Defining Types of Data Sets

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There are several types of data your company can utilize in their business strategies. Each of these are defined by where the information comes from, as well as how much your team should trust the data provided. 

First-party data is the most vital for your team. It comes directly from interactions with customers, website engagement, and social media campaigns. This is information gathered and stored from those who have worked with your brand, or shown interest in your products. 

This data is invaluable to your team, and it provides insights that are specific to your company. This can include demographics, buying behaviors, and likeliness to make a purchase. First-party data can be collected through use of tracking pixels on your website and social media, as well as customer feedback through calls and surveys.

The one downside to first-party data is its limited range. Since this information comes directly from your current customers or leads, it’s not likely to provide any broader insight into industry trends or new markets. It also requires your team to maintain this information and its accuracy relies on making sure your team is consistent with its input.

Second-party data is similar to the former, but it is usually shared information between trusted business partners or bought from an industry supplier. It provides information that can help target untapped leads and engage prospects effectively, which allows your team to expand its sales pipeline. This data is not always trustworthy, since it isn’t coming straight from the source, and it should be treated as a supplemental aspect. 

Lastly, third-party data is compiled across multiple sources and distributed by unknown companies. It is typically sold to businesses who may want to learn more about potential audiences and untapped markets. However, this data is not always accurate, nor is it the best information to base a strategy around. 

Your team should always view third-party data as an additional source, but never the primary place to gather sales information. It’s also important to keep in mind that your competitors will have access to this same data. Finding a way to utilize the information while maintaining a strong brand voice is crucial to setting yourself apart from competing companies. 

What is a First-Party Data Strategy?

Understanding the types of data is the first step in utilizing this information to its fullest potential. As mentioned, first-party data is the most trustworthy, so it's important to have a strategy for its usage. This will create a framework for your team’s data-driven marketing and sales strategies.

Data collection is the first thing to tackle when it comes to creating a strategy. Using points like the customer journey and segmentation, your team can identify areas in the sales process where data may be provided by customers. This may come in many forms like transactional data, website engagement, or interactions with salespeople.

From these touch points, your sales and marketing teams should put together a process for collecting this information. Techstack tools, like Leadboxer, can help automate these steps by storing, processing, and qualifying data from online engagement. Storing this information in a CRM is the best way to make sure it's accessible across departments. 

The Benefits of Collecting Consumer Data for B2B Sales

When it comes to successful marketing and sales strategies, understanding your audience is key to increasing your ROI. Data drives successful sales pipelines by providing the information needed to target audiences, re-engage stale leads, and convert sales. By tracking website traffic, social media engagement, and customer interactions, your team can have a deep understanding of motivations and buying habits.

Creating and implementing marketing campaigns takes a lot of time and effort for the department. Their goal is to provide a consistent brand voice while educating prospects about the company’s products. It’s important for this messaging to make it to the right person at the right time. 

By using tracking website engagement and collecting this data, your team can understand where inbound leads fall within the sales cycle. This will help your marketing and sales team do proper lead qualification of prospects, which ensures they are getting the right kind of content sent to their inboxes. By using this strategy, your company can redirect leads into the sales pipeline to continue nurturing until they’re ready to make a purchase. 

Data plays a large role in audience segmentation. More than just understanding the motivations and behaviors of your clients, your team can use this information to successfully communicate with prospects. This means that the marketing team will take the collected data and use it to separate leads into smaller groups, which allows for customized communications. 

Customer feedback is another huge asset for your business. This data gives direct information regarding customer experience, product satisfaction, and areas of improvement. By using surveys and other communication methods, your team can collect and store feedback provided by current buyers.

By utilizing this data, the sales pipeline should grow with qualified leads who are placed in the correct areas of the funnel. It will help streamline communication, as well as target audiences successfully. The key is maintaining consistency in the data collection to ensure your records are as up to date as possible.

Privacy Concerns for Data Collection 

While data is a huge asset to the B2B community, its collection and usage does raise a few questions among consumers. While first-party data typically comes straight from the source, second and third-party information can raise the debate of invasive gathering practices. Most specifically, third-party cookies are used to track activity across websites, which can be sold as data to other companies. 

One of the main issues for many consumers is the way their data is sold to other companies. This means if they interact with ‘Company A,’ their information may end up on marketing for ‘Company B,’ despite never visiting the latter’s website. For many, this can be considered a breach of their privacy.

Cracking Down on Third Party Data Use

Since questions of privacy rights have started to surface, many are pushing for websites to stop using third-party cookies to track engagement. Invented in 1992 by Netscape, the third-party cookie has played a large role in shaping data analytics for digital advertising. In fact, it has become a $600 billion dollar industry, which can credit a lot of its success to cookies. 

However, user concerns have been loud, and many tech giants are beginning to take action. Apple and Google have both provided the public with plans to phase out cookie usage. This means that the digital marketing industry may see a downturn in effective targeted advertising, as well as a reduction to industry size. 

Google introduced the concept of Related Website Sets (RWS), which allows companies to declare websites that are linked to one business. This means a primary site may have several subsets, and these sites are able to store information between each other. 

The mistrust in big tech, as well as large-scale scandals involving government surveillance, led to consumers being wary of how their personal data is handled. This movement has pushed legislation through in some states, as well as started a conversation regarding consumer privacy. It’s important for B2B companies to understand how these changes may affect their data usage. 

What is Zero Party Data?

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A little different from first-party data, zero-party means it is information that is willingly provided to your company from the customer. This means a direct interaction like taking a quiz, rather than simply tracking website engagement. The goal of this information is to collect feedback that can help provide a better experience for users. 

Unlike other data collection, zero-party is completely transparent. Customers know they are providing information that will be used by your company for better advertising, the sales cycle, or customer experience. This type of interaction provides a space for customers to easily share their feedback with your team.

There are benefits to adopting a zero-party data collection policy, such as getting information from the source and asking specific questions to personalize customer experiences.

Get started with automation for your data collection by checking out Leadboxer today!