Why interactive experiences deliver the best first-party data
Wayin’s Richard Jones argues that in today’s privacy-obsessed world, consumers expect to be entertained in order to give away their personal data to businesses.
For years, CMOs sought a competitive advantage by compiling huge amounts of third-party data sets to fuel their campaigns.
However well-meaning, this practice exacerbated consumer mistrust and helped ring in the global age of privacy we’re embarking upon today. The cloud on the horizon that all too many ignored was that this data purchased from aggregators was compiled from unreliable and unrelated sources such as click trails, browsing and purchase history.
A wealth of data, but much of it inaccurate. And in light of privacy legislation sweeping the globe, potentially illegal to collect or activate. The data landscape is in the midst of a paradigm shift. The first-party data economy isn’t coming, it’s here.
The case for first-party data
It is possible for marketers to collect data that is intentionally and proactively shared directly with them by the consumer. This is first-party data. A type of data that isn’t inferred through income guesswork or device matching, nor is it merely observed through spending behaviours or cookie data.
First-party data allows brands to build direct relationships with consumers, and in turn, better personalise their marketing efforts. This is because first-party data comes directly from your customers – no intermediaries, no guesswork and no irrelevant data points. This type of data offers a window into their motivations, interests, intentions, preferences, and what really makes them tick.
To attain this data, marketers need to offer a value exchange and deliver interactive experiences that ask the consumer questions in real-time, empowering them to recommend products, services and content that is truly personalised.
First-party data can help alleviate data privacy concerns by bringing data capture and activation out into the open. When personalisation is done correctly with good data and consumer buy-in, the results are dramatic, both in terms of conversions and brand affinity.
The website isn’t the only digital destination
Brands investing in digital transformation and fully embracing the first-party data economy are increasingly turning to digital experience platforms (DXPs) to build, deploy and improve their websites and other digital experiences.
DXPs need to furnish non-technical marketers with the tools to quickly and easily create interactive experiences that collect first-party data across the customer lifecycle at speed and scale. To truly unlock the power of a DXP, businesses need to augment with technology that creates short-lived experiences that are interactive and inspiring, that facilitate data capture and engagement and be published to every digital channel.
Data capture in social stories and micro experiences
For all too long, businesses have blindly squandered their marketing budget on formats that are no longer fit for purpose. Chasing views, clicks and other vanity metrics instead of what really matters – engagement.
And through a combination of an industry failing to evolve with its customers, the proliferation of ad-blocking software and downright boring ads, average click-through rates in the industry have dropped to somewhere around a lowly 0.35%.
Consumers have had enough of shouty ads they can’t interact with and ones that interrupt their browsing experience. Ad experiences need to become new and innovative – like they were a long time ago – if they want to connect with consumers.
Marketers need to focus on delivering experiences within ads and social stories that pique consumer interest, encourage engagement and collect data on behalf of the advertiser.
Whether it be a quirky quiz, playful poll or some compelling curated content, by leveraging interactive experiences that incorporate incentive mechanics, marketers can quickly and easily collect first-party data at speed and scale from these burgeoning mediums.
Digitally savvy consumers need to be entertained, engaged and receive something in return for their attention and personal data. And marketers can deliver this through interactive experiences that conduct market research, accrue opt-ins and deliver an altogether better experience with a tangible value exchange for the consumer.
Activating first-party data
Capturing consumer motivations, intentions, interests, and preferences at scale lets you truly personalise each customers’ experience and deliver an offline service online.
It’s frustrating for customers when they’re chased around the web with remarketing ads for a purchase they already made, or have no interest in at all. First-party data gives you the tools to cease using guesswork and inferences by arming you with the information you need to make the right connections with your customers.
By using the right mechanics, and offering a value exchange, your customers will tell you what products they desire, what they look for in a service, and what offers motivate them to purchase.