Collect data

Zero party data: what it is and how to collect it

by Audrey Edart | Apr 14, 2025 | Collect data, Collect data, Know your audience, Lead gen strategy

At a time when personal data is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to collect, the importance of zero party data is becoming undeniable.

In this article, we explain the differences between first and second party data. We also share their role in your marketing strategy and the most effective ways of collecting and activating them.

SUMMARY

What is Zero Party data?
Zero-party data vs first party data and second-party data
How can brands use Zero-Party data?
What are the best ways to collect zero-party data?
The challenges of zero party data

What is Zero Party data?

Zero party data is information that comes directly from consumers. Consumers voluntarily share personal data (such as contact details or purchasing preferences) with companies.

Zero-party data can be considered the least intrusive form of data collection. En effet, les utilisateurs donnent explicitement leur consentement en les partageant directement aux organisations. Mais ce sont aussi des informations précieuses, prélevées directement à la source.

Some people consider zero-party data to be conversational data. This is all the information that a brand could learn about its customers by talking to them about their background, their purchasing history, their preferences, etc.

By engaging in this type of dialogue with their audiencebrands create a stronger bond with consumers. They are also better able to enhance their customers’ opinions by offering them a better shopping experience and a more relevant offer.

Why is Zero Party data so important?

Marketing based on zero party data is automatically more personalised and effective than marketing based on data that does not come directly from the main stakeholders.

But beyond these considerations about the quality and reliability of the data collected, companies will soon have few alternatives to zero-party data.

The collection of third-party data, in particular via cookies, is set to disappear. European legislation is increasingly restrictive in terms of confidentiality and respect for consumer privacy. But operating systems, including Apple and Google, also significantly restrict companies’ access to user data.

To give just one example, Apple no longer allows data aggregators and social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to collect data on iPhones and iPads. Or ces derniers représentent environ 60 % des appareils mobiles utilisés aujourd’hui.

Zero-party data vs first party data and second-party data

To fully understand the specific nature of zero-party data, it is also important to compare it with other types of data.

Zero-party data can be distinguished from :

First-party data

There is often a tendency to confuse the two, as zero-party data has long been considered a subset of first-party data. However, it is now considered that first-party data is that which a company collects via a user’s standard interactions with its website, application or online payment module.

The difference also lies in whether the information shared is compulsory (e.g. address in the purchasing process) or optional (for zero parties).

When a customer fills in their address when completing a purchasethis is first-party data. But if the company sends out a post-purchase feedback form asking customers whether they enjoyed their experience, this is zero-party data.

Second-party data

Second-party data is another company’s first-party data, which it has resold to other organisations. In the best-case scenario, this information comes from a partner:

relevant (whose audience is similar to that of the company that purchased them)
and trust (to ensure they are accurate and of high quality).

This data source therefore helps to make up for a lack of information. It may be of interest to brands that have just launched or that want to conquer a new market. However, it comes at a price, requiring greater vigilance (to ensure compliance with the RGPD). Not to mention the fact that they will never be as reliable or as relevant as zero or first-party data.

How can brands use Zero-Party data?

There are many ways in which e-commerce and retail brands can exploit zero party data. Here are just a few examples:

Propose more relevant content by finding out about the buying intentions and problems faced by prospects;
Create personalised emailing flows to activate your prospects by sending them offers that match their interests;
Understand what type of product/service/feature is of most interest to your audience and use this information to guide future innovations;
Adapting your online or in-store experience based on the friction encountered by consumers. For example, a company may realise from its post-purchase form that delivery conditions are not clearly enough indicated during the ordering process. By adapting its payment form (for example, by adding this information at the first stage), it will be able to increase its conversion rate.

What are the best ways to collect zero-party data?

While zero party data is extremely valuable for businesses, it still has to be collected. The challenge is to diversify its collection channels depending on the type of information you want to obtain. But also to make the experience as pleasant and beneficial as possible for the consumer.

The quiz : this fun format enables companies to gather detailed information about their customers’ expectations. For example, a beauty brand can offer a quiz to all its new visitors to diagnose their needs and guide them towards products suited to their skin type;
Chatbots: conversational pop-ups enable brands to talk to their customers, offer them advice or inform them of any promotions they may be taking advantage of;
Post-purchase surveys : sent in the order confirmation email, these forms are particularly useful for improving the customer experience. They can also enable the company to suggest more relevant additional sales. By making them attractive with a post-purchase game, brands can also hope for a better conversion rate.
Polls on social networks: A simple and effective format for asking customers for their opinion. Polls are particularly effective on Twitter and Instagram, where they can be used to generate 20-40% engagement.
Competitions : brands can also engage their community by offering them the chance to take part in a competition. To enter the competition and hope to win a gift or discount, players will need to enter their personal details;
Marketing games. Certain Playable Marketing mechanisms (such as the battle, the gift finder or the swiper) can themselves be used to collect zero party data. By having to choose between two products/inspirations, consumers will tell the company what their preferences are.

The challenges of zero party data

Zero party data represents the future of data collection. But it also presents challenges.

One of the biggest challenges of zero party data is balancing personalisation and confidentiality. Companies must therefore ensure that they only ask for relevant information if they do not want to be seen as intrusive.

Attention should also be paid to addressing the issue of data security. It is crucial to put in place solid measures to protect your customers’ data from any cybersecurity breach (via encryption or the use of robust storage methods).

Finally, the question of veracity arises even with zero-party data. Even if it comes directly from customers, 36% of marketing specialists are concerned about their accuracy. To overcome this doubt, the solution is to offer an incentive whose value depends on the accuracy of the information shared.

For example, the more honest a customer is about their preferences or needs, the more likely the brand will be able to make relevant product recommendations. There are also tools that can be used to check emails and postal addresses to ensure that valid data is being collected.

Collecting zero party data means increasing the number of interactions with your audience. To make it easier for you to communicate with your customers, rely on our Playable marketing mechanisms to make sharing information more fun and engaging!

In 30 minutes, we show you how to launch your own high-performance interactive marketing campaign

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Cookieless: how can marketing rise to the challenge?

by Audrey Edart | Apr 14, 2025 | Collect data, Lead gen strategy

At the dawn of the cookieless era, the digital marketing landscape is undergoing a radical transformation. Growing concerns about privacy and changing regulations have prompted industry players to rethink their data collection and advertising strategies. So this is the perfect opportunity to revolutionise your digital marketing!

In this context, several approaches are emerging: contextual targeting and semantic targeting. At the same time, Google’s evolution, with the end of third-party cookies and the introduction of the Privacy Sandbox, offers a new path for privacy-friendly digital marketing.

It’s not easy to find your way around this new cookieless era, which is why we’ve brought together the most relevant schemes to help you see things more clearly, in our article!

SUMMARY

Google and the end of third-party cookies
Targeted data: The future cookieless through segmentation
Beyond third-party cookies: the power of first-party data
Conclusion

Google and the end of third party cookies

Google has announced the end of thris-party cookies in its browser by 2024, causing an earthquake in digital marketing. The decision follows a growing awareness of privacy concerns and the collection of users’ personal data.

However, Google is not leaving advertisers in the lurch and is offering an alternative called Google Privacy Sandbox!

Privacy Sandbox: Google’s answer to the cookieless world

The end of third-party cookies means that advertisers will no longer be able to directly track users across different websites to target their ads. However, Google’s Privacy Sandbox introduces privacy-based targeting techniques that preserve users’ anonymity while allowing them to deliver targeted advertising.

Google’s Privacy Sandbox is based on the use of techniques for processing data on the user’s device, rather than sending it to remote servers. These approaches, which focus on confidentiality and the protection of user data, mark an important turning point in the online marketing industry.

However, marketers will have to adapt to these new segmentation methods, which focus more on the context and aggregate users’ behavior, rather than on individual data.

After years of relying on thirs-party cookies provided by Chrome, cookieless marketing is proving to be a real challenge!

Yet this is a real opportunity to do digital marketing differently, while respecting users’ privacy rights and guaranteering a secure online experience.

SSO: a solution form the cookieless world

In today’s digital world, Single Sign-On (SSO) is emerging as an effective solution for simplifying the user experience while strengthening data security.

SSO allows users to access multiple applications and websites using a single set of login credentials. This approach reduces the need to remember multiple passwords, making life much easier for users.

From a marketing perspective, SSO also offers new opportunities to help you optimise your advertising campaigns and understand the behavior of your users.

With SSO, users can voluntarily share their credentials with thirs-party platforms, providing access to valuable demographic and behavioral data.

By using this information, you can personalise your advertising according to users’ preferences nd interests, creating more relevant and attractive messages!

targeted data: the future cookieless through segmentation

In the cookieless era, where user privacy has become a major concern, contextual targeting and semantic targeting enable data to be segmented by analysing the content of a web page and the associated keywords. This method is making a comeback in response to the disappearance of thirs-pary cookies.

Contextual targeting

Contextual targeting focuses on the content of a web page and the contextual information that surrounds it.

By analysing the keywords, themes and general context of a page, you can place your adverts in a relevant way, ensuring that they reach an audience with an affinity with the page’s content.

This approach enables companies to maintain a degree of advertising effectiveness while respecting users’ privacy concerns, as no personal data is required for targeting. This makes it an indispensable strategy today.

Semantic targeting

Semantic targeting takes into account the meaning and intent of the words used in online content. Thanks to sophisticated machine learning algorithms, you can analyse the semantic context of a text and understand the nuances and associations between the words used.

This enables advertisers to target their advertising based on key concepts and users’ search intentions, rather than relying solely on cookies and personal data.

In this way, semantic targeting offers a more subtle and precise approach to reaching users interested in a specific subject, while preserving the confidentiality of their data.

Beyond third-party cookies: the power of first-party data

As restrictions on thirs-party cookie increase, advertisers need to rethink their data collection strategies to continue to target their audiences effectively. This is where the collection of first-party data takes on its full meaning.

By focusing on information provided directly by users, you can build a relationship of trust and obtain valuable data for personalising the user experience. First-party data collection offers a clear advantage, as it is based on consent and provides a better understanding of consumer preferences, behaviors and needs.

First-party data collection is therefore an essential strategy in this cookieless environment, enabling you to continue to collect valuable data directly from users, while strengthening your relationship with them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the advent of the cookieless world has propelled online marketing into an era of change and adaptation.

Contextual targeting and semantic targeting offer alternative approaches to reaching consumers without the use of third-party cookies, by focusing on the relevance of content and the meaning of words.

Google’s initiative to put an end to third-party cookies and the introduction of the Privacy Sandbox offer you new opportunities to deliver targeted advertising while preserving the confidentiality of your users.

However, it is crucial that these developments are accompanied by an ethical approach that respects privacy. Not only to comply with the new regulations, but also to strengthen the bond with its consumers.

You’re now ready for the cookieless era! Now it’s up to you to revolutionise your digital marketing strategy.

User Generated Content: how can it enhance your marketing strategy?

by Audrey Edart | Apr 14, 2025 | Collect data, Lead gen strategy

Developments in technology and usage have largely transformed the way brands address their prospects and customers. Using product-oriented content or content influenced by end-consumers (user generated content) for content marketing is a strategy that is highly appreciated by brands.
Here are some best practices for optimising this new marketing lever tjat is UGC.

SUMMARY

Create optimum conditions for publication and distribution
Get your community interested
Vary the level of commitment
Exploit the data collected

Create optimum conditions for publication and distribution

Blogs, forums, social networks, photo and video sharing platforms… user-generated content is disseminated across a wide range of media. Gather your community around a multi-channel marketing campaign and manage all the content published by your users to take full advantage of this strategic communication channel for your brand!

Get your community interested

Consumers are all too often exposed to advertising messages that interrupt their daily lives. Capture your audience’s attention with a fun, interactive game. Put the user experience back at the heart of your strategy to encourage them to produce high value-added content about your brand. It’s the ideal way to encourage interactivity and increase your appeal!

Vary the level of commitment

Encourage your community to create User Generated Content, share ideas and opinions, or spread your content on their favourite social networks. DIY, photos, text or video… Appeal to their creativity and boost their involvement! Using games on a regular basis allows you to maintain a relationship with your users and gain in authenticity.

Exploit the data collected

Benefit from the richness and diversity of the content produced by your users to assess the awareness of your products and deepen your customer knowledge. Analyse the frequency and visibility of publications to identify your community’s influencers and interactions. Promote those who play the game and turn these customers and prospects into brand ambassadors!

Gamification, the driving force behind successful marketing campaigns

by Agnes Constant | Apr 14, 2025 | Audience engagement, Collect data, Engagement

Gamification marketing means creating interactive experiences to capture the attention of audiences, collect data and activate it.

Today, brands are seeking innovative marketing solutions that can address new challenges, especially in a context where advertising needs to reinvent itself (end of third-party cookies). Gamification is one of the tools available to marketing teams to communicate differently.

Let’s find out in more detail how gamification can become the driving force behind the success of your next marketing campaigns.

What exactly is gamification marketing

This technique involves integrating game elements into an overall marketing strategy, with a view to increasing consumer engagement and boosting sales. Brands create interactive and playful experiences for their customers. By interacting with the content, they remember them more easily.

To understand gamification in very concrete terms, let’s take the example of a game. Let’s imagine an advertisement for a pen. In a traditional advertisement, the brand simply displays a photo of the pen. The pen is highlighted by a colorful and attractive design. In a gamified ad, the pen invites web users to play a game of tic-tac-toe. By clicking on a button, they are immersed in an interactive experience with the product. If they succeed in the game, they can win a discount voucher to buy the product.

There are many different competition game mechanics. There are gauges, scores, league tables, instant wins, countdowns, scratch-offs, casino games, quizzes and polls, and so on. These fun and creative animations can be adapted ad infinitum according to the objectives of the brands and the knowledge of their audience.

We will now look at the benefits of gamification for advertising strategies.

The 4 benefits of marketing gamification

Catch the attention and getting to be known

The first challenge for brands is to stand out from the competition. The aim is to increase visibility and brand awareness, attract new customers, introduce a new product, etc.

With online games and challenges integrated into the advertising device, visitors pay much more attention to the message. A customer who has a fun and enjoyable experience on a site will remember the brand longer. This can go far as to create an emotional bond, influencing the decision to buy.

As far as events are concerned (whether on social networks, a website or a newsletter), recurring high points such as Christmas, Easter, etc, help to reach a wide audience. Audiences are brought together in a festive atmosphere that encourages play. The brand can also create its own highlights (brand anniversary, organised event, trade fair, etc.).

Engaging audiences

It’s undeniable that audience engagement is greater when content is interactive. The reason is simple. Games offer a fun action that attracts the visitor’s attention before asking them for specific information of action. For example, giving their contact details, installing an app, or giving their opinion in a survey. This is the first step in establishing a brand-consumer relationship.

Interactive games can be used to encourage users to explore a company’s products and services, for mechanics that highlight the features or benefits of the products (quizzes, shopping lists, etc.).

They are also engaging in terms of the time spent with the brand, thanks to mechanisms that capitalise on the spirit of competition (score-based games, gauges, etc.). Finally, the appeal of a gift or promotion revealed at the end of the campaign can generate massive number of new leads.

In the example below, Leroy Merlin launched an operation to survey its audiences about their ranges, while recruiting new leads. In total, over 3.5 million clicks and opinions were collected.

Boost conversions

Interactive games are also an excellent way of boosting conversions, through the distribution of attractive discounts. These prizes are offered as part of a 100% winning scheme, where each participant automatically receives a voucher. Brands can also offer gift vouchers in exchange for proof of purchase. This encourages customers to buy more products by playing the campaign again.

As well as driving participants to the website for immediate consumption, these game campaigns can also support a period of in-store promotions. Consumers are encouraged to buy more products to increase their chances of winning the reward.

Finally, thanks to the installation of conversion pixels, it is possible to directly measure the sales generated by a game campaign. This feature is particularly useful for brands that want to closely monitor the results of their campaign and evaluate its effectiveness.

Collecting and activating data

By using interactive games as part of their marketing strategy, brands can collect data on consumer preferences and buying habits. This data on existing and potential customers enriches their CRM database. This in-depth knowledge of customers enable brands to personalise their communications. Loyalty programs, for example, offer rewards for repeat purchases. This encourages customers to remain loyal to the brand and buy more products.

In addition, the data collected can also help brands to recruit new leads and acquire new customers. The information collected via interactive games can be used to create more effective and better targeted advertising campaigns. Brands can also use this data to create programmatic lookalike audiences to expand their base of qualified prospects.

By using this information to improve their product and service offering, brands can increase their conversion rate and sales while strengthening their relationship with consumers.

Conclusion

In short, gamification is a powerful marketing strategy for stimulating customer engagement, generating leads and collecting qualified data. Brands that choose to integrate interactive games into their marketing strategy enjoy a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace.

A tool like Adictiz, for example, enables you to create and distribute these interactive formats, give them media coverage, manage data collection and integration into your CRM, and finally activate the data. Relying on a comprehensive platform for launching gamified campaigns means making the choice of performance, with formats tailored to each message.

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What is first-party data?

by Audrey Edart | Apr 14, 2025 | Collect data, Conversion

If you’re looking to collect valuable and reliable data, or are curious to find out more about first party data, then you’ve come to the right place. Find out how it can be useful to businesses and its crucial role in the world of modern marketing.

SUMMARY

What is first-party data?
The role of first-party data
The different uses of first-party data
Conclusion

What is first-party data?

This data is collected from customers whenever they interact with a brand. By buying products or signing up to a loyalty program, for example. This information can be used to improve the customer experience on the merchant site or to send personalised offers to a database. It may include information such as name, age, telephone number or e-mail address.

Considered to be the most reliable source of data, the collection of first-party data is a highly prized objective for marketing teams.

Description of the data collection process

Collecting data, although systematic in marketing, is not trivial. We’re talking about sensitive information, but it’s also a commercial issue for companies.

The first step is to identify the data the company needs. This could be information about the location of their prospects and customers, or their age.

Once the needs have been identified, the format for collecting the information needs to be chosen. This can be a form or a survey.

First party data in digital marketing

La stratégie de collecte de données est devenue banale pour les marketeurs. En effet, le secteur du digital a pris une ampleur considérable ces dernières années et quelques abus ont été reportés.

Respecter de la vie privée est un sujet qui touche de plus en plus d’utilisateurs. Ces derniers sont de plus en plus exigeants quant à l’utilisation de leurs données, ce qui explique la restriction récente concernant les cookies tiers sur divers navigateurs. Google a annoncé la fin de ces cookies face à la méfiance croissante des internautes. Il est donc urgent pour les marketeurs de trouver de nouvelles solutions plus respectueuses de la confidentialité des données, mais aussi de l’environnement.

C’est pourquoi les données dites first party constituent un réel atout pour les marketeurs.

A valuable source of data

First-party data is a data collection strategy that is now very popular in digital marketing. Why ? Simply because information submitted voluntarily is qualifying data.

Thanks to customisable forms, it is possible to collect the data that brands need. Whether it’s to generate leads or to get to know your customer base better, first-party data is a valuable source of data. Collected transparently, it contains valuable and reliable information.

The role of first-party data

A stronger relationship with the customer

Getting to know your customers is the key to forging closer links and building loyalty. Offering personalised content or offers is what today’s users expect.

Participating in campaigns and voluntarily filling in information on a form provides a transparent data collection solution.

A more effective way of prospecting

Collecting first-party data enables companies to better understand their customers’ needs and preferences. However, this strategy can also identify the prospects most likely to become customers of the brand. Based on online behaviour and purchase history, companies can create target audiences for subsequent conversion. Offering personalised offers and getting prospects to spend time with the brand can make all the difference.

Better control of customer relations

First-party data collection has the advantage of being both reliable and transparent. Thanks to this strategy, companies can capture their customers’ intentions as well as any relevant information. This makes it possible to propose personalised content or offers and respond to potential customer needs. It’s an ideal way of improving the relationship between the company and its customers.

The different uses of first-party data

First party data is a powerful tool for companies and brands to better understand and target their customers. First party data can be collected from a wide range of sources, including websites, mobile applications and social networks. It is a source of data that companies can collect, analyse and exploit. This makes it easier for them to improve their products or services, their advertising campaigns and their marketing strategy. The Swiss army knife of data can be adapted to any situation!

First party data, very useful for your marketing team

First party data has become an indispensable tool for marketing teams. Data collection helps marketers to better understand customer journeys, discover the most effective communication channels and identify weak points in the customer experience. This enables marketing teams to implement more effective and profitable campaigns, while improving the overall customer experience.

This strategy is also effective for identifying market trends and preparing future collections or campaigns.

Analysing customer behaviour

En collectant les informations données volontairement par les utilisateurs, il est possible de créer des profils clients détaillés pour analyser des comportements d’achats. Les données first party incluent des informations sur les achats passés, les paniers composés sur le site marchand ou encore les commentaires laissés sur le site.

Gràace à l’utilisation de ces données, c’est une conversation qui a lieu entre l’entreprise et sa clientèle. Les clients vous parlent et s’ils sont écoutés, vous pourrez alors les fidéliser et vous assurer que vos actions marketing soient efficaces.

Easier to improve conversion rates

Improving conversion rates is a real challenge for businesses. By using first-party data, you can distribute targeted offers to trigger purchases. Thanks to the valuable information collected upstream, you can respond to customers’ real needs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, gearing your strategy towards the collection of first-party data allows you to develop an ethical and more transparent approach. It is essential to listen to users’ concerns, while taking into account the changes on the horizon in terms of digital marketing.

This will enable companies to strengthen customer relations by learning about their preferences and purchasing intentions. What’s more, personalising offers and improving the customer experience will only improve the conversion rate!

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A complete guide to Data Collection: strategies, tools and best practices

by Agnes Constant | Mar 25, 2025 | Collect data, Lead gen strategy

Data collection has become a crucial resource for brands, offering a powerful lever for personalising experiences and optimising campaigns. This guide will help you to understand the challenges of data, even without technical expertise, and to use it to boost your company’s performance.

SUMMARY

6 reasons for data collection
What are the different types of customer data?
Which data collection method should you choose?
Playable Marketing to optimise customer data collection: the example of Leroy Merlin

6 reasons for data collection

Brands can’t navigate by sight. To make the right decisions and above all refine their strategy to remain competitive, they need to understand who they are talking to and what their audience wants. The data enables them to refine their customer knowledge and gain better visibility of their operations.

So why collect data at all?

1. Getting to know your customers better

Data enables brands to identify the expectations, behaviours and preferences of their customers. By understanding their buying habits, interests and online journeys, they can refine their strategies and improve their offering.

Example: A retailer can analyse its customers’ purchasing history to identify their favourite styles. Based on these insights, it can send them recommendations. This is what Legrand did with its campaign for the Céliane brand. Thanks to the interactive mechanism Swiper, Legrand was able to collect more than 115,000 customer preferences.

Legrand - Celiane game - data collection

2. Optimising your marketing campaigns

Using the customer data collected, a brand can precisely target its customers and optimise the ROI of its campaigns. By analysing behaviour, the right messages can be delivered to the right people, at the right time and in the right place.

Example: By tracking the pages visited and the products added to the shopping basket on its site, the retailer can better retarget each of its visitors with personalised advertising.

3. Improving the customer experience

A brand that makes good use of its data can offer a smooth, intuitive and enjoyable shopping experience. Thanks to the data collected on its e-commerce site or its application, it can identify friction points in the customer journey and adjust its experience (by simplifying the checkout process).

Example: An e-commerce company can analyse customer reviews to understand the main frustrations. In response, it can set up a chatbot capable of providing answers to the most frequently asked questions and thus improve its product sheets by including more details.

4. Customise offers and promotions

Rather than sending the same promotions to their customers, brands can use data to propose personalised offers based on consumers’ habits and preferences. These incentives increase loyalty and encourage customers to return.

Example: A supermarket chain can analyse its customers’ regular purchases and offer them targeted discounts on their favourite products. These incentives encourage loyalty and strengthen attachment to the brand.

5. Anticipating demand and managing stocks

Good stock management is essential to avoid stock-outs and limit unsold goods. Thanks to the data it collects, a brand can predict trends and adjust its production/supply.

Example: It is in a brand’s interest to analyse buying trends in order to estimate demand for its models. Using this information, it can adjust its production to avoid stock-outs on models while limiting overstocking on less popular items.

6. Create new products or services

Insights gained from customer data can be used to identify new needs and adapt the existing offering. This can lead to the improvement of a product or the launch of a service to meet the expectations of its audience.

Example: A beauty brand can use the Customizer mechanism to sound out the desires of its community and offer them products that meet their needs.

What are the different types of customer data?

Data is essential information to the management and profitability of a business. The good news is that
there’s no shortage of customer data. A survey revealed that the organisations surveyed manage an average of 3 petabytes (PB) of data, and that this volume doubles every two years.

To avoid being overwhelmed by data, it’s important to focus on the data that can make the difference to your company’s development.

1. The different types of data according to their content

We can start by differentiating customer data according to its content and the information it reveals. Here are the 6 types of data that are useful for brands:

Demographic data, i.e. information that characterises each user, such as their age, gender, place of residence, marital status, level of education, etc.
Behavioural data, collected by observing actions. Examples include clicks, time spent on a site or previous purchases.
Geographical (or geolocalised) data provide information about physical location. This includes data such as location or IP address.
Transactional data relates to purchases made (products purchased, frequency of purchase, average basket, etc.).
Psychographic data concern interests, values, opinions and lifestyles. They go beyond demographics to capture consumer motivations and attitudes.
Contextual data refers to information about the context of the interaction, such as the time of day, the location or the device used.

2. Different types of data depending on their source

But we also need to differentiate between data depending on how it is collected and its source. There are Zero-Party Data, First-Party Data, Second-Party Data and Third-Party Data.

1. Zero-Party Data

Zero-Party Data is information that consumers voluntarily share with the brand. This includes personal preferences, opinions, purchase intentions, wishes or specific feedback.

Advantages :

User consent, which strengthens the trust between the brand and its audience;
This data is invaluable for personalisation, as it reflects what users want or expect from a brand.
Compliance with regulations (in particular the RGPD), as consumers have explicitly shared this information.

Disadvantages :

They are difficult to collect because they depend on the goodwill of the consumer.
There may be a bias in the responses if consumers are not honest or do not wish to share certain information.

2. First-Party Data

First-Party Data is data collected directly by the brand, through interactions with users on its channels (website, application, social networks, etc.). This includes information such as purchase history, browsing behaviour, account information, etc.

Advantages :

This data is proprietary and therefore available to the brand.
Collected directly, without the intermediary of third parties, which guarantees a certain reliability and protection of personal data.
Easier to manage and analyse because the brand has total control.

Disadvantages :

First-Party Data can be limited in quantity, as it depends on interactions with the brand.
Large-scale collection is more difficult, particularly for brands with a small audience.

3. Second-Party Data

Second-Party Data is First-Party Data collected by another company. In other words, it is data collected by a partner and then shared ethically between the two parties.

Advantages :

Allows brands to access data that they would not collect themselves, particularly if they do not have a very large customer base.
Less intrusive than buying data from third parties (as in the case of Third-Party Data), because the data comes from partners with whom there is a relationship of trust.

Disadvantages :

Limited availability, as you need to establish partnerships with other companies that share relevant data.
The data may be less personalised than First-Party Data, because it comes from a different source.

4. Third-Party Data

Third-Party Data is data collected by third-party companies (other than the brand or its direct partners) and resold or shared with brands. These companies specialise in data collection and gather information about behaviour on different websites or across different platforms.

Advantages :

Reaches new audiences that the brand would not otherwise have been able to identify.
Can offer highly detailed data on user behaviour, consumer trends, etc.

Disadvantages :

This data may be less accurate or reliable than First-Party Data, as it may lack context.
Confidentiality issues: Using this data without users’ consent may entail legal risks (particularly with regulations such as the RGPD).
Collecting this type of data can be perceived as intrusive, and some consumers use tools to avoid being tracked (e.g. ad blockers, VPNs).

To sum up, here is a summary infographic to help you remember the most important information:

Which data collection method should you choose?

Now that we have identified the types of data and the uses that companies can make of it, we turn our attention to data collection.The organisations have a range of tools
which can be used (in synergy) according to their objectives and needs. Here are the most effective.

1. CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

CRM software (Salesforce, Hubspot, Brevo) is used to collect, organise and analyse data throughout the buying process. These tools centralise the information collected on prospects and customers.

Use case :

Enables First-Party data to be collected (contact information, purchase history, preferences, etc.).
Helps personalise customer relations by centralising relevant information.
Automate the collection and use of customer data by integrating other marketing tools (emailing, chatbot, etc.)

2. Gamification tools

Gamification consists of integrating game elements (interactive mechanics, challenges, rewards, etc.) into communication to encourage users to interact. Playable marketing attracts attention, stimulates engagement and collects data in a fun and less intrusive way than a form.

Use case :

Game marketing boosts user engagement and encourages them to provide data (via a contact form before or after the game) in exchange for a stimulating experience and/or rewards.
Certain mechanisms can make it easier to collect first-party data and identify needs and preferences. This is the case with Swiper or Battle, which identifies the specific interests or behaviour of each user.
Surveys (or open quizzes) are gamified mechanisms for asking questions on a range of subjects (preferences, purchasing intentions, satisfaction, etc.).
Gamification can be used to energise a loyalty programme to encourage redemption and provide the brand with accurate data.

Ma Gare + ran a marketing competition, including a survey of travellers’ habits and their desire for station facilities. This quiz enabled Ma Gare + to collect more than 15,000 new qualified leads, many of which were new accounts.

MaGare+ - Back to school data collection game

3. Opt-in and data enrichment solutions

Opt-in collection solutions allow explicit consent to be collected (when subscribing to a newsletter or service). This type of collection makes it possible to enrich the data initially held on users, added to their profile from external sources.

Use case :

Obtain explicit consent for data collection, thereby complying with regulations (e.g. RGPD).
Collection of First-Party data to enrich profiles and understand their needs. When people sign up for a newsletter, they may indicate their interests or their location. This data is used to personalise communications according to preferences, by sending geolocated promotions.

4. Behavioural analysis tools

Behavioural analysis tools make it possible to track and analyse behaviour on a website or application (pages visited, time spent on each page, actions taken). These tools are invaluable for collecting behavioural data and understanding interactions with the brand.

Use case :

Tools such as Hotjar can be used to create heat maps to improve the design of the brand’s website or application. They help to understand which elements are noticed by users and which can be ignored. This helps designers to improve the interface by highlighting key elements.

In the same way, behavioural data can be collected by recording visitor sessions or analysing user engagement. This is also useful for optimising the user experience as well as conversion rates.

5. Tools for collecting data on social networks

Social network data collection tools allow you to retrieve information from interactions on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and so on. This includes behavioural, demographic and even psychographic data.

Use case :

Provides access to a wealth of data on online behaviour.
By tracking interactions and analysing data on social networks, we can understand their interests, opinions and attitudes, and therefore optimise content.

The choice of data collection tools therefore depends on the brand’s objectives, resources and the type of data it wishes to collect. It is advisable to combine these tools to obtain a complete picture of its audience while complying with the rules on consent and data protection.

Customer data collection and Playable Marketing: the example of Leroy Merlin

Playable Marketing is one of the most effective methods of collecting data. By incorporating game elements into the collection process (quizzes, competitions, surveys), this lever offers a number of advantages:

The collection of accurate data, shared by consumers ;
Increased audience engagement through access to enriched information;
Reducing friction in the collection process. Fun experiences to make it more enjoyable and less intrusive.

For these reasons, Leroy Merlin chose gamification to optimise its data collection strategy. The ‘Renovation’ campaign was based on a Swiper to identify its audience’s renovation projects.

This game enabled Leroy Merlin to collect leads (creation of customer accounts) and qualify them according to their preferences. Each lead was segmented according to its intentions and projects (kitchen, bathroom, decorating preferences), enabling the brand to send offers tailored to the needs of the participants.

The campaign has increased Leroy Merlin’s visibility and brand awareness. It inspired customers and prospects to launch renovation and home improvement projects. The campaign resulted in the collection of 3M pieces of information and increase traffic to the site with over 40k clicks.

Leroy Merlin - data collection - mobile <br />

Conclusion

Collecting data may seem like a complex subject, but there are a number of tools that can make the job easier, while improving the relationship and trust between your brand and your customers. Discover our interactive mechanisms and use gamification as a powerful lever for collecting qualified data!

In 30 minutes, we show you how to launch your own high-performance interactive marketing campaign

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