What is first-party data? How to use it and why it matters

What is first-party data? Definition, examples, and how to use it

Matthew Ritchie
June 17, 2026
18 min read

TL;DR: What is first-party data in marketing?

Businesses have long relied on third-party cookies to track users across the web, gather information about their browsing behavior, and tailor their marketing strategies.

But with increased privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, and the ongoing transition towards the cookieless future, relying solely on third-party cookies is no longer sustainable.

As of 2026, over 140 countries have enacted data privacy legislation, with 20 states passing privacy laws that limit the use of third-party tracking.

As a result, EMARKETER reports that agencies and brands are increasingly shifting towards contextual targeting, AI-driven approaches, and first-party data strategies to reach audiences, with 55.1% of marketers worldwide saying first-party data is much more important to their advertising efforts today than it was two years ago.

Read on to learn what first-party data is, how to collect it, and the benefits of using it in your digital marketing campaigns..

What is first-party data?

First-party data is information an organization collects directly from its audience through interactions on its own channels. It’s gathered from engaged, consenting users who have a direct relationship or familiarity with a brand, its products, or services.

Unlike other types of data, first-party data is considered more accurate and reliable because it’s collected from users who have already engaged with your brand. This allows for more personalized, engaging customer experiences and marketing campaigns while ensuring compliance with evolving privacy regulations.

Because of this, it’s no surprise that 46% of agency marketers surveyed in StackAdapt’s recent research report on The State of Personalization in Digital Marketing said that improving their first-party data strategies is expected to have the greatest impact on personalization and campaign performance over the next two to three years.

What are examples of first-party data?

First-party data can take many forms, depending on how customers interact with your brand across online and offline touch points. Here are some of the most common types of first-party data marketers use to understand their audiences and improve campaign performance:

How do you collect first-party data from multiple sources?

According to a study conducted by Ad Age and Signet Research, 42% of marketers cited a lack of first-party data as the top reason for not using it.

If you’re looking to get more first-party data, here are a few ways to collect more customer data and improve campaign effectiveness:

Why it’s important to prioritize consent and provide a value exchange when collecting first-party data

First-party data can help marketers create more relevant customer experiences. But it’s not automatically privacy-safe just because it’s collected directly from your audience.

Marketers need to be clear about what data they’re collecting, how it will be used, and what customers receive in return. In doing so, they can build trust with their audience while encouraging customers to share information that improves personalization, targeting, and measurement.

According to a Boston Consulting Group study, 90% of customers said they’d share their personal information if they received clear value in return, including greater convenience or more personalized offers. But how consumers think their data will be used ultimately impacts their willingness to share it and what they’re willing to share.

For example, customers are more likely to share basic demographic and contact information, such as their age, gender, zip code, or email address, but are more hesitant about sharing their phone number, precise location, or online browsing activity due to privacy concerns.

As a result, marketers should clearly communicate the lawful basis for collection, explain how the data will be used, and make the benefit clear to customers. This helps build the trust needed to collect higher-quality first-party data.

How is first-party data stored?

First-party data is stored in various specialized marketing and data-management systems, including:

Breaking down internal barriers between adtech and martech is one of the most important strategies for getting the most out of first-party data. But according to survey respondents in StackAdapt’s The State of Personalization in Digital Marketing, 55% of agencies say they often run into issues with a brand’s first-party data. This is often due to common challenges such as disconnected systems, incomplete data, or inconsistencies across sources.

StackAdapt’s new Data Hub centralizes first-party data from CRMs and other sources, segmenting high-intent audiences, activating data across programmatic channels, and providing a unified view of the customer journey—all without relying on third-party cookies.

To learn more, read on or scroll to the bottom of the page.

What’s the difference between zero, first, second, and third-party data?

Understanding the differences between the four main types of audience data can help marketers personalize campaigns, stay compliant, and drive better results.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what sets them apart:

Zero-party data vs. first-party data

Zero-party data refers to information that users voluntarily and intentionally share with a brand, typically through direct engagement. Examples of zero-party data include preference center selections, survey responses, and profile details that users willingly provide through forms, quizzes, or account settings.

Unlike first-party data, zero-party data is explicitly provided by users rather than being observed or inferred from their behavior on websites or apps.

First-party data vs. second-party data​

Second-party data is first-party data that comes from another source—such as a trusted partner—rather than directly through your own channels or interactions.

For example, a hotel chain might obtain data from an airline partner about travelers’ booking preferences or loyalty program status to improve joint marketing efforts or provide more personalized offers and experiences.

One of the benefits of second-party data is that it extends your audience insights beyond your own interactions, allowing you to reach new clients or identify new customer segments that share similar interests or characteristics with your existing customers.

First-party data vs. third-party data​

Third-party data refers to information collected by external organizations or data providers, rather than directly from your own customers or channels. It’s typically aggregated from various sources and sold or licensed to brands for marketing purposes.

Unlike first-party data or second-party data, third-party data is often perceived as less reliable and accurate because it’s collected indirectly, potentially making it less relevant, incomplete, or outdated, depending on your industry, audience, or campaign goals.

That said, third-party data can help expand your reach, particularly if you have limited access to first-party data or are looking to scale campaigns quickly into new markets.

Here’s a comparison table that breaks down the differences between zero, first, second, and third-party data at a glance:
Zero-party data First-party data Second-party data Third-party data
Definition Data shared by users directly with your brand. Data sets that are proprietary to you. Data obtained from a trusted partner. Data that’s aggregated and acquired from other sources.
How it’s collected Provided through surveys, quizzes, account profiles, etc. Collected directly from interactions on your channels. Shared through partnerships with companies. Collected by companies that don’t have a direct relationship with your customers.
Examples Preference center selections, quiz answers, and user profile details. Data from websites, surveys, apps, social media platforms, emails, and analytics. Data provided by a partner (e.g., an airline shares traveller preferences with a partner). Demographic or behavioural data purchased from a data marketplace.
Data usage Used to personalize customer experiences and create targeted campaigns. Used to improve audience targeting and measure campaigns. Used to create targeted joint campaigns or extend reach into new segments. Used to broaden audience reach and scale marketing efforts.

Why is first-party data important?

With privacy regulations tightening and third-party cookies slowly being phased out, marketers are seeking more reliable ways to understand their audience and target potential customers.

First-party data helps brands navigate this shift by offering privacy-friendly insights gathered directly from customers and prospects.

Here are some of the main benefits of first-party data:

How can you use first-party data in marketing?

First-party data is only valuable if you know how to use it. From strategy and execution to expanding reach and measuring performance, here are six ways you can put first-party data to work in your marketing campaigns.

1. Build detailed customer profiles

Customer profiles summarize key demographic and behavioral attributes of your target audience. These profiles help guide your digital marketing strategy by aligning messaging, creative, and targeting with the specific wants and needs of your customer segments.

First-party data is critical for building accurate customer profiles because it captures authentic customer preferences and behaviors directly from real interactions across your owned channels—whether it’s purchase history, browsing activity, or engagement with ads or email marketing campaigns—into a single, unified view.

In doing so, it provides you with trustworthy, high-quality insights that power better customer segmentation and more effective audience targeting.

2. Personalize your marketing campaigns

Personalized marketing means delivering messages tailored to specific individuals or audience segments based on their interests, intentions, or stage in the customer journey.

Using first-party data allows you to analyze past purchases, browsing history, and personal preferences to understand what your audience truly cares about, helping you create highly relevant campaigns that resonate across every touch point.

For example, let’s say you’re a beauty brand. If a user recently browsed skincare products on your website but didn’t make a purchase, you could use first-party data to dynamically retarget them with personalized ads showcasing complementary products, customer reviews, or limited-time offers.

This type of tailored messaging can boost ad relevance, ultimately leading to higher engagement and conversions.

3. Optimize campaigns with predictive insights

First-party data can also help marketers anticipate what customers are likely to do next. By analyzing purchase history, browsing activity, content engagement, and past conversions, AI-powered predictive models can help marketers identify purchase intent, churn risk, category interest, content preferences, or likelihood to convert.

These insights can then be used to prioritize high-intent audiences, recommend relevant products or content, trigger timely offers, suppress users who are unlikely to engage with a campaign, and improve bidding or creative decisions to drive stronger performance.

For example, an e-commerce brand could use first-party data to identify existing customers who frequently browse a specific product category but haven’t purchased yet, then serve them a personalized offer or product recommendation when they’re more likely to convert.

4. Leverage first-party data for retargeting

Because first-party data reveals important information on audience behaviors, traits, preferences, and interests, it can be effectively used as a bottom-funnel tactic to generate further conversions.

Once a customer has converted online, first-party data can be uploaded into a demand-side platform like StackAdapt and leveraged for retargeting campaigns.

For example, if you’re a retailer or brand, you could use CRM data to retarget with complementary products, such as a smartphone case for a recent mobile phone purchase, or matching gloves following the recent purchase of a coat or hat.

With StackAdapt, marketers can reach audiences on more than just traditional programmatic advertising channels and also trigger personalized email retargeting campaigns using CRM data.

For example, a CPG brand could send a coupon for items recently abandoned in their cart, encouraging them to complete a purchase at a discounted price.

Similarly, a B2B brand could send educational content or interactive tools, such as a product comparison guide or ROI calculator, as a follow-up to a prospect who recently downloaded a whitepaper, helping move them further down the funnel.

5. Build lookalike audiences

Reaching new customers can be challenging. But using data about your existing audience can help you find and target prospects with similar characteristics to expand your reach.

Marketers can use first-party data to build lookalike audiences based on the shared traits, behaviors, and interests of your highest-performing customers.

Analyzing key attributes of your best customer segments—such as purchase patterns, the types of content they engage with, or specific demographic indicators—can help you identify and engage with new customers who are more likely to convert.

6. Tie conversions back to your digital campaigns

First-party data is a valuable asset for marketing attribution because it captures real actions specific to your brand, both online and offline.

Using cross-channel attribution, you can directly connect conversions—such as voter registrations, travel bookings, or in-store product purchases—to the digital touch points that influenced them. This allows you to accurately measure return on ad spend, demonstrate your campaign’s real-world impact, and optimize your marketing strategies for greater efficiency, maximizing budget performance while giving you a more holistic view of campaign effectiveness.

Use first-party data to your advantage

The evolving privacy landscape has highlighted the growing importance of first-party data, especially in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.

Next to AI in advertising, agency professionals say that first-party data will have the biggest impact on digital advertising over the next decade.

With StackAdapt, you can centralize and activate your first-party data in one unified platform, seamlessly combining your programmatic and email marketing efforts to target audiences, measure cross-channel performance, and deliver personalized campaigns with more precision.