Are you Protecting your First Party Data?

First party data is the new black in the world of data collection. It's been around for a while, but it has only become a hot topic in the MarTech industry after Google’s decision to phase out third-party cookies.

Whether you are planning to shift to a less intrusive and privacy-compliant alternative to remain competitive, or whether you already rely on first party data, this article is for you.

The Great Value of First Party Data

From targeting audiences to understanding user behavior and interests, first party data can offer your company a lot of value to harvest.

First party data provides your business with direct audience insights that are crucial to creating a personalized experience for your users, improving your retargeting strategies, and identifying patterns to predict future trends.

Thus, first party data empowers your company with complete control over how and why you collect your customers’ information. Moreover, by owning the data, businesses are able to ensure its security, fostering trust between the business and its users, which leads to a stronger relationship and increased loyalty in the long run.

That way, we could consider first party data as the purest, most accurate, secure, and most affordable data.

When First Party Data becomes a Nightmare instead of an Asset

However, even though first party data is collected from the most reliable source -your customers- we’re sorry to tell you that, if you don’t know what to do with all that information, you’ve never thought about having a reference document to understand what this data is telling from your users and customers, or you have simply never questioned the accuracy of this data, you might not be leveraging the full potential of this valuable customer behavior data.

Collecting high-quality data is a complex process where so many things can go wrong. Digital Analytics and user tracking implementations are especially prone to bugs and breakages, integrations fail easily and invisibly, and with so many teams involved in the data collection, you may not even realize until you’ve lost data and revenue.

With all this in mind, it is almost impossible to make sure that the data-driven decisions that are guiding your business rely on accurate intelligence. Indeed, it is estimated that 76% of business decision-makers don’t trust the data they have.

Therefore, while businesses seem to be on the right path with prioritizing first party data, here are 3 questions you should ask to ensure you are protecting it:

1. What first party data do I have, and how am I organizing it?

Unorganized first party data isn’t an asset; it’s a nightmare that requires a great deal of effort and time in having to maintain various spreadsheets or data repositories. However, having your data organized, accurately collected, and integrated efficiently across teams and platforms is key to managing it responsibly.

And yes, while this is easier said than done, spending most of your time on these manual activities could not be a burden anymore.

Trackingplan automatically discovers all your customers’ data points in a single source of truth where the real tracking schema of your first party data is shown. It assures that the data you are collecting has top quality, allowing your business to power intelligent, real-time decisions and personalization across all your channels.

2. What process am I following to ensure the quality of the data I am collecting?

Data is the basis of every forward-thinking enterprise, and its analysis can only be successful if the data is sound.

But as said before, with frequent development updates being made by multiple teams, silent schema changes happen and data collection processes easily break. According to DAMA (Data Management Body of Knowledge), experts believe that organizations spend between 10% - 30% of revenue on data quality issues.

Trackingplan was born to bridge the trust gap in data to ensure you are always tracking the relevant customer interactions for your business.

3. Is my first party data compliant with privacy regulations?

Even though first party data makes easier the process of staying compliant with privacy laws and regulations, the truth is that you will still need to prove that your company is ethically collecting data.

In a world where privacy is becoming a must after decades of consumer mistrust, providing consumers with clear data privacy policies and transparent terms and conditions is crucial if you don’t want them to disengage with your brand.

Not only this, but you can also face significant legal risk – particularly in light of groundbreaking consumer privacy laws such as the GDPR and the CCPA.

Trackingplan’s data quality and governance system facilitates your organization's compliance with the increasing complexity of the regulatory environment to help you establish robust data governance policies and, thus, prevent risks with noncompliance while anticipating future requirements proactively.

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When used correctly, first party data can be a goldmine for your brand. To ensure your company doesn’t fall prey to these barriers and you unlock its full potential, get started today to experience the benefits of Trackingplan first-hand.

For more information, you can always contact our team.