Using First-Party Data to Capture Sales This Holiday Season

The holiday season is around the corner. For retailers, the holiday season provides an opportunity to push sales, boost profit margins, and connect with customers in a meaningful way. E-commerce brands have the added benefit of first-party data to capture sales this holiday season — and here’s how it works!

Understanding 1st Party Data

First-party data is information that a company gathers directly from its customers and audience, giving the company full ownership of data.

These data sources may include customers, newsletter subscribers, website visitors, and social media followers.

In comparison, second-party and third-party data are gathered from an external source outside of the company.

For example, second-party data relies on a brand partnership to gain insights and third-party data is from an external provider that is not directly connected to your audience (decreasing relevance).

Benefits and Uses of First-Party Data

The data captured from online traffic offers many benefits that can help online stores in the near and distant future. As a reliable source of information, first-party data helps a brand develop a deep understanding of its audience, including their purchasing triggers, spending habits, and online behavior.

Consider the following benefits of first-party data;

1. Reduce the cost of accessing data from an external source
2. Increase accuracy, reliability, and relevance of data
3. Ensure user privacy and data protection
4. Build trust with consumers by receiving consent for data acquisition
5. Ability to control data and segment audience
6. Build stronger B2C (and B2B) campaigns
7. Create personalized and targeted campaigns

During the holiday season, customers are intentional about spending, making this data especially useful. Instead of simply browsing online stores and making impulse purchases, customers are actively looking for Christmas gifts, end-of-year mementos, and party decorations — with the intention to buy.

Consider that online shopping figures reached a record spend of over $204 billion at the end of the 2021 holiday season. Implementing a robust online marketing strategy helps online stores target advertisements, capture audience attention, drive traffic, and boost sales.

With an increase in online traffic during the holiday season, retailers benefit from collecting first-party data even more than usual. Taking advantage of the holiday traffic and the increased insights on gift-purchasing behavior boosts the above benefits.

How to Collect First-Party Data

Various tools are used to collect customer data from an online audience.

Traditionally, businesses collect first-party data from email lists, loyalty programs, website analytics tools, social media analytics, and customer feedback.

The holiday season offers more opportunities to collect data and implement insights into your social media advertising marketing mix. The sooner that a brand studies the insights, the more opportunity for targeting future customers effectively.

Some effective methods to collect first-party data include;

1. Send a post-purchase survey directly after the sale
2. Circulate regular customer questionnaires for ideas on how to improve
3. Introduce loyalty programs to target return shoppers
4. Create product recommendation quizzes to dive deeper into understanding your customer’s behavior
5. Incentivize customers to share their data with tiered discounts
6. Offer customers the opportunity to curate personalized wishlists
7. Gather customer data by offering early access to anticipated products and back-in-stock bestsellers
8. Invest in a party tracking app on Shopify

The more data, the merrier — especially during the festive season.

Reduce the amount of manual labor needed to gather data by investing in a 1st-party tracking app that syncs with Facebook ads, Tiktok ads, and your Shopify stores. TrackifyX boosts your ROI by offering in-depth insights on customer data based on advertising analytics.

Best Practices for Using First-Party Data

There are a few steps to consider before you hear the cash register ring. Here are some tips on preparing to gather first-party data and how to make the most of it.

Remain compliant

Every time that a customer provides personal information, they are demonstrating trust in a brand.

Brands must research compliance requirements and build a relevant data management policy. Consumer awareness of data capture measures is increasing, and extra effort is needed to convince customers that their data is secure.

Businesses must consider the location of their brand and customers, and ensure that regional data regulations are followed. For example, Europe demands that the GDPR is implemented, while certain states in America have implemented privacy and data protection acts.

Express gratitude for customer trust

Considering how customer data can be abused, it’s no wonder that customers are becoming increasingly aware of privacy regulations and customizing their cookie preferences. When a customer trusts your brand with their information, it’s important to show appreciation.

Express gratitude through a loyalty program, sending a thank-you email, or offering a discount on purchases. Customers are more likely to remain loyal when they feel valued.

Create personalized, targeted campaigns

A recent report from McKinsey & Company revealed that 71% of customers expect personalized interactions from brands. In addition, 76% get frustrated when they don’t receive a personalized experience.

Trends show that customers are willing to offer data in exchange for a personalized experience, as long as their data is respected and used wisely. During the holiday season, personalized data can be used to retarget existing customers by sending real-time offers and deals based on unique insights.

Data also helps create segmented audience groups to run targeted campaigns. Access to certain data and demographics enables brands to target specific products. For example, if a shopper lives within a cold region, then it’s strategic to push warm clothing items. If a consumer identifies as female, then the brand will get a higher ROI by advertising feminine jewelry items.

Prepare for demand

It’s not unusual for businesses to experience supply chain issues during the holiday season, with a high number of returns and out-of-stock warnings.

Analyzing customer data helps businesses prepare for the sale of popular items and ensure that they are fully stocked during the busiest time of the year.

Use TrackifyX This Holiday Season

TrackifyX helps businesses prepare for the holiday season by tracking first-party data on Shopify. With simple Pixel integration, easy synchronization with social media catalogs, the opportunity to build custom and lookalike audiences, and increasing conversions with custom DPA features — TrackifyX makes it easy to leverage first-party tracking data.

Are you ready to get started? Add TrackifyX to your Shopify store today and start gathering first-party data from TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.

Start Your Free 7-Day Trial Today!

‍