March 5, 2025

What Is Zero-Party Data?

Zero-party data allows brands to deliver the personalized experiences that customers expect. Here's how to collect it and put it to use.

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Personalization drives sales, but traditional personalization methods only tell part of the story. Zero-party data—information customers willingly share about their preferences and needs—creates a direct line to what shoppers actually want, eliminating guesswork and dramatically improving results.

Brands today face a dilemma: they need personalization to compete, yet struggle with data privacy restrictions and consumer distrust of data collection practices. Zero-party data solves this fundamental challenge by providing the rich, accurate consumer insights needed for personalization at scale—all while respecting privacy boundaries. It's the key to maintaining engagement throughout the marketing funnel, reducing unsubscribe rates, and ensuring customers feel heard and understood in all future communications and experiences.

The most successful DTC brands already use interactive quizzes, preference centers, and strategic forms to collect this valuable data. Brands like Obvi, CrazyBulk, and Andie Swim have grown their businesses with this approach—achieving conversion rate increases of up to 296% and ROIs as high as 96X. 

This guide explains how to capture zero-party data and turn those insights into personalized experiences that drive remarkable business outcomes.

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What is Zero-Party Data?

Zero-party data is information customers intentionally and proactively share with your brand. Unlike other data types, it’s information customers know you’ll use to improve their experience.

Forrester Research, who coined the term, defines zero-party data as “data that a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand, which can include preference center data, purchase intentions, personal context and how the individual wants the brand to recognize them.”

Let’s compare zero-party data to other data types:

Data Type Definition Examples Privacy Considerations
Zero-Party Data Explicitly shared by customers Lifestyle preferences, purchase intentions, communication preferences Highest privacy compliance, requires clear value exchange
First-Party Data Collected directly from customers through owned channels Purchase history, website behavior, email engagement Requires consent management but generally privacy-friendly
Second-Party Data Another company's first-party data shared through a partnership Complementary audience insights, co-marketing data Requires careful partnership agreements and transparency
Third-Party Data Purchased from external sources with no direct customer relationship Demographic information, behavioral data from other sites Facing increasing restrictions (cookie deprecation, privacy laws)

The benefits of prioritizing zero-party data include:

  • Better personalization: You get direct insights into preferences instead of inferring them
  • More accurate: Customers tell you exactly what they want instead of you guessing based on behavior
  • Stronger compliance: Addresses privacy regulations like GDPR, CCPA and upcoming restrictions
  • Increased trust: Shows respect for customer privacy through transparent data collection
  • Future-proof strategy: Doesn’t rely on third-party cookies or tracking methods going away

Why is Zero-Party Data Important for Businesses?

The marketing landscape is undergoing a major shift driven by two big forces: consumer demand for privacy and regulatory changes.

Consumer Privacy Trends

Consumers are more privacy-conscious than ever while expecting personalization from brands. This is what industry experts call the “personalization paradox” – customers want personalized experiences but are unwilling to be tracked.

This is exactly why brands like Obvi switched from other platforms to Digioh’s quiz solution and saw an 80% quiz completion rate (compared to 45% with their previous provider). They prove that customers will share information when they get value in return.

The Cookie-Less Future

Google’s planned deprecation of third-party cookies in Chrome marks the end of an era for digital marketing. While delayed several times, this change is coming and will fundamentally change how we collect customer data.

Zero-Party Data Results

Digioh customers who have implemented zero-party data strategies are seeing amazing results:

  • CrazyBulk saw a 141% increase in conversion rate and 16X ROI by implementing a guided selling quiz that turned shopper uncertainty into confidence
  • IGK Hair grew color sales by 30% with a guided selling quiz and increased average order value by 19%
  • Andie Swim transformed their swimwear shopping experience and saw 296% conversions and 96X ROI

By embracing zero-party data now, ecommerce businesses can build a sustainable competitive advantage and stronger customer relationships like these Digioh customers.

4 Ways to Collect Zero-Party Data

Gathering zero-party data requires creating value exchanges that make customers willing – even eager – to share information. Here are four proven ways:

1. Quizzes and Surveys

Use product recommendation quizzes to guide customers while collecting preference data.

  • Product recommendations based on answers
  • Personalized solutions to problems
  • Fun, engaging experiences that break up the monotony of shopping

The key is to make quizzes feel like a service not a data collection tool. Focus on helping customers solve problems or find products they’ll love.

Implementation tips:

  • Keep quizzes short (5-7 questions max)
  • Show progress indicators to reduce abandonment
  • Offer value after completion (recommendations, discounts, useful information)
  • Make results shareable to extend reach

2. Preference Centers

Let customers control content preferences, product interests, and communication frequency.

  • Content topics they’re interested in
  • Product categories they want to hear about
  • Communication frequency preferences* Communication channels (email, SMS, push notifications)

By giving customers control over their experience, you’re showing respect for their time and collecting valuable targeting data.

Implementation tips:

  • Make preference centers easily accessible from multiple touchpoints
  • Pre-fill known information to reduce friction
  • Allow granular control while keeping the interface simple
  • Regularly prompt customers to update preferences when interests might have changed

3. Interactive Pop-Ups and Forms

Capture key customer data through pop-ups triggered at intent-driven moments.

  • Contextual: Appearing when the information requested relates to what the customer is doing
  • Non-disruptive: Designed to enhance rather than interrupt the shopping experience
  • Valuable: Offering an immediate benefit for providing information

Bonafide, a women’s health company, does this well. Using Digioh’s interactive forms, they increased their onsite conversion rate to 14.8%—a 469% increase. By focusing on creating value for customers through personalized recommendations, they now generate 6.64% of their total online revenue through these zero-party data collection methods.

Implementation tips:

  • Limit fields to only what’s necessary for the immediate use case
  • Test timing and triggering conditions to minimize bounce rates
  • Use multistep forms that progressively collect information
  • Experiment with different value exchanges (discounts, exclusive content, enhanced features)

4. A/B Testing Your Collection Methods

Zero-party data collection should be continuously optimized through testing:

  • Test different question formats and wording
  • Compare completion rates for various incentives
  • Evaluate the quality of data collected through different methods
  • Measure the downstream impact on personalization effectiveness

What works for one brand or customer segment may not work for another. Testing helps you find what works for your unique audience.

Tools to Collect Zero-Party Data

A zero-party data strategy requires the right technology stack. Digioh provides a comprehensive solution for ecommerce merchants looking to collect and activate customer-provided data.

Digioh’s platform includes:

Interactive Form Builder:

  • Drag-and-drop interface for creating branded forms without coding
  • Conditional logic to personalize the question flow based on previous answers
  • Mobile-responsive designs that work across all devices
  • Targeting options to show the right forms to the right visitors

Quiz and Survey Tools:

  • Product recommendation quizzes
  • Customer feedback and satisfaction surveys* Styling and preference questions
  • Segmenting questions

Smooth Integrations:

  • Real-time data syncing with major ecommerce platforms
  • Direct connects to email service providers and marketing automation tools
  • CRM integration for unified customer profiles
  • Custom webhook for specialty tech stacks

Optimization Tools:

  • A/B & multivariate testing for data collection strategies
  • Form performance and completion rate analytics
  • Conversion tracking to measure business impact

The platform is designed to make zero-party data activation instant, no technical hurdles between collection and activation.

Zero-Party Data in Action

Leading brands across industries are using zero-party data to create customer experiences that stand out:

Personalized Email Campaigns

RANAVAT, a luxury skincare brand, flipped their approach to personalization with Digioh and saw a 294% increase in conversions. Their quizzes collected information about customers' skin types, concerns and goals which powered personalized email programs that delivered tailored recommendations. This not only increased conversions but also generated 3,000 new email subscribers and 16% of their total online revenue.

Personalized Product Recommendations in eCommerce

Whisker, maker of the Litter-Robot, is still seeing success with quizzes as part of their zero-party data strategy. By replacing category browsing with guided selling quizzes they saw a 388% increase in onsite conversions in 30 days. Their quiz collected information about pet owners' specific needs and preferences and created a fully personalized shopping experience. They also saw a 400% increase in email conversions and doubled average order value.

Custom Offers Based on Quiz Results

Peak Wellness USA saw 37X ROI with Digioh’s interactive guided selling quiz. By collecting zero-party data about customer preferences, health goals and lifestyle factors they were able to create offers that resonated with customers on a personal level. This resulted in a 300% increase in conversions as customers received product recommendations tailored to their needs not generic suggestions.

How to Activate Zero-Party Data for Personalization

Collecting zero-party data is just the beginning. The real value is in activation—turning those insights into personalized experiences across the customer journey.

Smart Segmentation

Zero-party data allows segmentation based on stated preferences not assumed interests:* Create segments based on product interests

  • Group customers by self-reported knowledge levels
  • Segment by purchase timeline (browsing vs. ready to buy)
  • Combine zero-party data with behavioral data for precise targeting

This way you can send messages that speak to customer’s needs, not assumptions.

Dynamic Content Personalization

Modern marketing platforms can dynamically change content based on zero-party data:

  • Customize email content blocks based on interests
  • Adjust homepage features based on preferences
  • Personalize product recommendations based on feedback
  • Retarget ads to specific stated needs

The most advanced implementations combine zero-party data with real-time behavior for in-the-moment personalization.

Customer Support

Customer support teams with zero-party data can assist better:

  • Access to preference information helps reps make better recommendations
  • Knowledge of previous concerns allows for proactive problem solving
  • Awareness of communication preferences improves customer satisfaction
  • Understanding of product usage creates context for support interactions

Pro tip: Learn how the Digioh x Gorgias integration makes this easy. 

Measuring ROI

Zero-party data programs should be measured on both collection and downstream metrics:

  • Collection metrics: Completion rates, abandonment points, data quality
  • Engagement metrics: Open rates, click-through rates, time on site
  • Conversion metrics: Revenue per user, conversion rate, average order value
  • Relationship metrics: Customer satisfaction, loyalty program participation, repeat purchase rate

Digioh customer Bedgear saw shoppers become 4.9x more likely to buy and overall conversion rates increased 490% after implementing zero-party data.

Start Collecting Zero-Party Data Now

The shift to zero-party data is a fundamental improvement in how brands understand and serve their customers. Ecommerce merchants can build stronger relationships and better personalization by asking customers about their preferences rather than making assumptions.

To get started:

  1. Audit your personalization strategy to identify gaps zero-party data can fill
  2. Start small with one high-impact collection point (quiz, preference center or form)
  3. Create activation plans before collection so data doesn’t sit idle
  4. Establish measurement frameworks to track collection success and business impact
  5. Test and iterate to improve data quality and the customer experience

Ready to see what zero-party data can do for your personalization strategy? Request a demo to see how Digioh can help you implement the strategies discussed in this article and start building deeper, more profitable customer relationships through transparent data collection.

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