Activating your first-party data

Last Updated on June 28, 2022 by Alexander Rydberg Ling

To start utilizing the data, mature marketers use a process consisting of three steps. The first step is creating the data strategy in support of your business objectives. The second step is collecting and structuring the data. Here you need to ensure that the data quality is good and you need to combine data from several different first-party sources. The last step is to start analyzing and activating the data, using the data for marketing activities at all stages of the funnel.

Create your data strategy

As we have stated before, when creating a data strategy, it should support the overall business objectives. We need to be clear about which data we need to reach the specific goals or to solve a specific problem. 

We also need to set clear goals for the different customer segments and determine what data to utilize. For new customers where the goal is to find customers with a potential high value we can use first-party data to identify indicators of high customer lifetime value or use the data to create lookalike audiences.

For existing customers we can use the data to predict churn or to personalize the customer experience to create upsell or cross-sell.

Collecting and structuring data

A majority of companies already collect first-party data from many different sources. Most of the sources are online, for example interaction with online ads, on-site browsing, in-app behavior, crm-activity and so on. There are also offline sources such as point-of-sale systems and customer service systems. 

To be in the forefront of data management you need to be able to link the majority of the sources and then connect them to your advertising platforms for an automated activation.

Analyze and activate the data

Collecting data just for the sake of collecting it is not enough. Only when the data sources are integrated and you can link it to marketing activation can we see increases in ROI.

First-party data can be used by companies in many ways. The use ranges from basic uses such as defining different audiences or segments to more advanced use cases, such as predicting lifetime value or churn.

For example, if we look at targeting and segmentation, many companies say that they to some degree differentiate between new and already existing customers, which usually only needs one source of data. This is quite basic segmentation. If you are a bit more sophisticated you can use a lot of different tactics such as retargeting of past visitors to your website, excluding existing customers from upper funnel campaigns, increase cpc-bids on new customers or create different lookalike audiences based on customer characteristics and target them across different digital channels. With first-party data you can make the marketing and segmentation more specific, without sacrificing reach.

When your company becomes more digitally mature, you will be able to move towards managing a fully personalized customer journey.

psst, if you need help to activating your first-party data, we are here for you!