Zero-Party Data – is the information that a customer intentionally shares with a brand. This can include product preferences, purchase history, demographic information, and sheds light on how customers want brands to talk to them. In the privacy-first world, zero-party data is highly important as it allows for personalised messaging at a time when that is becoming increasingly difficult to capture.
First-Party Data – is information that a brand can collect and own about a customer. While Zero-Party Data is acquired through the likes of surveys, first-party data is anonymously captured through dedicated systems. An example of this is Google Analytics which tracks on-site behaviour, such as pages visited, cart abandons, and purchases. All of this can be used to develop an understanding of users who interact with the brand.
Second-Party Data – is first-party data that is shared from trusted partners. This can be used to help achieve greater audience scale than relying solely on owned data, with reliable data sources. A publisher may provide their first-party audience data, capturing consumer consumption habits seen on the publisher’s site, making this second-party data for the company then buying that audience.
Third-Party Data – is data that is captured, collated, and sold by data/audience aggregators. Third-party data is similar to second-party data, but data collection methodology is not shared and there is no direct relationship with the seller and the audience.