• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, July 9, 2021

The hot new industry term, in case you haven’t noticed, is “first-party data.” This allows brands to target customers without depending on cookies or third-party data.  

But it requires a certain capability — in the form of a customer data platform, according to The Right Data, Right Where You Need It: CDPs, First-Party Data, and the Power of Data Agility, a recent paper from Braze and Segment.  

This report, which largely celebrates Braze and Segment products, asserts that brands need data agility to engage audiences and send “personalized, high-converting emails.”

Take the case of Uno Home Loans, an online mortgage broker based in Australia.  

The company added the Braze and Segment platforms to its tech stack, and achieved a 56% average email open rate, a 47% increase in conversions and a 26% hike in opportunity completion when customer receive SMS, the study claims.

Products aside, first-party data is a privacy-friendly customer engagement tool, the report says.

Just what is first-party data? 

“Unlike third-party data, which is often collected from anonymous sources and without explicit consumer consent, first-party data is gathered by the brand itself with the awareness of the customer it speaks to,” Braze and Segment write.  

Here are the attributes of first-party data:

• Collected from users by the brands they patronize
• Gathered with explicit user consent 
• Used to power in-depth segmentation, personalization, and other customized experiences. 
• Can be compliant with GDPR and other privacy laws.

In contrast, here’s how third-party data stacks up:

• Often collected by outside parties and then sold to brands. 
• Usually gathered without consumer knowledge or consent.
• Used extensively to support AdTech activations and campaigns. 
• Often conflicts with new privacy legislation.

There are other benefits to first-party data. 

“First-party data provides information about how that customer is engaging with that brand’s digital presence, from the company’s website and mobile app to the messages they send,” the firms write. 

They add: “Sources for this kind of data can be platforms (such as a brand’s website, mobile apps, and servers) and channels (like advertising channels, email, and more).” 

Please don’t construe this as an endorsement for Braze, Segment or anyone else. But here’s is what they urge you to do when adding such tools to your tech stack::

“Every vertical and every brand has their own specific set of needs that should be reflected in their stack’s chosen solutions. But the one thing every great stack has in common is a focus on data agility.” 

This means that different parts of your stack can "talk to each other," they conclude.