People are unpredictable, each with their own unique tastes and behaviors. Even within the most identifiable groups, individuals have different wants, needs and beliefs — that’s what makes them individuals. As marketers, navigating these complexities to drive successful campaigns begins with understanding real people. This is where first-party data (1P) comes into play.

So, what do we mean by first-party data? 1P data is the data you own. Unlike what you get from cookies, it’s collected directly from those you interact with through your website, app, e-commerce site, physical stores or mailers. It’s information about your customers you’ve gathered and saved to understand better and enhance their relationship with your company.

When leveraged properly, 1P data is like a “cheat code” for campaign results. Rather than relying on the unknown, namely, third-party data purchased from faceless aggregators, 1P data is inherently trustworthy as it comes straight from the source. A study conducted by Google and Boston Consulting Group revealed that key marketing activities using 1P data resulted in a 2.9x increase in revenue and a 1.5x decrease in costs compared to those that don’t.

While 1P data is clearly good for business, according to Advertiser Perceptions, only 43% of US marketers and agencies put 1P data to work in their media campaigns.

If you find yourself on the outside looking in on those 43% of US marketers and agencies, you can either take comfort in the fact that you are not alone or start developing a 1P strategy that’s right for your organization today. It’s not as difficult as you think. Here are three practical steps to get you started.

Collect and Categorize

A big reason why many marketers aren’t leveraging 1P data is they don’t have a strategy to collect it. If that’s you, keep it simple by starting with website traffic. Google Analytics is an easy tool that allows you to easily track and measure how users interact with your website. Monitor metrics such as page views, time spent on each page, bounce rates and click paths to differentiate the “quality” from the “quantity” of website traffic. Each user interaction generates a data point that is collected and stored. The stored data can be segmented based on a predefined set of criteria. For example, you can create segments for users who have shopped on specific product pages, spent a certain amount of time on the site, searched using specific keywords or interacted with specific content. Keep it simple or go crazy. The important thing is just to get started.

Measure For Intelligence

While collecting first-party data is essential, it is only the beginning. To fully utilize this data, implement a structured measurement plan for ongoing insights. This involves plugging your raw data sets into a streamlined analysis system, enabling informed decision-making rooted in deep customer understanding. For our team, Optiem Analytics plays a pivotal role in this process by transforming static data into dynamic visualizations that reveal key patterns and trends. This intelligence ensures that the data we gather actively drives our marketing strategies, enhancing our media, messaging and targeting efforts. Additionally, it allows us to test and refine these audience segments for optimal performance throughout the life of the campaign as plans and priorities evolve.

Deploy Any Way You Can

Some will tell you it’s necessary to have a Customer Data Platform (CDP) to unify 1P segments and deploy them across channels. While CDPs certainly make it easier for marketers to create targeted and personalized marketing campaigns, not all marketers use them or need them to activate 1P data. The segments you defined in Google Analytics are portable. Just navigate to your segments, select one and use the “export” function to download the data in a CSV format. While you may need to do a little file clean-up, a dataset with unique identifiers like user IDs or device IDs makes it possible to upload these audiences directly into advertising platforms. Once your audiences are uploaded and named, they are available to use directly in a campaign or indirectly to build look-alike segments.

Conclusion

1P data is a powerful tool that’s within reach for all marketers. It’s the data collected directly from interactions with customers you know, making it more reliable. With a plan to collect and categorize this data using tools like Google Analytics, you can gain a better understanding of customer behavior and create a more personalized plan. Tools such as Optiem Analytics can streamline the process, transforming data into actionable intelligence to drive your marketing strategies. You can easily deploy these insights across advertising platforms without expensive tools and technologies.

If you need help getting started with 1P strategy, don’t wait. Reach out for a free consultation today.