The Importance of Zero-Party Data with Taylor Donnell

In recent conversations about big data, there is a growing emphasis on the importance of zero-party data. The term was introduced by Forrester Research in 2020 and has since become an attractive option as privacy concerns encourage companies to move away from third-party data.

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With the need for increased transparency and laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it’s important that businesses leverage zero-party data to meet these expectations. 

Jebbit, a platform that helps brands capture zero-party data through product quizzes, is writing the playbook. We sat down with their VP of Content and Partner Marketing, Taylor Donnell, to talk about the power of zero-party data in building and strengthening customer relationships.     

Q: What is zero party data and why is it so important now? 

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Taylor: First, I think it’s important to acknowledge that zero-party data has sparked a little bit of a (fun) debate because some in the industry believe it’s just another term to describe 1st-party data, which is totally okay if that’s your preference. 

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At Jebbit, we associate 1st-party data with consumer’s behavioral and transactional data - what they clicked, swiped-up on, opened, viewed, or purchased. And while this is very valuable information for businesses to have, it does come riddled with inferences. Did that consumer just purchase a new golf club for themselves? Or, do they not like golf at all and they actually bought the club as a gift for their dad for Father’s Day. 

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Zero-party data is different because it’s explicit. The data is coming directly from the consumer as they raise their hand and self-declare that “these are my interests and preferences and YES, I want to share them with you (business) in return for some type of genuine value like more relevant offers, messages, content, and more. 

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With all that context, there’s some key things to highlight that validate why zero-party is more important than ever:

1. The first is that users are more aware than ever as to how businesses are using their data and as such, they want control when it comes to the information they opt-in to share or, not share, with the brands they engage with. And when they do share information about themselves, they want the brand to listen and make their future interactions more personal and relevant. 
2. Then, there’s legislation and major privacy changes from big tech companies. GDPR and CCPA were the first major changes, requiring businesses to be crystal clear about the data they collect, how it’s being used, and even giving users the tools needed to ensure businesses aren’t sharing or selling their data. Apple then updates their iOS system to allow consumers to opt-out of their data being tracked while they have an app open or to protect their email by masking it with an alias. Google gives our industry probably one of the biggest “Oh sh*t” moments when they announce they’re killing cookies, followed shortly by their plans to follow in Apple’s footsteps and make similar changes on Android. And finally, the US is now working to roll out national legislation to protect consumer’s privacy versus having state-by-state legislation like CCPA. 

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In summary, businesses are now left trying to make sure they have the solutions to capture data directly from their consumers. Data that the consumer willingly and explicitly shares with them and data that they, as a business, own themselves versus reliance on the walled-gardens of data they’ve traditionally relied on. 

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Q: What do you think are the biggest trends in data capture?

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Taylor: I don’t want to sound self-serving to both Jebbit and Brij with this answer but there are four trends that come to mind that I will quickly hit on:

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1. In general, transparency. I think more businesses are telling consumers why they want to collect their data and that ultimately, they just want to make their experience better. 
2. At Jebbit, we see a lot of businesses, especially in retail, D2C/eCommerce, and consumer goods putting what we call Product Match Quizzes right on their website homepages - using that transparent messaging and proving to consumers that they can help match them to the best products for them based on their preferences and needs. It’s a super effective way to increase engagement and increase conversion rates but also save the consumer time and show them only products that make sense for them. By the way, this is happening everywhere and an easy way for me to explain Jebbit to people is asking them if they’ve been to Stitch Fix and taken their style assessment. When they say yes, I say we do that at scale so there’s no custom dev-work and then we can help brands show the products right there online versus a curated box that is mailed to them. But it’s the same concept and it works, that’s for sure. 
3. Surprise surprise, another method is using QR Codes to capture more data and increase consumer engagement. QR Codes on products, at events, on brochures, you name it - have really emerged as a core channel for a ton of brands to learn more about their consumers. And there’s other awesome use-cases as well like education, inspiration, and more but it’s certainly a big trend and one that is here to stay…as if I need to tell you that :)
4. And finally, “Data Clean Rooms” - I’m hearing this more and more but you have companies like Habu that make it much easier for businesses to share data, but in a very compliant and secure manner. An example might be a  multi-purpose retail company, like a Sephora where they could collect data using QR Codes with Brij that drive to a Jebbit Experience and if retail partners within their network like NARS or L’Oreal are included, they might push that data into a clean room to anonymize it and then control what data those partners have access to and how it’s shared, anonymized, etc. 

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Q: What role does zero party data play in your platform?   

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Taylor: At Jebbit, businesses use our ‘no-code’ software to create interactive quizzes and digital experiences that capture zero-party data at scale and look / feel like the brand running the experience. For example, a retail or beauty brand might create a “Find the right [insert product category here] for you” and embed that Product Recommendation Quiz right on their homepage. Consumers answer 5-6-7 questions and get matched to only the most relevant products based on what they told the brand as they engaged.

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We’ve really become experts at capturing and sustaining user attention and now, that expertise is built into our software. The proof here being our average experience completion rate is 85% or more so we have businesses capturing hundreds of millions of these attributes and some, far less but focusing only on the attributes that matter most to power more relevant interactions with their consumers. 

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In summary, our platform enables the collection of this data for our clients. And as they collect it, we’re agnostic in terms of where we send the data since the brands we work with own it, not us. So whatever systems they want to send the data they collect using Jebbit, like their CRM or CDP for example, we’ve got 60+ integrations and will send it wherever they need it to do.