How to Start Gathering Zero-Party Data for Less Than $100 a Month
Getting data on your customers isn’t cheap.
Depending on the depth of analysis, a full customer insight panel can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000+. 🤯 By using post purchase surveys, you can implement a cost-effective, zero-party data strategy (zero-party data = that comes directly from your customer’s mouth) that will help you gather insights in real-time so you can identify the most actionable data and start implementing the best strategy without wasting resources.
Here’s some practical tips and tools for each step of the process to help make gathering data on your customers easy and affordable, enabling you to make data-driven decisions and improve performance overall.
How to Gather Zero-Party Insights the Cost-Effective Way
As an e-comm operator, you understand the importance of data when making marketing decisions.
But with changing privacy regulations and increased competition, relying solely on first-, second-, or even third-party data is not always reliable. The platforms are constantly ad odds with each other, and findings aren’t always accurate…
This is where zero-party data comes in.
Zero-party data is voluntarily given by customers and includes information such as product preferences, purchasing intentions, and habitual shopping history. The insights provided by your customers are human–type insights – meaning they’re highly attuned to what your customers think is most important about their journey, not what a machine thinks is most important.
This type of data is becoming increasingly important as consumers become more aware of their privacy and demand more personalized experiences.
Let’s walk through the process of how you can start gathering zero-party data for less than $100 a month.
Step 1: Identify the data you need
Before you start gathering data, you need to identify which insights are going to be the most actionable for you. Is it attribution focused data you need? Customer journey focused? If your goal is to increase customer retention, you may need data on customer preferences and purchase history. Maybe having information on your customer’s gifting habits would be huge for your brand…
Start by defining your marketing goals and the data that will help you achieve those goals, then move onto Step 2.
Step 2: Determine the best way to gather the data
Once you have identified the data you need, you need to determine the best way to gather the data. Some of the easiest ways to gather zero-party data is to run contests or quizzes, but there’s nothing that will out perform a well-crafted post purchase survey!
Post purchase surveys are a great way to gather data directly from customers because they use prime real estate and consumer psychology to your benefit. After completing their purchase, your customers are already in happy-customer mode and are more likely to give you the insights you need.
Is your brand making 500+ sales a month?
KnoCommerce offers fully customizable surveys for just $99/mo.
Our robust surveys allow you to:
- Setup your survey in just 5 minutes: KnoCommerce provides a multitude of pre-developed survey templates so you don’t have to try and figure out what to ask (and how to ask it) on your own.
- Ask an unlimited amount of questions: Without clarifying the entire journey your customers took to get to your products, you’ll always be guessing. Our surveys offer a wide range of clarifying questions so you can access pivotal information faster.
- Benchmark your data: Thousands of brands use KnoCommerce as their primary source of data collection, which gives them the adverting. With over 4 million questions answered each month, our surveys provide an easy way to benchmark your results against the industry so you can make adjustments that move the needle.
- Send customers to new places: Getting one sale is good…but what happens after that? Our post-survey Actions allow you to send your customers to anywhere you’d like – your newsletter, social channels, other best selling products etc.
Don’t have your post purchase survey setup yet? Here’s why you should use KnoCommerce PPS to fuel your brand growth this year.
Already running a post purchase survey? Here’s how to upgrade your current post purchase survey into an insight-machine…in just 1 hour.
Step 3: Implement the data gathering method
Once you have determined the best way to gather the data you need, it’s time to implement it. Here are some tips to make sure you get the most out of your post purchase survey efforts:
- Keep it short and simple: Customers are more likely to fill out a survey or form if it’s short and simple. Stick to no more than 5-7 questions, and make sure the questions are easy to understand.
- Avoid open-ended questions: the best questions are ones you can measure, which rules out open-ended (tex-box style) questions. Save those question types for your in-person customer interviews, and stick to radio-button style, or multiple choice questions in your survey.
- Promote your data gathering efforts: Make sure your customers know about your data gathering efforts. You can promote your surveys or forms on social media, through email marketing, or even in-person. The more data you gather, the better the insights.
Step 4: Analyze and use the data
Once you have gathered the data, it’s time to analyze and use it. Here are some tips for analyzing and using your zero-party data:
- Use the data to inform your marketing decisions: Use the data you have gathered to inform your brand strategy, paid advertising, customer retention and CX efforts. For example, if you notice that a large number of customers prefer a particular product, you may want to feature that product more prominently on your website. If you discover a large portion of your customers are converting off TikTok after 3+ months, adjust your content strategy to help them make that decision sooner.
- Keep gathering data: Zero-party data is not a one-time thing. Make sure you continue to gather insights and use it to improve your marketing efforts across your brand.
Gathering zero-party data is an important part of any marketing strategy. By following the steps above, you can start gathering zero-party data for less than $100 a month. Remember to keep it simple, offer an incentive, promote your data gathering efforts, and use the data to inform your marketing decisions.
Don’t have your post purchase survey setup yet? Here’s why you should use KnoCommerce PPS to fuel your brand growth this year.