First-party data
This type of data is the kind your own company collects directly from its most valuable source: its current customer base.

First-party data is obtained through consumer engagement, such as newsletter subscriptions or sales, and is therefore highly relevant to the brand that obtains it.

It results in highly targeted campaigns and sales, if used properly.

For example, consider a supermarket that has exclusive and comprehensive insights into what a specific consumer is buying or which addresses after home delivery. First-hand data can provide extremely valuable insights into the behavior of current and potential customers.

It is essentially free, because once it is collected, it lasts a lifetime. However, there is only a limited amount of your own data that you can collect, so you cannot handle large amounts of new customers and sales.

On average, companies need to replace about 10% of their customer base for a variety of reasons, which could be customers moving, customers finding new solutions with competitors, or customers no longer needing a particular product or service.

To solve the scalability problem with first-party data, companies often end up turning to third-party vendors.

 

Third-party data suppliers

A broker who obtains his data from different sources collects data from third parties. The data is aggregated through various external platforms and websites and provided by numerous sources. Consider database owners who have collected large amounts of data over a long period of time.

It is really not advisable to not follow up with prospects and customers right away. Because most sales are made when the lead is still warm, not when they are cooling off and getting cold.

This solution is great for low cost leads, when prices per 1,000 prospects range from 50 cents to $5.

Starting in the 2010s, a newcomer appeared: Second-Party Data.

 

Third-Party Data

Third-party data allows marketers to select the data sources they find most relevant. Instead of asking a third-party to provide an audience, marketers can go directly to companies they know have the most relevant data missing from their first-party data store and ask them to collaborate and share data.

Second-party data creates a collaborative relationship that can already exist (a brand already sells through a retailer) or be entirely new (no clearly defined relationship yet), creating a new means of ad revenue and increased brand awareness, both on desktop and mobile.

Let’s introduce an entirely new variant of second-party data: Lead Generation.

The big advantage over third-party data is that the data and segmentation is done for you and your company and is completely fresh. You do not have to dust off old databases or share your valuable first-party data with others. But hot leads that are generated in real time and come directly from a partner who collects their data with your company’s needs as a priority. This new method enables volumes that rival those of third parties, and an unprecedented delivery of new customers in real time, exactly when, where and from whom you need them. Because you work with a range of companies through your provider, costs stay low while you reap all the benefits.

 

You can make a deal with a specific publisher, through your data management platform or elsewhere, to offer specific data points, audiences or hierarchies to that other company. The terms of the sale are predetermined by both parties, and this sharing of high-quality first-party data gives you access to a wide range of non-prevalent audiences that you might not have been able to reach before.

 

Obviously, not all data is created equal. Regardless of whether you choose to use first-, second- or third-party data, the important thing is to understand the difference between the data sets available to you and how they are unique. Data-driven marketing campaigns are useless or non-existent without the data to execute them, but fortunately there is an almost unlimited amount of data available for marketing campaigns.