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First-party data

First-party data is information a business collects directly from its own customers and visitors, such as orders, account details and email sign-ups, with their consent. It is the data the business holds and can check against its own records.

Stock photos and example labels, not customers.

Definition

First-party data is information a business collects directly from its own customers and visitors, such as orders, account details and email sign-ups, with their consent. It is the data the business holds and can check against its own records.

Example with made-up numbers. A store has 12,000 email subscribers who opted in and 4,000 customer accounts. Every order is recorded in the store's own system. In a week when an ad platform reports fewer purchases, the store's order count is the number used to judge the week, and the gap is noted in the report.

How to use it

Tracking that depends on other companies can stop working for reasons outside the store's control, such as browser settings, a consent choice or a change in a platform's rules. The store's own order records do not depend on those, so they make a steadier base for the numbers the agency reports.

First-party data has limits too. It covers only the people who gave their details or bought from the business, and it needs clear consent and a named owner. Write down which records are the store's numbers, and keep platform numbers as a separate, labelled source.

Related terms

LTVRepeat rateKey event

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