In today’s economy, big data has become a driving force. It improves a company’s marketing efforts and customer retention by helping them better identify and connect with their target demographic.
However, there is a major issue with large datasets. The public becomes more outraged when their data is collected without their consent.
So, what if businesses could get their hands on information that users willingly and knowingly submitted to them?
Zero party data comes in handy in these situations. You may ask, what is zero party data, and what role does it play in digital marketing? Let’s discuss it in this article.
What is Zero Party Data?
It’s information that a customer voluntarily provides to a business—Information like a customer’s:
- Preferences
- Purchase intentions
- Background
- How the person wants the brand to recognize them
Consider it the same as conversational data. You can learn about their birthday, favorite color, and other information.
Data collecting, marketing, and interactions become more conversational when you take this approach with your clients.
This change provides detailed information that helps your company flourish and customers feel valued when they shop for what they need.
You can collect zero-party data using Vibetrace Behaviour Analytics solution that collects automatically customer behaviour on your retail/website.
Benefits of Zero Party Data
It will help if you communicate with your clientele, as they are eager to hear from you. It’s one of the key reasons they give you this information.
Among the most apparent benefits of zero party data are:
- Value and clarity: Zero party data is unique because it comes straight from the customer, so your business can be confident that a customer wants to hear from you
- Cost-effective: Costs to collect zero party data are low because the information is already within your systems. Zero party data is free, unlike second and third-party data, because customers volunteer it
- Relevance: The direct nature of zero party data allows you to gain insight into how your clients want you to contact them. It helps you to tailor your interactions to their preferences
- Compliant: The risks associated with zero party data collection are low because you know the data’s origin and collection method.
One potential drawback of zero party data collection is that it’s counterproductive to ask clients for too much data all at once. It’s best to spread out your request intervals for this info.
But the advantage of having the data ready for customer segmentation is way above any drawbacks. It increases your marketing Return on Investment and tells you what to do next.
How to Collect Zero Party Data
What’s great about zero party data is that you can use whatever methods you like to gather it. Ingenious marketers have created a variety of innovative strategies to get this data while still making the process enjoyable for customers.
Collecting Zero Party Data from Visitors
Businesses can gather zero-party data from their site visitors in several ways—Though it will vary from person to person. Below are useful tips for collecting zero party data from visitors.
Conversational Pop-Up
Pop-ups with questions about the visitor’s interests and requirements can help you tailor your site’s content to them and turn them into lifelong customers. Consider conversational pop-ups as the online version of a retail check-in.
Each prospect can provide you with one or two data points by answering a few questions in these pop-ups. They help with customization and conversion rates without being annoying to visitors.
Social Networking
Social networking is the way to go if you want to reach a wide audience, including prospects. Creating and publishing polls on social networks can help you get a wide range of information on trends, community dynamics, and product directions.
For example, a common marketing question posed by companies when comparing products is, “which do you prefer?” Think of it as A/B testing, but instead of comparing two options, you get customer feedback.
Using polls on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram has shown to increase client engagement with a company by 20-40%. This kind of input is crucial in the early stages of a campaign.
Collecting Zero Party Data from Customers
The Pareto principle states that a small percentage of your clientele will generate most of your revenue. As a result, your company’s success will depend on your ability to maintain the satisfaction and loyalty of your most valuable clientele.
Success in collecting zero party data will vary depending on individual preferences, but the following are some pointers.
Member Attributes
The most fundamental is collecting members’ personal information either at signup or later. Using this feature, you can learn more about a consumer than just their name, email address, and phone number.
For example with Vibetrace you can collect: birthdays, interests, first&last name using Interaction, Content or Survey campaigns.
All the information from the forms is sent automatically to your own customer database that Vibetrace builds for you.
Pop-Up Quizzes
One more effective strategy is to present a short pop-up survey to a new user. It can be a few questions, the answers to which will help them find the most relevant products.
Opinion Polls
Online polls allowing users to vote on various options are also widespread today. For example, asking prospects about their preferred styles and more.
It contributes to the staff’s sense of community and ownership of the company’s future.
Each approach has merits, but combining them is where you’ll find the most progress toward your goals.
How to Store and Manage Zero Party Data
What do you do with zero party data once you have it in your database, now that you know what it is and how to gather it?
To succeed, you need a zero-party data strategy around the consumer. With customers’ consent, collecting their data can be a smooth process.
This is what we call customer database or customer data platform.
Businesses can use it in marketing campaigns and activities like any other data. In contrast to other data kinds, you create hyper-personalized messages and content by:
- Using A/B testing to narrow in on user tastes
- Customizing user experiences on websites
- Enhancing the satisfaction of your customers
- Sending emails based on a user’s persona
- Analyzing how customers’ actions contribute to churn
- Ad retargeting
Vibetrace stores and manages his data for you automatically.
Case Study of a Zero Data Strategy: The Language-Study App Babbel
Babbel invites people who sign up to answer a few personal questions like:
- “Why do you want to learn a new language?”
- “What level do you aim to reach?”
- “How much time can you devote to studying every day?”
- “How old are you?”
How to Utilize Zero Party Data
You can leverage clients’ zero party data once you’ve collected it in several ways.
Optimize the Customer Experience by Making It Unique
You can use zero party data to give your customers a better, more tailored experience. For example, zero party data lets you cater your marketing and deals to each consumer based on their specific preferences. It can help you deliver a more personalized experience for your customers, which increases their loyalty and interest in your brand.
Optimization of Customer Segmentation
Targeting your ideal clientele more effectively is another area where zero party data can help. The success of your marketing and sales efforts will increase as you learn more about your client’s likes and dislikes.
Plus, you can guarantee that your messages and offers get delivered to the appropriate customers. Boosting your marketing and sales efforts in this way can lead to more success and growth.
Refine Your Approach to Serving Your Clients
Improving communication with customers is yet another use for zero party data. Gaining insight into a customer’s preferences allows you to tailor your service to them.
For example, you can use zero party data to match customers’ preferences with relevant products and services.
Alternatively, you can use their prior actions to make specific suggestions for them. As a result, you will enhance your customers’ service and increase their likelihood of sticking with you.
Conclusion
Companies who want to make the most of zero party data must think outside the box when using the information their consumers give them.
Businesses must remember that customers are always multifaceted individuals with fascinating life journeys.
The first step in giving customers what they want from your business is figuring out how to start a conversation with them. That way, you will nurture them through the sales cycle just like a good salesperson would in a store.
