5 key examples of first-party data

Making business decisions without referencing data is a guaranteed road to failure. Not all data sets, however, are created equal. You definitely want to prioritize first-party data, as it provides the most reliable information. Here’s a look at some first-party data examples and why they’re integral for establishing your metrics and KPIs.

What is first-party data?

First, let’s define the term. First-party data is data you collect directly from your targeted consumers. In other words, the data goes straight from the customer to you. There’s no middleman in between that may muddle the data.

What about second- and third-party data?

If first-party data is a thing, then surely second- and third-party data must also exist. It all goes back to the proverbial middleman. With second-party data, the data usually goes through another entity before going to you. An example is first-party data from a partnering company or supplier, which the company then relays to you. This may not be as reliable since you and your partnering organization may not use the same metrics or customer data platform.

Third-party data is even less reliable and typically includes information from a broader industry category. Examples include data from your competitors’ consumers or data sold on data marketplaces.

Both second- and third-party data have their places. They may be applicable when deriving general information. Startups may use the data to define their target audience. However, for creating laser-detailed customer profiles and sales funnels, you need first-party data.

How about zero-party data?

You may have also come across the term zero-party data. This is a subset of first-party data and is information customers intentionally share with you. Examples include questionnaires, quizzes, and information users complete in the profile section of their account.

A look at first-party data examples

What constitutes first-party data? Let’s examine some common and industry-wide examples.

1. Website visits

One of the most straightforward first-party data examples is website visits, from new and repeat visitors. Use website tags to collect a wealth of information based on visitor activity. Examples of data collection include:

• Duration of visit
• How the visitor came to your site (search engine, inbound links, etc.)
• How many pages the visitor navigates, and the most frequently visited ones (products, FAQ, contact, about, etc.)
• Bounce rate
• Click-rate of embedded ads and popups
• Return rate from redirect ads

2. Email newsletters

First-party data also includes the behavioral activity of your email subscribers and how they interact with your email content. Examples of information you can gather include:

• Email open rate—data may also include A/B test results of varying subject lines and their open rates
• Link click-rate
• Click-throughs that result in a purchase or trial sign-up
• The ratio of new subscribes to unsubscribes

3. Content engagement

Do you have a company blog or YouTube channel? The data goes beyond views. There’s a wealth of data to gather from your company content, such as:

• Total number of comments
• Like to dislike ratio
• Content absorption rate: Did the visitor scroll from the top to the bottom of your blog? Did the viewer watch your video from beginning to end?
• How the visitor found the content: Did they go from search engine to blog (based on a keyword search), or navigate from your website homepage to the blog?

4. In-store purchase

Purchase and trial signup data is really valuable. It reflects the rate of consumers you successfully navigated to the end of the sales funnel. What data can be acquired here?

• Upsell rate
• Products or services by popularity
• Cart abandonment rate
• Purchase rate after initial cart abandonment
• The response rate of email reminders about unpurchased products still in the cart
• Purchase rate from affiliate and brand advocate recommendations
• Product/service rating score

5. Surveys

Surveys are as first-party as it gets. You’re essentially asking the consumers precisely how they feel about a product or about your company overall. You can customize questions using a variety of formats, such as multiple-choice, open-ended, and ordinal scale. The response rate to the survey is in itself valuable data. Since respondents intentionally and voluntarily share the information, surveys are a form of zero-party data.

You can increase response rates with incentives. These can be free trials, discount codes, and even digital trophies. You can track these rewards and analyze them as a form of data. For example, if you reward survey responses with free subscription trials, how many of those eventually result in paid subscriptions? Likewise, what can you infer about respondents with a high digital trophy count? They just might be high candidates for becoming loyal customers.

Simplify data collection and analysis with Lytics

These examples of first-party data are just the surface. In today’s age, data comes from diverse sources. Make data gathering and integration easy by incorporating Lytic’s Decision Engine into your day-to-day logistical operations. Accrue customer insight and use the data to create a personalized customer experience. Try it for free today!