Transparency in eCommerce Data

Dana Richman
Jul 10, 2017 · 2 min read

More important than ever before in marketing is knowing the origin of your company’s data, especially when in the case of purchased data. Transparency is key to successful shopper acquisition. It starts with knowing the right prospective clients to attract and letting it unfold from there. How do you know the data your company is using is the right data to attract the ideal shopper?

Opting into data outside of your company’s own first-party data is a quickly growing trend. The right data set could provide invaluable information about potential new shoppers. In the world of purchased data, there are two options: second-party data and third-party data. To distinguish, second-party data is merely another company’s first party data. Third-party data is typically aggregated and sold by an external data collection platform.

Second-Party Data

With second-party data, the assurance of transparency is high. There are less hand-offs during the transfer process from the data creator to the data user. Given it is another company’s first-party data, the likelihood of any data being tampered with or altered is slim. The data will be completely verified, not only by the collector, but also by the data co-op completing the transfer. It is a win-win for both parties, you get great data to expand your reach and the other companies in the co-op receive the same. This is transparent, verified data that will increase your revenue to new heights.

Third-Party Data

On the other hand, the transparency in third-party data is a bit fuzzy. Given the data has passed through multiple hands to reach your company, the chance for alteration is greater. How did the data collection platform determine all the software platform users in a geographic area or all the pet owners within an age range? The likelihood that the data is correct is slimmer and the method of data retrieval is unknown. Transparency is limited when using third-party data. While the scale of the data is expansive, is it worth the fuzzy transparency and question marks of accuracy?

What Does This Mean for Your Company?

If transparency in data is important to your company, as is the trend in marketing, it is recommended to think about where your data is coming from. Money spent on inaccurate, non-transparent data is as good as wasted. No company wants to waste their money, so think twice when choosing your data provider of choice!

Dana Richman

Written by

senior marketing specialist at hivewyre (www.hivewyre.com) | focus on digital advertising, design and branding

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