Zero-party data in User.com

The end of the third-party data era

As technology develops, user confidence concerning safeguarding consumer privacy has diminished. The response to the more and more frequent violations in this area was the entry into force of the Generals Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by the European Union. As well as many similar regulations around the world. Recently, we have also observed a gradual withdrawal of third-party cookies, which allow publishers to reach potential customers within the advertising networks. In 2020, Apple introduced a complete blockage of third-party cookies by default for each user in the Safari browser. Subsequently, Mozilla and Microsoft followed Apple's steps. Google has also started to remove third-party cookies from its environment. Ultimately, they are all to disappear by the end of the year 2023.

The consumer privacy laws and increased regulations make it hard to track users' activity online. The revolution that is happening in front of our eyes is aimed not so much at eliminating the use of cookies in marketing activities, but at ensuring transparency of data processing by brands.

Zero-party data „is gold…” 

The answer to this challenge is collecting data like "zero-party”. The term coined by the Forrester Research is also referred to as explicit data. "Zero-parties is what customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand. It can include the preference center data, purchase intentions, personal context, and how the individual wants to be recognized by the brand."

[zero party data] „is gold. … When a customer trusts a brand enough to provide really meaningful data, it means that the brand doesn't have to go off and infer what the customer wants or what his/her intentions are”.

Fatemeh Khatibloo, the Forrester principal analyst

Customer Data Platform

User.com enables marketers to operate effectively without violating the right to privacy thanks to the Customer Data Platform solution. CDP is a platform that automatically collects data about the user and his online activity. We can gather such data from many portals and mobile platforms and store them in one User.com application. It is possible while our tracking script is embedded and active on these portals. A new cookie is created for each domain so that the user will remain the "same user" within the same domain. To track the user as a "one profile" in User.com on different domains, we can identify him with an external key (user_id), passed to the User.com script. Thanks to this solution, the customer who has purchased a subscription and utilizes the User.com application is the sole owner of the user's data and there is no third-party data phenomenon involved.

What data can we collect?

The undeniable advantage of zero-party data is their full transparency: concerning the provisions on the processing of personal data and the consumer, who consciously provides us with his data and purchasing preferences.

What type of data can we collect as part of a zero-party, and thus, in the User.com application?

The purpose of collecting zero-party data is to improve the user experience in contact with our brand. Thanks to the information obtained about onsite activity, we can better personalize the content and communication to the user, recommend products based on the history of visits or AI algorithms, and improve the customer experience to reflect the specific preferences of users visiting us.

With the help of CDP, we can build a 360 profile of the user, combining his online and offline activity with activities in the mobile application and directing the message to this consumer using our media.

We can collect declarative data about user preferences by utilizing the forms, surveys, and landing pages, enriching the customer's profile with real-time data.

Thanks to the advanced segmentation of users, we can reach them with a message via a preferred channel, at the right time, with an offer consistent with their preferences.

Zero-party data world

The zero-party data era forces brands to adopt a new approach towards the subject of lead generation.

A conscious consumer, leaving his data and showing his commitment to the brand, expects not only satisfaction with the goods and services offered, but also transparency in their processing.

The time has come to build long-term relationships with users and customers of our brands, better segmentation, and more effective personalization. The Customer Data Platform can help marketers streamline the lead acquisition process, manage customer interactions, and explore customer data to gain better insight into who they are and what they need, and thus effectively transform them into customers for their brands. All this concerns the right to privacy, in the future, the world of zero-party data.