The Scramble for First-Party Data- Is it worth it?

''Customer Centricity’’ has always been one of the cornerstones of marketing for ages and will continue to be so at all times. While brands had been harping on this concept all this while and claimed that this is built into their processes, structures, tools, approaches, and their culture but somehow the glaring gaps are evident now when the cookies are crumbling. Many of them are scrambling towards collecting or thinking of collecting 1st Party Data of their customers (hope they know what to do with it instead of being part of the herd mentality of just ‘’collecting’’ them).

If you don’t have your customers’ data, it shows you don’t have the best or real information about your own customers and if you don’t have them, you don’t have the best insights about them and if you lack customer insights then you lack the basics of building customer centricity as part of your organizational culture. But customers' data does not only imply first Party data or PII data. PII data can be a means to understanding your customers but not an end in itself. I see many brands frantically looking for ways to collect or even purchase PII data and I would call it a short-sightedness, immature, and ad-hoc attempt to embark on a path of customer-centricity as a way to prepare for the upcoming cookie-less future.

LOOK BEYOND!

KYC- ‘’Know your Customers’’- Suddenly seems so relevant now. But it is equally important to build customer trust and privacy because today ‘’Privacy’’ is no longer a privilege but a ‘Right’’. The sudden rush towards this also symbolizes that no systems were ever created in getting the first-hand information of your own customers. Brands were dependent on third-party cookies even if they were unreliable and an entire ecosystem of digital advertising was built around these. The era is coming to an end and I feel it is for the better. Better for Brands! Better for Customers! Brands will have to get 'Real'! Customers were always 'Real' just that they were put behind the facade named ''Cookies''. If we are beginning to talk about the ''Real Identity'' of customers now, did we have a pseudo understanding of them till now?

Cookies were always unstable, non-transparent, non-Persistent, non-Interoperable and above all, they never bought your products or services. Instead of running helter-skelter to collect first-party data, start building direct and real relationships with your customers and don’t depend on cookies and I would also say not to depend on ‘’Device IDs’’ either. We will be making the same mistake again ( I feel even Device IDs are not privacy complaint and will soon meet the same fate as the cookies). The sooner brands focus on saying ‘’hello’’ directly to their customers, the better it is. Start collecting ‘’Zero Party Data’’, instead.

Brands should start to appear ‘’Responsible’’ to their customers, build empathy and trust to carve a privacy-conscious approach to ‘’Customer Centricity’’ before you even think of collecting their data. If done right, data will start coming to you on their own. Please don't get me wrong as I know that there are many factors that shape ''Customer Centricity'' and this is not the only one but I believe this is an important constituent of the same and impacts other factors too. Many of them are also interdependent.

Having said that, let me also state that there are many brands that have done a phenomenal job at this. 'First-Party Data (1PD) and ''Cookie-less''- I feel are two independent topics. 1PD was always important but never got the due credit till we saw cookies crumbling. Advertisers need to focus on 1PD irrespective of whether the world is going cookie-less or not. It's sad but true that some of us have wasted almost two decades and have just come out of our slumber. The reality is that it is still not late provided we ''DO IT RIGHT'' at least this time. Please stop seeing your customers as just ''Mobile numbers'' and ''Email IDs''.

Say ‘’HELLO’’ to your customers now and build a 1:1 relationship!

Anil Pandit

Other Article:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/transition-zero-party-datazpd-focus-value-exchange-anil-pandit/

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the company he is employed in.)