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Zero-Party Data
Zero-Party Data
Zero-party data (ZPD) is information a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand, collected with explicit consent — preference-centre selections, quiz/poll answers, stated purchase intentions, and how the person wants to be recognised. The term was coined by Forrester (analyst Fatemeh Khatibloo, ~2018–2019). Its defining contrast with First-Party Data is intent: first-party data is inferred from what a customer did (browsing, purchases, pixel data), whereas zero-party data is explicitly given — it tells you the why, not just the what [Shopify 2025-02-25]. It matters in ecommerce as the privacy-compliant fuel for Personalisation in a tightening-consent environment, typically collected through Loyalty Programs, quizzes, and preference centres. Caveat: nearly all quantitative claims below originate from vendors with a commercial interest in the concept; no independent analyst primary was retrieved this run.
Firewall: every claim is what a source reports. See
../../CONTEXT.mdRule 1.
How it works
A customer is offered a value exchange — a personalised recommendation, a discount, early access — in return for declaring a preference. The declared data is stored (often in a Customer Data Platform (CDP) or loyalty CRM) and used to tailor recommendations, content, and offers. Because it is given with consent and transparency on use, sources frame it as inherently GDPR/CCPA-friendly, unlike third-party data [Shopify 2025-02-25; Demand Local 2026-01-21].
Zero-party vs first-party (per Shopify 2025-02-25)
| Zero-party data | First-party data | |
|---|---|---|
| How obtained | Explicitly given by the customer | Inferred from customer actions |
| Answers | The why (preferences, intent) | The what (behaviour) |
| Examples | Preference-centre choices, quiz/poll answers, feedback forms, chatbot/social responses, support tickets | Browsing behaviour, purchase history, email sign-ups, loyalty interaction, pixel data |
EY adds a fuller taxonomy: 0P (explicitly/proactively provided) is distinct from 1P (collected from interactions), 2P, and 3P (external) data, and is positioned as the answer to the "bad or fake data" problem in current models [EY 2023-08-04].
Key terms
| Term | Meaning (per sources) |
|---|---|
| Zero-party data (0P) | Data a customer intentionally/proactively shares with consent (Forrester) |
| First-party data (1P) | Data a brand infers from a customer's own interactions (Shopify) |
| Preference centre | A standing UI where customers declare/update what they want to hear about (Shopify) |
| Value exchange | The incentive (recommendation, discount, access) traded for declared data (Shopify) |
| Data intermediary | Emerging platform where consumers hold a digital identity and toggle what they share (EY) |
How retailers collect it
- Quizzes / polls / pop-ups — collection should "feel natural and not forced," ideally tied to an incentive. Ruggable's "Rug Quiz" captures ideal shape/colour/style; Shopify reports conversion ~4× higher when a shopper completes all quiz questions and gets the recommendation (as-of 2025-02-25) [Shopify 2025-02-25].
- Loyalty programs — EY calls loyalty the decades-old primary data-capture vehicle. In an EY-Parthenon study, a leading global beauty conglomerate's CRM-enabled loyalty program drove 35–50% of its value from look-alike precision-targeting built on loyalty data (as-of 2023-08-04) [EY 2023-08-04].
- Data intermediaries — EY flags emerging platforms letting consumers hold a digital identity, toggle anonymised sharing, and earn incentives; predicts network effects concentrate the market [EY 2023-08-04].
loyalty-as-collection-vehicle source found; the underlying concept is stable.
Benchmarks (as-of 2026-01-21 unless noted)
Data Playbook"** and Cohora, re-published by the Demand Local 2026-01-21 roundup. The playbook was not fetched directly and its survey dates are unconfirmed (likely pre-2024) — treat as a single vendor source, not independent corroboration.
| Metric | Figure | Origin (per Demand Local 2026-01-21) |
|---|---|---|
| "Zero party data collection" search growth | +250% YoY | roundup |
| Marketers using ZPD | 16% | Supermetrics 2025 |
| Marketers using ZPD as primary source | 12% | Ascend2 2024 |
| Marketers calling ZPD essential for personalisation | 85% | Cohora |
| Marketers calling 1P data critical to future-proofing | 93% | Cohora |
| ZPD campaign average conversion rate | 61% | Cheetah Digital |
| CTR uplift from ZPD-personalised emails | +27% | Cheetah Digital |
| Consumers who'll share data for better recommendations | 52% | Cheetah Digital |
| Consumers happy for retailers to save preferences for more personalisation | 64% | Cheetah / Cohora |
| Consumers who'd switch brands over poor personalisation | 52% | Cheetah / Cohora |
How retailers use it (fashion / beauty)
- Sephora — Beauty Insider collects ZPD via a beauty-profile quiz (skin type, concerns, preferences) feeding curated recommendations; EY cites Sephora as a prominent ZPD user [EY 2023-08-04; Skyword]. Separately, Sephora reportedly used Odicci quizzes and a "Spin To Win" pop-up that achieved double the revenue vs the same experience launched via CRM (as-of 2023-06-15) [Odicci 2023-06-15] — a vendor result on its own client, no absolute figures.
- Nike — blends first- and zero-party data via membership: purchase history, app usage, and workout activity alongside members sharing fitness goals and product preferences in exchange for tailored recommendations, content, and exclusive release access [Skyword].
Contradictions
EY (2023-08-04) says third-party cookies "have mostly been eliminated from internet browsers," while Shopify (2025-02-25) and Demand Local (2026-01-21) treat cookie deprecation as ongoing and still-feared. Neither side accounts for Google's 2024–2025 reversal of its Chrome third-party-cookie deprecation plan — which undercuts the urgency framing both lean on. Sources: [EY 2023-08-04] VS [Shopify 2025-02-25] / [Demand Local 2026-01-21]
Gaps / caveats
[!unverified] A "2025 Accenture: 91% more likely to shop with brands offering relevant offers based on stated preferences" stat (via Single Grain) and a Sephora "17M members drive ~80% of sales / +22% cross-sell" figure (via Medium) lack fetched primaries — verify before reuse.
- All benchmarks are vendor- or aggregator-sourced; no Forrester/Gartner/McKinsey primary retrieved.
- No European / UNIQLO-adjacent fashion ZPD example — coverage skews US beauty (Sephora) and DTC (Ruggable, Nike). Carries the running UNIQLO-Europe gap.
- Reddit and YouTube practitioner streams unavailable this run (MCPs not connected) — no operator/shopper counter-narrative on incremental-revenue vs selection-effect, or on whether marketers see "zero-party data" as a meaningful category or a rebrand of first-party data.