As the digital marketing landscape continues to change, first-party data has become increasingly more important to advertisers everywhere. Read on to learn more about first-party data’s importance and why it should be a part of every advertiser’s marketing strategy.
Deciding on a target audience is a crucial first step towards making sure you are reaching the right user, at the right time, with the right messaging. The old scattershot methodology of targeting everyone and hoping the right user comes along to convert is long gone; advertisers are now taking a deeper look into who their target audiences are, and gleaning insights through the use and collection of first-party data.
First-party data, simply put, is data that is collected directly by an advertiser, whether it be through placing pixels on their site, collecting names and emails from those signing up for newsletters, or collecting information from users who have made purchases. Once collected, this data can be uploaded or transferred to Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs), anonymized, and used to target those users or similar users based on lookalike modeling. For example, sending a coupon to a user who added an item to their cart but did not purchase it, sending a promotional email out to someone who signed up for a newsletter but hadn’t browsed the site, or targeting users who already made a purchase with a loyalty discount, thanking them for their purchase. These users have shown some interest in the advertiser, which is an important signal in engaging mid and low funnel users who are more likely to convert.
To activate on this powerful data, plugging into a DSP will offer advertisers a multitude of options, including, but not limited to:
- Targeting those existing consumers with more specific messaging, offering return discounts and/or special loyalty messaging
- The ability to build look-a-like models off of this first-party data, allowing retailers to build a profile of users who look like their customers, who are more likely to perform the same action on their site
- Creating relevancy scores against third-party audiences, which unlocks even more potential users with the same exhibited behaviors as your customer set, and a new targeting strategy to test
In this way, first-party data allows advertisers to continuously learn more about who their audiences are, continuously calibrating their media dollars to drive their business outcomes.
To learn more on this important subject and the future of first-party data and addressability, reach out to your Ventura team – we are happy to help and discuss your marketing strategies!
