3 Examples Of Improving Customer Experience with Zero-Party Data
If you work in marketing, sales, or eCommerce, you’ve probably heard
about the impending death of third-party data by now.
And while this unexpected shake-up has thrown countless marketing and
personalization strategies into disarray, other brands seem unaffected.
In fact, other brands are steadily improving their customers’
experiences, driving revenue with personalization, and capturing market
share with fine-tuned marketing campaigns despite browsers like Chrome
and Safari upending years of digital marketing strategies.
But, how? What do these brands know that their competitors don’t?
It’s simple. They know how to leverage zero-party data to fulfill all of
their data capture needs.
Zero-party data is data that comes directly from the source - customers.
Unlike invasive third-party data-capturing strategies, it hinges on
understanding and consent. Customers are taking a proactive and
voluntary role in the data collection process, rather than being
unwitting participants.
Despite zero-party data being a relatively new development in the
digital marketing and eCommerce world, its philosophies have already
produced exceptional results for early adopters like L’oreal, Good
American, and My Jewelry.
Let’s break down their success together to build a better picture of
zero-party data in action!
Improving Customer Experience
Zero-party data empowers brands and businesses to do everything they did
with third-party cookies, only better.
With third-party cookies, brands had little control or input regarding
how, where, or when data is collected. As a result, brands were left
with a degree of guesswork when it came to essential topics like
customer preferences and intent.
With zero-party data, brands can say goodbye to that guesswork and enjoy
access to feedback provided freely, honestly, and thoroughly by their
customers using simple quizzes or surveys, or in exchange for
tantalizing gated content.
Brands can ask their customers directly about their favorite products,
campaigns, and features to ensure their personalized experiences and
product recommendations are fine-tuned and compelling to their target
demographics.
And unlike third-party data, when zero-party is done right customers
will be excited to share their information with you. Recent studies
found that more than 70% of customers are inclined to share their
personal
information
in exchange for improved personalization.
3 Examples Of Companies That Use Zero-Party Data
Let’s take a look at three brands that implemented a zero-party data
playbook to excellent results.
My Jewelry
My Jewelry implemented a product-based quiz called the “style finder’
that grew leads while generating valuable, actionable zero-party data.
Their style finder quiz generated data that allowed My Jewelry to
upgrade their customer experience personalization, improved customer
service outcomes, and decreased the brand's risk exposure during data
collecting.
Using the data gathered from quiz-takers to guide their digital
marketing led to an impressive 20% increase in email open rate.
ZooPlus
ZooPlus, a growing pet supply business, uses zero-party data to
fine-tune its newsletters, product recommendations, and customer
experiences.
How? With a simple registration form!
When new ZooPlus customers create an account online, ZooPlus asks them a
few strategic questions that empower the company to turn one-time
customers into repeat shoppers.
By asking new members a few short questions about their pet, like:
- What kind of pet do you have?
- How big is your pet?
- Does your pet prefer toys or treats?
ZooPlus gained crucial insights that allowed them to improve its
customers’ experiences. The most crucial part of their strategy? They
only asked the most pressing questions that would directly impact
customer experience.
L'oreal
Popular beauty brand L’oreal also uses zero-party data to drive brand
building, build customer loyalty, and increase revenue.
L’oreal uses a variety of polls, stories, surveys, and more on social
media to capture invaluable data from its target markets. L’oreal took
collecting data directly from consumers one step further when it
implemented its virtual
try-on
feature.
This creative approach to zero-party data capturing allowed customers to
select and “try on” their favorite products using their cell phone’s
camera. Then, customers could share their augmented pictures directly to
their social media accounts, generating grassroots buzz for the
powerhouse brand.
How Zero-Party Data Can Improve Company ROI
Most businesses understand that data means revenue.
But what most businesses don’t know is that almost eight in
ten
consumers are happy to provide contact information, product preferences,
and attribution information when there’s a clear benefit being offered.
Zero-party data takes advantage of this particular consumer behavior
using transparent and consensual tools for data collection, like:
So, how does this translate to revenue? Through brand loyalty and
unmatched personalization capabilities.
In a time when over 90% of Americans are concerned about their
privacy
online
and 84% want more
control
over how their personal data is used, companies that are proactive about
respecting and protecting the digital privacy of their customers can
gain some serious brand loyalty points.
63% of consumers say most companies aren’t transparent about their
data
collection or use and 88% say their willingness to
share
personal information with brands and businesses hinges on earned trust.
Companies can make major inroads as digital privacy regulations and
concerns grow more popular by being early adopters of transparent,
consensual systems like zero-party data collection.
Now, on to personalization.
Personalization is limited by the quality of your data. With zero-party
data, your brand is getting input “directly from the horse’s mouth.”
Unlike old-school third-party collection methods, it empowers businesses
to be confident that the insights gained from their data are relevant,
accurate, and most importantly - actionable.
You can be sure your personalized experiences and product
recommendations are driving repeat business because your repeat business
gave you the data!
Improve Customer Loyalty and Increase Sales
The death of the third-party data collection system represents an
opportunity. An opportunity for brands and businesses to take control of
their own data using only the most ethical and effective methods
available.
By doing so, brands can push customer loyalty to new heights, court
digital privacy-minded shoppers, and increase sales and revenue with
spot-on product recommendations and experience personalization.
If you’re ready to say goodbye to outdated data collection and start
harnessing the brand and revenue-building power of zero-party data,
check out our post-purchase survey
app
that empowers you to begin collecting data straight from your customers
on your Shopify store entirely for free.