According to a recent study by the Data and Marketing Association, 71% of people state a degree of concern with the issue of online privacy, yet 82% are willing to exchange their data online as long as there is a clear benefit to doing so. 

With the full deprecation of Google’s third-party cookies coming, many brands have started investing in tools and solutions to provide a personalized customer experience using first-party data in a privacy-compliant manner. From collecting, connecting, analyzing, measuring, and eventually activating that data, brands are deploying technical and strategic capabilities to capture every interaction with their customers and prospects. For instance, customer data platforms (CDPs) are becoming a huge topic in the marketing realm. A CDP is software that combines data from multiple tools – , first-party data in particular –  to create a single, centralized customer view based on interactions from all touchpoints, channels, and devices to deliver in-the-moment experiences. 

First-party data refers to the data brands collect directly from customers and prospects. This data includes the products people view or buy from brands, how often they visit the brand’s website or app and even the physical stores. Along the journey from interacting with brands to conversion, most people are aware brands are collecting data from them. As long as the data is used legally and ethically, people expect a better-personalized experience in return. This value exchange is fundamental to the process.

To fully utilize and strategize first-party data, here are some tips brands should  consider in trying to achieve better personalization:

Authorization

Before developing data strategies and creating personalized customer experiences, brands must ensure the data they collect is safe, authorized, and privacy-compliant. A trusted brand is responsible for protecting people’s data privacy to build a relationship based on trust. 

Standardization

Once the first-party data collection is authorized, brands should go through the data standardization process across the relevant touchpoints to unify various data sources and ensure a foundation of quality data is in place. CDPs can help achieve this data standardization and realize integrity and unity. 

Data Management

While activating the first-party data, it’s necessary to affirm that data management is consistent so it quickly can be synchronized to the data management platforms. This means that when data changes in one channel, those changes will also be synchronized in other data management systems in real time, avoiding problems such as data loss and data inconsistency caused by silos and lags.

First-party data is wholly owned by brands and is one of the most valuable assets in an uncertain future. Meanwhile, CDPs have become a standard part of many brands’ martech stack, allowing marketers to better collect, unify, manage, and activate first-party data assets. Acxiom’s CDP services and solutions are the perfect choice for companies looking to maximize the value of their customer and prospect data. Our comprehensive suite of offerings provides the necessary services to successfully implement, integrate, enhance, and optimize a CDP solution.  To learn more, contact [email protected].