Loyalty Register glossary
Zero-party data
Information that customers choose to share directly with a brand, such as preferences, intentions or birthdays.
Zero-party data is information a customer deliberately gives a brand about themselves: what they like, what they plan to buy, how they want to be contacted, or when their birthday is. The customer knows they are sharing it and usually expects something in return, such as more relevant offers.
Updated · By Loyalty Register Editorial TeamRelated terms
How is it different from first-party data?
First-party data is what a brand observes from its own relationship with a customer, such as purchases, visits and app activity. Zero-party data is what the customer tells the brand directly, for example by answering a preference quiz, choosing favorite categories in an app, or adding a birthday to a profile. First-party data shows what a customer did; zero-party data shows what they say they want.
Why do loyalty programs collect it?
A loyalty program gives customers a reason to share. A birthday field, for instance, only makes sense because the program rewards it: Sephora Beauty Insider members can redeem one Birthday Gift a year during their birthday month. Preferences collected the same way help a program send fewer, better offers.
What should you watch?
Ask only for what you will use, say how you will use it, and honor it. Privacy law applies to data customers volunteer, too: the California Consumer Privacy Act gives consumers the right to know what personal information a business collects, to delete it with some exceptions, and to opt out of its sale or sharing. A preference a customer shared and never saw used is a missed promise.