With Google following in the footsteps of Apple and Mozilla and phasing out support for third-party cookies in its Chrome browser by 2022, now is the time to reimagine how you’re collecting and using your first-party customer data. But what exactly should that "reimagining" look like?
Retail Dive, in partnership with QuickPivot, looks at this subject in its latest whitepaper, "The New Retail Revenue Equation: How the End of Third-Party Cookies Can Catapult Retail Profits." In it, Retail Dive looks at how retail marketers can utilize their first-party data effectively and the tools needed to do so, and also provides several real-world use-cases that demonstrate the power of first-party customer data.
Learn how first-party data helps you deliver what consumers want
Personalization is the leading driver of customer expectations today. Customers crave highly personalized, friction-free purchase experiences, but many have lost faith in retailers’ ability to deliver the because of previous poor experiences, which often stem from unreliable and poorly managed third-party cookie data. But first-party data is much more reliable and trustworthy because it is collected by you, controlled by you, and stored by you, thereby providing you with a much more accurate understanding of your customers and giving you the means to create personalized experiences that actually align with what your customers want.
This level of control and accuracy simply isn't possible with third-party cookie data. In the paper, Tom Winchell, vice president of growth here at QuickPivot, discusses why first-party data is the key to personalization. "Having reliable, first-party customer data in one place and making it accessible at any customer interaction point is how you eliminate friction, because those interactions are informed by the truest sense of who the customer is and their history with the brand.”
Learn about real-world use cases for first-party data
The whitepaper looks at four real-world use cases where first-party data has been used for basket expansion, greater life-time value, conversion improvement, and second sale amplification. In each case, the retailers used their customer data to understand exactly what their customers wanted and used that knowledge to improve the customer experience.
Shawn Phillips, chief technology officer at Heart of the Customer, a firm specializing in customer journey mapping, makes the case that the greatest missed opportunities when creating profitable customer experiences don’t come from lack of quantity of data, but from having disconnected data .
“Your customer metrics need to be separate and focused,” says Phillips in the paper. “Once that data is unified, you can use analytical models to detect churn, discern who’s stalled, who should be left behind and the next best action.”
Learn how to unlock actionable insights from your first-party data
One tool that stands out in its ability to serve up data in a way that’s easy to analyze and to gain insights from is the customer data platform. Unlike conventional data warehouses, which simply house data from multiple departments, CDPs are built specifically for marketers to unify and manage the first-party customer data that matters most to marketers, and to serve up that data in a centralized, easy-to-access way.
But not all CDPs are alike. When adding a CDP to your MarTech stack, there are five essential criteria to consider, all of which are identified and detailed in the whitepaper. The whitepaper concludes with a look at the most sought-after capabilities and desired benefits that marketers expect from a CDP, which include achieving a unified customer view, improved data analysis and customer segmentation, and improved marketing personalization.
Time is ticking down on third-party cookies, and If you’re a marketer that still relies heavily on them the time has come to start prioritizing the use of first-party data in your marketing strategy. And for expert insight into why this shift to first-party data is so beneficial, check out "The New Retail Revenue Equation: How the End of Third-Party Cookies Can Catapult Retail Profits" from Retail Dive today.
