With third-party cookies on their way out, first-party data is soon to be the undisputed king for marketing and advertising teams alike.
But if your business has spent decades relying on third-party data to inform its campaigns, you may have no clue where to start when it comes to making this important switch.
Fortunately, gathering this first-party audience data is not as difficult as it seems. And this guide is here to help.
Below, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about legally and efficiently gathering first-party audience data in 2024. We’ll explain the basics of first-party data and give you seven proven strategies to collect all the valuable information you need to continue running smart, data-driven advertising campaigns — without running afoul of any current or future privacy-centric legislation.
What is First-Party Data?
First-party data is any information that your company has collected directly from your audience. Typically, this is gathered through website visits, form fills, and other direct custom contacts.
All kinds of information can fall under the “first-party data” category, including:
- Demographics and psychographics
- On-site or in-app customer behavior (i.e., pages viewed, products saved)
- Customer feedback
- Purchase history
- Online chat, SMS conversations, or phone call transcripts
Basically, if you have gathered information about customers through direct interactions with them (and not via third-party platforms or cookies), it can be considered first-party data.
*Note: Some marketers use the term “zero-party data” to differentiate between customer data obtained voluntarily (i.e. form fills) and that obtained through first-party tracking methods (i.e. website analytics). For the sake of this guide, we’ll use “first-party data” to encompass both kinds of data supplied and/or gathered directly on your site.
Why First-Party Data is So Important in 2024
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you’re aware that today’s web users are demanding more privacy protection than ever. Combine that with recent privacy laws such as the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), and you’re looking at a completely different advertising environment than in decades prior.
Perhaps the most notable change for marketers is the phase-out of third-party tracking cookies, initiated by Firefox and Safari in 2013 and closing out with Chrome at some point in 2025. Once the go-to for marketers wishing to gather valuable customer data, these third-party cookies directly contrast with new privacy standards and regulations.

As these cookies are deprecated, customer data will also disappear — which is where first-party data becomes so crucial.
To continue running smartly targeted advertising campaigns, modern marketers will need to rely on first-party and zero-party data collection methods. Continue with a third-party data strategy, and your campaign ad costs are likely to increase, your conversions to decrease, and your ROAS to take an unprecedented nose dive.
How to Collect First-Party Data: 7 Strategies for 2024
Most businesses will already have a wealth of first-party data collected in their customer relationship management (CRM) system. But, as first-party data becomes the single source of truth for your marketing campaigns, you’ll need to amp up your collection efforts.
Below, you’ll find seven examples of first-party data collection techniques recommended by Inflow’s team of search advertising experts.
We’ve found these strategies to be the most effective when gathering first-party customer data for our clients over the years, and they’re a great place to start when building your first-party data strategy.
1. Add first-party cookie banners to your site.
First and foremost, you must ensure that your website is legally collecting any applicable first-party data from customers.
Before GDPR regulations, you could deploy first-party cookies without earning specific consent from web visitors. In other words, if a user visited your site, saw your tracking banner, and ignored the requests to either “accept cookies” or “manage cookies,” you could use “implied consent” to move forward with sending their data to Google Analytics.
GDPR put an end to that loophole. Today, users must actionably opt-in to your website tracking when browsing for your first-party cookies to be deployed.
To maximize the likelihood of users opting into tracking, we recommend testing different styles of your cookie notification banner. Use different language (“accept necessary cookies,” “accept marketing cookies,” etc.) to see which improves opt-in rates.

Of course, this should all be done in adherence to data privacy regulations and laws. While we’re great digital marketers, we aren’t privacy attorneys — so please consult an internet privacy lawyer for guidance (and don’t construe anything mentioned above as legal advice!).
2. Grow your email subscriber list.
Increasing your email subscriber list is perhaps the most powerful way to gather first-party data on your customers.

Once a website visitor subscribes to your emails, you can associate any site analytics data (pages viewed, products saved, etc.) with that particular shopper. Then, you can use that data to retarget them with personalized promotions, specific product offerings, and other marketing efforts primed to convert them.
Email subscriber lists are also key to building audience targeting and retargeting lists in a world without third-party cookies. Advertisers who could previously lean on third-party data to create lists for social media ad campaigns now must turn to their first-party data instead. The larger your email marketing list, the more comprehensive your targeting lists will be.
There are countless ways to grow your email subscriber list (we’ve listed 15 of our favorites here), but there is one common thread: Make sure to offer something in return. The more attractive your offering (a discount code, a free product demo, etc.), the more amenable your visitors will be to giving away their personal data.
3. Prompt your customers to create accounts.
If a customer shares their email address with you, the natural next step is to prompt them to create an account. This is especially crucial for eCommerce businesses; an account allows shoppers to save products they like, auto-populate their shipping and billing addresses, and remove as many roadblocks as possible during the customer journey.
We recommend prompting user to create accounts when they are starting the initial checkout process. You’ll be collecting all the same data that you would if they were to choose a guest checkout option — name, email address, shipping information, payment details — with the added bonus of having that information saved should the user abandon their cart.

Then, with an account and email subscription secured, you can retarget them with appropriate follow-up emails designed to push them to final conversion.
4. Use progressive form fields.
Progressive form fields are instrumental in allowing your business to collect increasing amounts of information about website visitors without scaring them off by asking for too much data upfront.
Think about it: Say you want to register for an upcoming webinar on a topic that interests you. If one website asks for just your email/first name/last name, and another site asks for that plus your company name/job title/location, which are you most likely to sign up for?
As marketers, we know that the second site is trying to paint as clear a picture as possible of their web visitor by asking for all this information upfront. However, it’s a terrible approach when it comes to customer experience.
Progressive form fills allow you to gather more information over time by automatically updating forms with new fields for returning customers. Rather than input the same information twice, customers will be asked for new data points, which will be combined with the data in your CRM to build out that customer profile.
Of course, the risk here is that a certain visitor may not return to your site. But, if you are offering relevant, helpful content, your visitors will happily return and provide the requested data to obtain that content.
5. Implement a loyalty program.
With a loyalty program, you can tap into endless amounts of data from your most valued customers — those who purchase again and again.
And, by offering a loyalty program to those customers who are on the fence about repeat purchases, you’re much more likely to push them to convert (and give your marketing team the additional customer data it craves).

Of course, a loyalty program has other perks, too. Studies show that existing customers have a 60–70% chance of repurchasing, compared to new customers at 5% to 20%. It also costs five times more to gain new customers than it does to retain existing ones — and a loyalty program can go a long way toward making your existing customers feel appreciated and seen by your brand.
Bottom line: Loyalty programs aren’t just good for gathering more first-party customer data. They’re also good for your sales.
6. Use forms hosted on social media platforms.
It seems contradictory, but you can gather first-party data on third-party platforms. One example: Lead-generation forms on LinkedIn.
In contrast to traditional ad campaigns (which send a user to the advertiser’s website to fill out a form), LinkedIn’s lead generation campaigns host the fillable form on its on own platform. This way, prospects can provide their personal information without ever leaving the LinkedIn site.
This first-party data is then delivered to advertisers, who can add it to their CRM and follow up with those leads appropriately.
The video below is hosted on YouTube. If you need assistance with viewing the video, please contact info@goinflow.com.
The success of your lead generation campaigns depends on several factors, including your offer, your ad creative, your messaging, and your audience targeting. It’s also a more expensive way to gather first-party data, as you must pay to get your ad seen by LinkedIn users.
However, when done right, these campaigns can be incredibly useful for businesses that rely on lead generation, such as those that operate in the B2B or professional services industries.
Need help launching lead-generation ad campaigns for your business? Connect with our social ad experts today.
7. Personalize your chatbot flows.
Finally, don’t forget about using your site’s chat function (whether powered by AI or not) to mine first-party data from your visitors.

Most websites employ chatbots to answer frequently asked customer questions or direct confused customers to the right pages on their site. But a chat feature, when personalized properly, can also engage with your customers and save their responses to your CRM.
Some examples to consider:
- Ask your customers about their product preferences, such as colors, styles, sizes, etc.
- Ask your customers for their shipping, billing, and payment information to expedite the checkout process.
- Ask your customers for their first name, last name, and email address before directing them to a human service representative.
All of this data can be collected in your CRM in real-time and used to personalize future chat flows for different target audience segments.
No Time to Waste: Start Gathering Your First-Party Data Now
With third-party cookies (and the valuable customer data they provide) on their way out, your marketing team needs to invest ASAP in its first-party data collection. The earlier you begin, the more testing you can do, and the more data you’ll gather to fill the gaps in your future advertising strategy.
Here at Inflow, we’re keeping a close eye on the developments regarding Google’s third-party cookie deprecation, so that we may develop the most comprehensive, effective strategies for all of our valued clients. Keep your eyes out for more content like this over the next few months, designed to help you craft a first-party data strategy of your own.
If you’d rather have our team of experts do it for you, we are always happy to help. Schedule a free consultation today to learn more about how our team can build a custom, cookie-proof advertising strategy that leads to sustainable growth for your business.
In the meantime, check out some of our other related posts below:
0 Comments