The Power of First Party Data – James Alty

James Alty, MD of Apteco, led an in-depth discussion about how you should be using your first-party data to greatest effect. James is an expert in his field and talked about how, as marketers, we have so much data at our fingertips, but have a responsibility to use it, not just profitably, but also with care and respect.

So what did we learn?

• First party data is the most valuable data you have, as you’ve collected it directly from the customer. But don’t think that you need a customer name for first party data. You may have anonymous data (eg device data) that you have no name for, but you have a great picture of what they are interested in, what times they browse and other key indicators. So you can still send targeted, personalised messages, even without a name.
• Use your first party data to hyper-personalise your messaging – aim for 1-2-1 communications that are meaningful and relevant. But, at the same time, don’t over-do it. Too much personalisation gets creepy and you don’t want to come across as a stalker.
• Create customer segments to understand their relative value. But go beyond that and use the data to monitor movement between segments – and then learn to predict it, to nurture your customers and prevent attrition.
• Automate your processes wherever you can. You’ll never have the resource to manually process all that data and deliver the campaigns that you need. So research your martech and make sure it fits your needs.
• Understand your privacy policy and permissions. Your data has limited use if you haven’t collected it in line with data protection regulations, or you don’t have appropriate permissions for the customers, whether that’s consent, legitimate interest or some other basis. So understand your own privacy policy, fine tune it and make sure you’re not breaking the rules.
• Use AI to improve your customer understanding and innovate your campaigns. AI is far more than using ChatGPT to write your copy. If you use the right tools, you can use it  to understand your customers and create new strategies. But not all AIs are the same and they won’t all handle your data and crunch the numbers reliably.  And remember to check, check and check the output again.

”You need to think of AI like an intern. Super enthusiastic, very helpful. Always there, but sometimes gets things wrong.”

Want to know more about first party data, how to extract the maximum value from it and the martech you need to make it all happen?

Drop us a line at R-cubed and let’s talk.