can use it to suggest products based on your customers' shopping preferences.
2. Send out announcements about new brands via SMS or email to a select group of customers you know are interested.
3. Improve your targeted paid ads because you know your message and item suggestions are based on your customers' needs.
4. Discover what your customers want.

The world is changing, but where to?
With the rise of zero-party data, creating more communication touchpoints and tactics gained importance, as well as the need for more privacy and control over what is being shared with websites, mobile applications, and platforms.
Below we will present some 2022 trends and evolutions concerning zero-party data, data gathering, and user privacy.

Apple's new privacy policies
Apple has made it impossible for data aggregators and social media sites like Facebook and Instagram to acquire information from iPhones and iPads, which account for around 60% of all mobile devices in use today.
Companies will only obtain this information if customers accept data gathering via pop-ups and changes to user settings (just 21% of customers have consented by September 2021). Businesses will lose almost half of the third-party data they currently have access to due to these changes.

Changes to Google's cookie policy are coming soon
Google has also issued a statement stating that third-party cookies would no longer be allowed in Chrome browsers after 2023. As Google's use of consumer data transparency and privacy standards has been questioned in recent years, it appears to be progressively shifting toward a more privacy-focused data collection approach.

Customers are more concerned than ever about data privacy
Customers' data privacy has also become a key concern, and many consumers do not want their information to be shared with anyone. Third-party data collection is becoming more controlled due to recent laws, and websites are frequently required to tell visitors that they employ third-party cookies.
Most people do not want to sell their information to a third party when given a choice. In the foreseeable future, third-party data will no longer be a feasible choice.

That's where zero-party data comes in: it requires consent at its core.

Conclusion
The talk about Zero-party data is never-ending, and we promise you that this subject is still at it's most fundemantal state. It will gain more influence in the near future, and will affect how CRM and marketing automation is approached for decades to come.
Helena Mas, Senior International Partnership Manager at SALES Manago describes it perfectly:

"When we think about zero-party data, it's inevitable to think about two concepts intrinsically linked: reliability (in terms of information) and engagement (with the brand). Two terms that work together closely and bring essential value to the customer experience in an ever-changing digital world. It has been proven the way we relate to technology is constantly evolving, similar to a wave triggering an unstoppable forward movement, not only by ourselves but for external events out of our control. So how do we satisfy a more conscious and knowledgeable audience? An audience that is now more than ever aware of the complexity and limitless internet possibilities and at the same time untrustworthy of the persistent, overly exposed - and way too often - unwilling sources of digital communications received daily.
Well, there's the zero-party data. As we're suddenly approaching a new cookieless era, we are going to face new challenges, adapt and rethink digital strategies aligned with the brand identity and tailored to their users' activity. Customers are increasingly demanding personalized experiences according to their needs and preferences, and there is nothing more accurate than the information freely provided and selected by their own choice and within their own terms. Creative thinking and straightforward communication will be key to gathering the information successfully; setting clear intentions, naming precise actions that will be taken and the benefits of it will definitely reinforce trust. With zero-party data we have a clear mission of erasing this overwhelming feeling of vulnerability. We want to give back intimacy to the customers, and above all, a sense of ownership, of being heard, understood and more than capable of making their own decisions to determine what, when and how they want to receive the information. Our goal is to provide the right software support to make it happen, towards a more transparent industry, respecting the audience and bringing back harmony to the projects we are involved in. We supply the necessary tools to make it happen, and for that purpose we partner up with Digital Agencies like Office9 that are built around two integral pillars: collaboration (people) and automation (technology)."