Consumers expect highly-personalized experiences when interacting with brands today—particularly if they’ve volunteered their time, money and personal information in exchange for them. But it’s what you do with that data that counts.

For first-party data-rich companies like DoorDash and e.l.f. Beauty, the key to leveraging consumer data to create exceptional brand experiences—while also adhering to privacy stipulations—is honoring that “implicit value exchange,” according to DoorDash CMO Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, who spoke on a panel at the POSSIBLE marketing conference in Miami last month.

The two companies have mined scores of data sets to fuel innovative marketing programs as creative solutions for their customers. For instance, the data insights team at DoorDash noticed that some consumers were ordering twice on the platform from different stores within a short period of time. So to solve the problem—and ultimately enhance the user experience—the brand created a new service called DoubleDash, which allows users to purchase items from nearby stores without the added service or delivery fee that incurs from multiple orders.

The advantage of having access to a trove of first-party data is that it’s actionable, which inspires marketers and their cross-functional teams to make decisions as close to real-time as possible. “We have something like 25 million monthly active users on our platform, so we have an enormous amount of first-party data,” Amoo-Gottfried said. “It’s coming right from the platform; it’s coming from behaviors.”

Another data point DoorDash is monitoring is communications to drivers, whom they refer to as “Dashers,” in real-time. “If a Dasher goes to a store and a store’s closed, we actually get a note,” Amoo-Gottfried explained. “But then how do we get the feedback from the Dasher that the store is closed? And in real-time, and take that store down and say, ‘this store’s closed, here are some other options that you have.’ We’re constantly learning as we go, from everything [in the app].”

First-Party Data Magic

Similarly, e.l.f. Beauty draws insights from its passionate community of loyalty members. “That’s where the first-party data magic really comes into play,” according to Ekta Chopra, the brand’s Chief Digital Officer, who spoke on the conference panel alongside the DoorDash CMO. “Our app has 1.2 million downloads, and 95 percent of our loyalty members love to shop in the app. So we learn how they like to shop, and which channel… As a brand that is in every single retailer, we don’t care where the consumer shops. But we do want to have that relationship with the consumer. The first-party data really allows us to do that.”

Honoring that relationship by providing an enhanced experience while adhering to data privacy regulations is critical, however. “The most fundamental thing is the implicit value exchange,” Amoo-Gottfried said. “How do we help use this data to actually create a better experience, and how do we ensure there are a ton of guardrails?” That translates to actively deciding not to use certain subsets of data if they don’t serve that purpose, he said. “There’s entire categories of things that we won’t target on, even though we might be aware of what they are, because we think it’s problematic to target on that identity factor… Get the things that you actually need and don’t touch the other stuff. We try to figure out which pieces are most predictive.”

Chopra agreed that the relationship between brand and consumer starts with trust, and that’s something she takes very seriously. “As marketing leaders, you have to pay attention to that, because one data leak is something that will really hurt your reputation, and especially as a public company, it becomes a bigger responsibility.”

Data Privacy Hacks

For marketers who are laser-focused on data privacy and compliance, Chopra has a few tips. First, she recommends working with your legal team to ensure there are data privacy considerations when crafting your data processing agreements (DPAs) with vendors. “Depending on how big you are and what kind of data you’re storing, it can get really complex,” she said. “So having that strong partnership with your legal team is important.”

Second, your cyber security policy should include a data privacy component to it and be right-sized appropriately—depending on the size of your customer base—so that you have adequate insurance in case any data leaks occur.

Third, consider the sensitivity of the data consumers are sharing with you and practice good data hygiene accordingly. “They’re giving you certain information that’s really private in some cases, depending on if you’re in the medical field—and beauty there’s some elements, too,” Chopra said. “You should know where that data is transferring in your ecosystem, whether it’s this system or that system. There are tools, of course, that can do that. But from a good data hygiene perspective, understanding that is super important.”

While companies seek to mine more and more consumer data, great responsibility comes with that exercise. “As you become bigger, of course you want more data… but you should also know that it adds a layer of complexity with private information,” Chopra said. Moreover, at a certain point you may be asked to delete it—and you need to be ready for that and have the tools in place to prove it, she said. “So when people do come in and do an audit, you can show it to them.”

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In the land of third-party cookie deprecation, marketers have been handed a reprieve. Google announced that it will—again—delay the phase-out from Chrome until the second half of 2024. Claiming in a blog post that feedback from the industry was the motivation behind the extension, Google says that the extra time will allow for additional technology tests and trials. Here’s the latest on the cookie crumbling, according to a piece in AdExchanger.

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Monitoring evolving privacy laws pertaining to digital targeting practices is on many marketers’ to-do lists. But while these new state rules may seem daunting to keep up with (Utah and Connecticut being the latest to weigh in), there are in fact some common features to the forthcoming laws. Here’s how marketers can prepare for future statutes without starting the compliance process from scratch, according to a piece in AdExchanger.

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The phrase “data clean room” has achieved buzzword status within the digital marketing industry community of late, particularly in the face of privacy-focused initiatives from Google, Apple and others. But what does leveraging a data clean room actually entail? CM sister pub AdMonsters takes a look at what the solution accomplishes, specific use cases, types of data clean rooms and how companies can get started with implementation.

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Google announced on Wednesday that it’s creating a Privacy Sandbox for Android devices in order to develop new ad targeting technologies that comply with consumer data protections—and will phase out the current ad identifiers in the next two years. The search giant has already begun work to build alternatives to third-party cookies for Chrome, but this initiative will address mobile advertising specifically. Here’s what this means for the marketing and mobile advertising communities, according to a piece in AdExchanger.

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In the data and adtech spaces, the term “zero-party data” has created a sufficient amount of buzz this past year. AdExchanger takes a look at the customer relationship it aspires to develop, how it differs from first-party data, and the benefits of using zero-party data within a privacy-focused marketplace.

Coined by Nielsen in 2020, the term zero-party data refers to data that customers provide to brands voluntarily and intentionally. Examples include survey data or indicating purchase intent clearly and directly, when a customer willingly tells a brand about their preferences. This kind of data sharing is completely opt-in, and some brands are creating gamified experiences to encourage and make consumers’ sharing of their preferences more enjoyable.

First-party data also involves sharing consumer data willingly, but the focus is on the brand collecting data rather than the customer volunteering it. Brands use first-party data to track a person’s online behavior; it allows them to monitor that activity. While this kind of data is helpful for brands, zero-party is ideal within a privacy-focused marketplace, since the process is lawful but also paints a more accurate picture of the consumer.

For more on zero-party data and its benefits, read on in AdExhanger.

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At the start of the new year, marketers must comply with the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA) in order to continue to collect valuable consumer data for targeting purposes. Here are six ways to prepare for the impact that CPRA will potentially have upon your business, according to a piece in AdExchanger.

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One way marketers are adjusting to recent and forthcoming demands to protect consumer data privacy, whether due to regulation, restrictions imposed by online browsers or Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework, is through leaning into first-party data collection. But for companies such as cancer resource SurvivorNet, which provides critical information for people with cancer diagnoses and their families, there is a need to do so with the utmost sensitivity. To meet this challenge, the brand has created custom content journeys for consumers using first-party data while at the same time remaining sensitive to readers’ health circumstances, according to a piece in AdExchanger.

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Meanwhile, marketers are preparing for a shift toward using first-party data in place of third-party cookies as a means to target online audiences. Following are six steps to ensuring that companies can not only manage these changes, but also thrive among them, according to a piece in AdMonsters.

Conduct an Audit

It’s important to know where your brand stands with third-party data in order to adapt within a fluctuating industry.

Examine First-Party Data Use

Determine how your brand uses first-party data. Ask questions regarding the value that is offered to customers in exchange for accessing their data and pinpoint whether advanced segments and tailored outreach are being applied.

Expand Testing

On-site testing and the incremental gains over time that it affords are critical, so ramp up your ability to test in order to improve conversions.

Integrate New Solutions

Know what your ad tech options are for targeting in a post-cookie world and test them to achieve your specific business goals.

Privacy-Focused Measurement

Implement measurement that abides by privacy rules while understanding ROI, using mixed media measurement and other probabilistic tools.

Integrate Teams

The shift toward using first-party data sources requires compliance and various technical changes to your brand’s measurement process, so it’s important to align your teams across analytics, data, engineering, marketing and advertising functions.

For more detail on how marketers can prepare for a cookie-less future, read on in AdMonsters.

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Complicating matters: Estimated opt-in rates are looking paltry, around 20-30 percent. That means that targeting audiences and attributing online behavior just became a more challenging task for digital marketers.

Apple’s policy change, in addition to other data visibility limitations like privacy regulation, has had a ripple effect across the digital marketing industry. Facebook, for instance, reduced its conversion tracking window from 28 days to seven and cited Apple as the impetus. Though the result of these limitations is a muddling of data insights and less accurate reporting, marketers who continue to leverage Facebook ads can focus on three core principles that hold true despite this erosion of data, according to a piece in AdMonsters by Elliot Gensemer, Senior Director, Account Services at Metric Theory.

Efficacy of Channel Marketing Data

Though Facebook has limited its attribution window to seven days, Gensemer writes, in some cases clients’ conversions occur outside of that 28-day window. Therefore, blinds spots in data reporting already exist. He recommends creating benchmarks to account for data blind spots, focus on where the data is most reliable and adjust channel performance goals.

Focus on Incrementality

Optimal budget setting depends on leveraging incrementality of conversions, or focusing on how many new customers were gained from the investment as opposed to attempting to determine how advertising is contributing to the growth of the business. Gensemer suggests investing in tactics that have the greatest incremental impact and gauging the lift that occurs from each channel and tactic.

For more on these principles, including leaning into personalization through ad creative and user experience, read more in AdMonsters.

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