How To Build a First-Party Data Strategy

After over four years of working towards it, Google has finally relented and scrapped the removal of third-party cookies but there’s a catch. Google is now proposing that users have the choice to opt in, or out, in the Chrome web browser using a tool similar to Apple’s ATT (app tracking transparency) prompt. As people are becoming more wary of how their data is collected and shared with third parties, it’s likely we’ll see high rates of depreciation. This, coupled with Google's ongoing privacy updates, means ad publishers face a new reality: a world where reliable audience targeting, and personalization are no longer guaranteed. But there is a solution, and it's called first-party data. This article is your guide for building a first-party data strategy that not only helps you weather this storm, but thrive in a new era for advertising.

What is First-Party Data And Why is it Important For Publishers?

First-party data is the information you collect directly from your audience through your website, app, social media, CRM systems, and other owned channels. It offers valuable insights into user behavior, preferences, demographics, and interests. Unlike second-party data (data shared between partners with specific agreements in place) or third-party data (collected from various sources and often lacking in context), first-party data is unique to you and your users. This direct connection gives you a serious advantage, as you can be confident in the accuracy and relevance of the data you're using. For an in-depth breakdown of this, you can check out our blog “What is First-Party Data”.

Why is a First-Party Data Strategy Important For Publishers And How is it Used?

First-party data can offer a wealth of information for ad publishers and play a crucial role in boosting your revenue.

Why is it so important?

Privacy Compliance

With an increased focus on user privacy, regulations like GDPR and CCPA have become stricter. First-party data lets you collect and use data ethically and transparently, ensuring compliance with these regulations and building trust with your audience.

Better Ad Rates

As a bonus, advertisers usually pay more for access to first-party data audiences because they offer more precise targeting and higher conversion potential. By using this valuable asset, you can get better ad rates and increase your overall revenue.

Relevance

Getting to know your audience better helps you create more relevant content on your site, making the experience more enjoyable for them. When users see ads that match their interests and the content they came for, they're more likely to find them interesting and useful. This builds loyalty and keeps users coming back and spending more time on your site.

How is it used?

First-party data can be used to segment an audience into distinct groups. This segmentation can be based on a range of demographics, like age, location, income, hobbies, and preferred content categories. This data can also lead to a better understanding of behavior on your platform, such as pages visited, and time spent.

First-party data lets publishers create personalized ads for each user by looking at their past interactions with the platform—like the content they read, the buttons they click, and their search history. By using this data, publishers can tailor ad experiences to each user's preferences and browsing history. This not only enhances the user experience by presenting them with ads that are more relevant and interesting but also increases the likelihood of ad clicks and conversions.

First-party data can be a powerful tool for retargeting users who have previously shown interest in your content. By using website cookies or other tracking mechanisms, you can identify users who have visited specific pages, and downloaded content. This allows you to deliver targeted emails or messaging to help keep your brand top-of-mind and encourage users to return and take the actions you want.

How to Build a First-Party Data Strategy

There are a few simple steps to building a robust and successful first-party data strategy.

Set Clear Goals

The first step in building a strong first-party data strategy is to define what you want to achieve. Are you looking to improve the targeting of the ads on your site to generate more revenue? Do you want to personalize your content to increase engagement and user satisfaction? Or maybe your goal is a combination of the two.

Identify Data Sources

Once you have your goals in mind, you need to identify all the ways you interact with your audience. This can include website visits, app usage, email subscriptions, social media interactions, and more. By mapping out these different touchpoints, you'll gain a clearer picture of the data you can potentially collect.

Set Up a Collection Process

What Data to Collect

The specific data you choose to gather will depend on your business goals and the needs of your audience. However, here are some common types of first-party data collected:

• Personal Information: Name, email address, phone number, location, demographic information.
• Behavioral Data: Website interactions, purchase history, content preferences, and social media engagement.
• Attitudinal Data: Customer satisfaction ratings, feedback, survey responses, and product reviews.

Where to Collect First-Party Data

First-party data can be collected from various touchpoints across your digital presence, including:

• Your Website: Through things like forms, surveys, reviews, analytics platforms, and user interactions.
• Email Marketing: Newsletter subscriptions, email engagement metrics.
• Social Media Platforms: Engagement data, direct messages, polls.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems: Sales interactions, customer service feedback, support tickets.
• Mobile Apps: In-app behavior, push notification engagement.

How to Collect First-Party Data

A variety of tools and technologies can facilitate the collection and management of first-party data:

• Consent Management Platforms (CMPs): These are essential for ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations (like GDPR and CCPA) by obtaining and managing user consent for data collection. For more information about choosing a CMP check out our blog “How to Choose a CMP (Consent Management Platform)”.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems: These centralize your customer data, track interactions, and provide valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences.
• Data Management Platforms (DMPs): These platforms help organize and analyze large volumes of first-party data, often integrating with other marketing technologies for advanced targeting and personalization.
• Customer Data Platforms (CDPs): These can create a unified customer profile by collecting and integrating data from multiple sources, enabling a combined view of your customers.

You'll also need to make sure you have transparent consent mechanisms in place. Informing users about what data you're collecting and how you'll be using it is essential.

Standardize and Organize

Consolidating data from various sources can be challenging and result in inconsistencies. To make the data usable, you'll need to create a unified data structure. This means you’ll need to clean up and combine the data and ensure it all uses the same format and definitions. Using a customer data platform (CDP) will help to streamline this process.

Measure and Analyze

Finally, no data strategy is complete without measurement! Track specific KPIs (key performance indicators) that align with your goals, such as the average session duration and bounce rate to measure user engagement, click-through rate (CTR) and cost-per-click (CPC) to evaluate ad performance. By analyzing this data, you’ll gain valuable insight into the effectiveness of your strategy and be able to identify areas for improvement.

Key Takeaways

• Focus on First-Party Data: Prioritize collecting and utilizing first-party data to build strong relationships with your audience and create personalized experiences.
• Experiment with Privacy Sandbox: Test and adopt Privacy Sandbox technologies as they become available to prepare for a future with less reliance on third-party cookies.
• Explore Alternative Solutions: Research and invest in other cookieless tracking technologies to collect more valuable data and boost revenue.

Developing a data strategy requires significant time, energy, and resources. At Snigel, our AdEngine solution uses a mix of ID solutions, contextual advertising, and various cookie alternatives to help publishers maintain revenue. Plus, our Ad Operations team can analyze your site to determine the most effective cookie-less strategy for you. Get in touch today to find out how we can help you improve your ad strategy and boost your revenue.