The era of cookie-based consumer targeting is essentially over. Because of that, 88% of brands are prioritizing a first-party data strategy. What is first-party data? First-party data is the data that you get directly from your customers, such as their email address, their purchase history, or their website activity on your site. This presents an interesting opportunity for marketers to be able to track on a more personal level: with data that consumers want and are actually willing to share with you.

Today, only 1 in 9 consumers want to share their data because privacy is top of mind. But according to recent studies, 8 in 10 will share for the right reasons because they still want personalized experiences.

(Salesforce)

Personally, I like to see products that line up with my interest and from the stores I know and trust. When companies market to the individual, customers feel more comfortable giving more information to personalize their experiences.

A first-party data strategy is crucial and can take the personalized experience to the next level daily. With personalization driving +40% of revenue, and a subscriber base that is still very privacy-conscious, how does your company still bring ads that are relevant to them? How do we find the sweet spot between privacy and personalization where you are providing content that your consumers want to see? The answer…..

Consumer Identification. Being able to use a Consumer Identification strategy or tactic will help scale your company’s digital revenue by allowing you to identify consumers through your website traffic and collect first-party data to help personalize communications like email and text messaging.

It’s no secret that 95% of the traffic you have on your website is anonymous and you can’t market to those you don’t know. What’s worse, is if you do identify someone, it’s not clear if they are a new customer or if they are an existing customer. When making purchases, not a lot of consumers today create an account and log in; unless you are a big online eCommerce site that started out as a digital bookstore. So, the challenge today is when a user leaves or abandons your site, how do you message those consumers? We can’t send out the same message to everyone. We want to communicate with each individual in a unique way at their preferred channel.

Consumer Identification is one of many blocks that builds the foundation for a more Omnichannel approach. When you utilize a proper Consumer Identification strategy, it allows you to shift your tactics in the most appropriate manner and leverage triggered campaigns as a new customer acquisition engine. With consumer acquisition costs averaging 8%-15%, the sooner you identify, market to, and convert your traffic the better.

There are 5 key things that your company needs to look at to ensure that it can properly identify your web traffic and start identifying those consumers.

1. Interest Before Permission

Too often we see companies have a pop-up 0.5 seconds after a user hits their site. We need to show our worth and properly position ourselves to encourage someone to give us their information. Having a great user experience will drive sign-ups and purchases. Make sure you are sending the right signals to those that are very cautious about their personal data; show that you care and want to provide them with something that is relevant to them.

2. Ask

You know the phrase, “you don’t get what you don’t ask for”? So many companies fall into this trap where they miss the opportunity to simply ask for personal information from those who actually want to engage more with the company. You will not convert 100% of the consumers you don’t try and engage with.

3. Don’t Ask For Too Much

You don’t need their name, email, phone number, gender, height, weight, blood type, maiden name, so forth and so on at the first encounter. The right campaign strategy and a progressive system allows you to collect the information you need to create a more personal experience but gives your customers time to build that relationship with you.

4. Add Integration Capabilities

Having the right tools is one thing; having them all work together is another. Don’t fall into the trap that buying the latest and greatest “Zero-Party Converter 1000” is going to solve all your problems. Many CRM, CDP, and Commerce platforms offer social media integrations. Connecting the right tools to gain an in-depth understanding of your users will make them far from being anonymous.

5. Device Identification Codes

Embed tracking codes on your website to gather device information. There’s no way around it. Knowing who’s coming through your doors and which door they’ve entered from is crucial for many different reasons outside of Consumer Identification. Pulling in insights from your web traffic can also help with some of your other KPIs.

Apex Theorem has helped many companies create a Consumer Identification strategy through digital transformation that keeps the consumers top of mind. Starting with our Digital Transformation Analysis, we are able to identify where the gaps are, create a solution around your key enablers, and help identify up to 40% more consumers from your website.  Let Apex Theorem help you with your Consumer Identification strategy today.