What Zero-Party Data Actually Is (And Why Your Quiz Is Sitting On It)
Short summary:
Zero-party data is everywhere right now, and mostly misused to mean "data we own." This short explainer sets out the real difference between bought, observed and stated data, and why quizzes are the way of asking that puts the customer first.
Transcript:
- Zero-party data. The term is everywhere right now, and it's mostly being used to mean "data we own." But that's not what it means. Here's the actual difference.
- Third-party data is data you bought. Think a list of affluent pet owners aged 30 to 45, compiled by a broker from people who have never heard of you. You rented it, and it's going away.
- First-party data is data you observed. She looked at three pairs of running shoes. She spent four minutes on the size guide. She bought something nine months ago. You own every bit of this data, but you're guessing. She might be a runner, or she might be buying for her brother.
- Zero-party data is what she tells you on purpose. It isn't observed, it's volunteered. For example: "I have sensitive skin." Or "This is a gift." Or even "I'm buying for a dog under 10 kilos."
- That's the entire distinction: inferred versus stated. And it matters because you can't make a good recommendation on a guess, no matter how much of that guess you happen to own.
- The catch is that zero-party data only exists if someone asks for it. Nobody wakes up wanting to fill in your form. So the asking has to give something back: a good recommendation, a shorter path, or one product instead of 40.
- That's why quizzes work. Not because they collect data, but because they're the version of asking that puts the customer first.
Description:
- Third-party data is data you bought from a broker, about people who've never heard of you
- First-party data is data you observed, like page views and past orders, but it's still a guess
- Zero-party data is what customers tell you on purpose: "I have sensitive skin," "this is a gift"
- It only exists if you ask, and asking only works when the customer gets something back