With the rise of data privacy regulations and third-party cookies on the way out, many organizations are looking for privacy-friendly ways to get the data they need. Many are revisiting their first-party data strategies. When so many business processes rely on customer data, it’s no surprise that more organizations are thinking how to effectively use first-party data collected from their own websites, social media, and more.

However, a first-party data strategy shouldn’t just include your company’s own data sources. First-party data lacks scale because it’s only being collected from specific, internal data sources instead of a multitude of both internal and external sources. So, how can businesses make the most of the first-party data that they’re collecting? They need to enrich their first-party data with enterprise location intelligence.

Most of the data that brands have on their customers can include shopping preferences gathered from interactions with a mobile brand’s apps, website, or CRM platform. While that is great data to have, is it enough? Enterprise location intelligence provides businesses with insight into how people move around in the world. This means that organizations are able to better understand who their customers are.

For example, let’s say that a popular retail brand that has always relied on third-party data resources. The brand hears about the benefits of first-party data and decides to invest in it. The thing is, while the data that they are gathering is valuable, it’s only the data that relates to the brand so it leaves a lot of important information out. By using location analytics, the company’s analysts are able to get real-world insights into customer behavior and interests. This allows analysts to enrich that first-party data with additional customer interests beyond the company’s products. The result is more detailed customer personas that can be used to improve customer services and more.

Brands are facing more competition than ever before, truly understanding their customers is paramount to getting ahead. With location analytics, businesses are able to create advanced marketing and advertising campaigns based on knowledge of customers’ preferences.

Let’s continue with the example from above. Based on the insights from location intelligence, analysts were able to determine that customers are people who love coffee shops, prefer shopping at Michael’s over Hobby Lobby, and are outdoor enthusiasts who love to attend the special nature-related events in the area. Based on these insights, the brand’s marketing and advertising team create an entirely new campaign around outdoor wear. The team also constructs a loyalty program that offers a free coffee travel mug from a popular chain coffee shop when customers purchase outdoor wear. In addition to this, the company sponsors an outdoor event to help market this new line of outdoor wear. 

Because of enterprise location intelligence, the company’s messaging is more personalized than it ever has been before and their conversions/ROI are greater as a result.

If this business had only used those first-party datasets, the new campaign would have been a simple sale on the most popular items in its store instead of getting to the root of what their customers are actually interested in.

One of the most important things that companies do before a campaign launch is research customer behavior patterns. A marketing team can use these insights to plan out future campaigns. However, there are limitations to only using first-party customer data to predict consumer behavior. 

First-party customer data only includes datasets that come from customer behaviors on a company’s own platforms. With this type of data, a business only see part of their customers’ journeys. By enriching first-party data with location analytics, organizations can determine where their customers shop and why they prefer those brands. Naturally, these insights allow businesses to predict customer patterns and behavior beyond the silo of first-party customer data.

First-party data is a great data source for getting to know customers, but its benefits are greatly improved with enriched analytics. When businesses consider adding enriched data to first-party datasets, they can enhance their first-party data strategies. A better first-party data strategy provides organizations with a solid foundation of enriched data that can be used to improve the customer experience and understand customer behavior trends. For more information on enriching first-party consumer data with enterprise location intelligence, contact us to speak with an expert today.