Zero-Party Data: What It Is and Why It’s So Valuable in 2025
You probably know the difference between third-party data and first-party data. But what about zero-party data?
Most brands use customer data to improve campaigns, personalization, and product development. In the past, a lot of this data came from tracking behavior or buying lists from external providers. But things have changed. Today, users expect more control, laws are stricter and cookies are disappearing: that’s where zero-party data comes in.
This article is for anyone who works with customer data. It shows how zero-party data works and how you can use it to improve your business.
Understanding the difference between zero-party, first-party, second-party, and third-party data is key. Each type of data comes from a different source, and each one gives you a different kind of insight.
Let’s walk through what they are, how they’re collected, and how you can use them.
Zero-party data is information that a customer gives you intentionally and directly. They might fill out a quiz, answer a survey, or select their preferences during onboarding. You're not tracking their behavior, you’re simply asking, and they’re choosing to respond.
This type of data is clear, accurate, and based on what the user says about themselves. It often includes things like product preferences, budget ranges, future plans, or reasons for buying.
Example: A data provider runs a rewards initiative that encourages users to share personal insights, like job role, industry, and data preferences, in exchange for credits. Users opt in and complete a form. Because the data is collected directly and voluntarily, the provider can segment audiences more accurately.
This kind of data is valuable because it's fully permission-based and doesn’t require guesswork. You get a clear signal from the customer, and they stay in control of what they share.
First-party data is information you collect based on how users interact with your website, app, emails, or other owned channels. Unlike zero-party data, it’s not given explicitly, you’re observing behavior and drawing conclusions.
Example: A user visits your pricing page multiple times, signs up for your newsletter, or adds items to their cart. You collect this data through tracking tools, cookies, or analytics platforms.
It’s reliable because it’s based on real actions, and it belongs to you. But it can sometimes be harder to interpret. Just because someone looked at a product five times doesn’t mean they want to buy it.
Second-party data is someone else’s first-party data, which they’ve chosen to share with you through a partnership or agreement. It’s not public, and you don’t buy it from a data marketplace, it’s exchanged directly. This can be useful if the partner serves a similar audience or industry.
Example: A travel booking site could partner with a car rental company to share data about customer preferences, helping both businesses provide more relevant offers.
It’s generally more reliable than third-party data but requires trust between both companies. You also need to make sure the data is shared legally and with consent.
Third-party data is collected by companies that gather information from a wide range of websites, mobile apps, and digital platforms. This data is then aggregated and made available for purchase through vendors and data marketplaces like Datarade.
On Datarade, third-party data is still widely used. However, buyers are increasingly cautious about where the data comes from and how it’s collected. That’s why we provide detailed information about each provider’s data sourcing practices, update frequency, and compliance standards.
Zero-party data has become one of the most valuable assets for any brand that wants to build real, lasting relationships with its customers. Unlike other types of data, it’s based on what customers choose to share, not what you track in the background. This makes it more accurate, more relevant, and more aligned with current privacy expectations.
With the new privacy regulations and the phase-out of third-party cookies, more buyers on Datarade are shifting their focus to first- and zero-party data, which offer clearer consent and user involvement.
Here’s why zero-party data matters more than ever:
Customers today are more aware of how their data is used. They expect transparency. They want to know what information you’re collecting, why you’re collecting it, and how it will benefit them. Zero-party data solves this by making the exchange simple and honest: you ask, they answer voluntarily.
This clear value exchange builds trust. When customers feel in control, they’re more likely to engage and share meaningful information.
With laws like GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California, companies can’t afford to be careless about data anymore. You need clear consent to collect and use personal information. Zero-party data is built on consent from the start.
If a customer gives you information through a quiz, a form, or a preference center, that data is compliant by default, because the user chose to provide it. This reduces legal risk and helps your business stay on the right side of data protection rules.
For years, marketers relied on third-party cookies to track user behavior across the web. That made it easier to run ads, build retargeting audiences, and understand customer interests. But that era is ending.
Major browsers are phasing out third-party cookies. This shift is forcing businesses to find new ways to understand their audiences without relying on external tracking. Zero-party data fills that gap. It gives you direct, reliable insights, without cookies, and without tracking users across sites.
People expect personalized experiences. They want recommendations that match their tastes, messages that speak to their needs, and products that feel relevant. But they also don’t want brands to overstep or guess.
Zero-party data helps you get personalization right. Instead of assuming someone is interested in a product because they clicked on it once, you can ask directly: What are you looking for? What are your preferences? What’s your goal?
With that kind of input, your messaging becomes more accurate and respectful, and your conversions improve.
Zero-party data is clean. It comes straight from the customer, so there’s less need to interpret or infer. That helps teams across your company, from marketing to product to customer support, make better decisions.
You’re not just guessing what your users want. You know. Because they told you.
When buying zero-party data, it’s helpful to understand how that data was gathered in the first place. On Datarade, many providers collect data through opt-in, consent-driven models that offer users a clear benefit in return for sharing insights. Below are some common methods used by providers on our marketplace.
1. Onboarding Questionnaires
Some providers use app or platform sign-up flows to collect information about a user’s role, industry, habits, or goals. This allows them to build datasets where each row reflects direct user input, rather than inferred behavior.
2. Interactive Quizzes
Quizzes are used to gather preferences or product feedback. They often appear on lifestyle or retail platforms, where users are happy to answer a few questions in exchange for better recommendations or incentives.
3. Preference Centers
In environments like publisher networks, fitness apps, or community platforms, users can set or adjust their content and communication preferences. These declared inputs often form the basis of segmentable, structured datasets.
4. Email and SMS Surveys
Providers with established user bases may collect declared data by sending out short questions via email or text. This kind of outreach is useful for gathering sentiment, product interest, or feature demand.
5. Conversational Interfaces (Chatbots and Forms)
Chatbots embedded in mobile apps or service platforms guide users through quick questions to capture needs and preferences in real time. These conversations are stored as structured zero-party data.
6. Rewarded Participation Models
We’re seeing more projects where users are rewarded for voluntarily sharing smartphone-generated data, such as location signals, movement behavior, or environmental insights. These projects allow users to choose exactly which types of data they share, and receive incentives in return.
As a buyer, you should always check how zero-party data was sourced. Ask:
These details help you judge how reliable the data is, and whether it’s a good fit for your use case.
When this data is collected transparently and ethically, it becomes one of the most accurate signals available for segmentation, personalization, and targeting. Here are real examples of how data buyers across industries are using zero-party datasets.
1. Advertising & Media Planning
Buyers in the adtech space are using zero-party data to build more precise audience segments. For example, a media agency working on a sports campaign buys declared interest data showing which users follow which sports and what types of content they prefer (live scores, video highlights, articles). The agency builds custom audiences that match the campaign brief exactly, without relying on behavioral tracking or third-party cookies.
2. Retail & Consumer Brands
Consumer brands use zero-party data to plan promotions and launch products with a more accurate read on real demand. A CPG buyer purchases a dataset collected through opt-in mobile surveys, where users selected their favorite snack categories and flavor preferences. The brand uses this data to refine its next product release and adjust regional marketing efforts based on what real people said they want.
3. Mobility & Smart Cities
A transport company purchases location and noise-level data gathered through a mobile app rewards program. Users shared this data voluntarily and chose what types of signals to contribute (location, ambient noise, travel mode). The company uses it to map commuter flows and assess street-level sound conditions in target areas.
4. Real Estate & Urban Planning
An investment firm uses zero-party data to understand lifestyle preferences of renters and homebuyers. They access datasets where users answered questions about neighborhood priorities, commuting distance, and amenity preferences. These insights help inform which markets to target and what features to prioritize in new developments.
5. Fitness & Health Tech
A fitness platform purchases declared activity data from an app where users opt in to share their preferred workout types and health goals. This helps the platform tailor its campaign messaging and build fitness plans that match the goals of different target segments.
At Datarade, we’re seeing more buyers request zero-party data than ever before. As marketers move away from third-party cookies and look for privacy-friendly ways to personalize campaigns, demand for consent-based, user-provided data is growing fast. Zero-party data offers exactly that. On our marketplace, more data providers are now offering this type of data to meet that demand, and we expect this trend to continue throughout 2025.
You probably know the difference between third-party data and first-party data. But what about zero-party data?
Most brands use customer data to improve campaigns, personalization, and product development. In the past, a lot of this data came from tracking behavior or buying lists from external providers. But things have changed. Today, users expect more control, laws are stricter and cookies are disappearing: that’s where zero-party data comes in.
This article is for anyone who works with customer data. It shows how zero-party data works and how you can use it to improve your business.
Understanding the difference between zero-party, first-party, second-party, and third-party data is key. Each type of data comes from a different source, and each one gives you a different kind of insight.
Let’s walk through what they are, how they’re collected, and how you can use them.
Zero-party data is information that a customer gives you intentionally and directly. They might fill out a quiz, answer a survey, or select their preferences during onboarding. You're not tracking their behavior, you’re simply asking, and they’re choosing to respond.
This type of data is clear, accurate, and based on what the user says about themselves. It often includes things like product preferences, budget ranges, future plans, or reasons for buying.
Example: A data provider runs a rewards initiative that encourages users to share personal insights, like job role, industry, and data preferences, in exchange for credits. Users opt in and complete a form. Because the data is collected directly and voluntarily, the provider can segment audiences more accurately.
This kind of data is valuable because it's fully permission-based and doesn’t require guesswork. You get a clear signal from the customer, and they stay in control of what they share.
First-party data is information you collect based on how users interact with your website, app, emails, or other owned channels. Unlike zero-party data, it’s not given explicitly, you’re observing behavior and drawing conclusions.
Example: A user visits your pricing page multiple times, signs up for your newsletter, or adds items to their cart. You collect this data through tracking tools, cookies, or analytics platforms.
It’s reliable because it’s based on real actions, and it belongs to you. But it can sometimes be harder to interpret. Just because someone looked at a product five times doesn’t mean they want to buy it.
Second-party data is someone else’s first-party data, which they’ve chosen to share with you through a partnership or agreement. It’s not public, and you don’t buy it from a data marketplace, it’s exchanged directly. This can be useful if the partner serves a similar audience or industry.
Example: A travel booking site could partner with a car rental company to share data about customer preferences, helping both businesses provide more relevant offers.
It’s generally more reliable than third-party data but requires trust between both companies. You also need to make sure the data is shared legally and with consent.
Third-party data is collected by companies that gather information from a wide range of websites, mobile apps, and digital platforms. This data is then aggregated and made available for purchase through vendors and data marketplaces like Datarade.
On Datarade, third-party data is still widely used. However, buyers are increasingly cautious about where the data comes from and how it’s collected. That’s why we provide detailed information about each provider’s data sourcing practices, update frequency, and compliance standards.
Zero-party data has become one of the most valuable assets for any brand that wants to build real, lasting relationships with its customers. Unlike other types of data, it’s based on what customers choose to share, not what you track in the background. This makes it more accurate, more relevant, and more aligned with current privacy expectations.
With the new privacy regulations and the phase-out of third-party cookies, more buyers on Datarade are shifting their focus to first- and zero-party data, which offer clearer consent and user involvement.
Here’s why zero-party data matters more than ever:
Customers today are more aware of how their data is used. They expect transparency. They want to know what information you’re collecting, why you’re collecting it, and how it will benefit them. Zero-party data solves this by making the exchange simple and honest: you ask, they answer voluntarily.
This clear value exchange builds trust. When customers feel in control, they’re more likely to engage and share meaningful information.
With laws like GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California, companies can’t afford to be careless about data anymore. You need clear consent to collect and use personal information. Zero-party data is built on consent from the start.
If a customer gives you information through a quiz, a form, or a preference center, that data is compliant by default, because the user chose to provide it. This reduces legal risk and helps your business stay on the right side of data protection rules.
For years, marketers relied on third-party cookies to track user behavior across the web. That made it easier to run ads, build retargeting audiences, and understand customer interests. But that era is ending.
Major browsers are phasing out third-party cookies. This shift is forcing businesses to find new ways to understand their audiences without relying on external tracking. Zero-party data fills that gap. It gives you direct, reliable insights, without cookies, and without tracking users across sites.
People expect personalized experiences. They want recommendations that match their tastes, messages that speak to their needs, and products that feel relevant. But they also don’t want brands to overstep or guess.
Zero-party data helps you get personalization right. Instead of assuming someone is interested in a product because they clicked on it once, you can ask directly: What are you looking for? What are your preferences? What’s your goal?
With that kind of input, your messaging becomes more accurate and respectful, and your conversions improve.
Zero-party data is clean. It comes straight from the customer, so there’s less need to interpret or infer. That helps teams across your company, from marketing to product to customer support, make better decisions.
You’re not just guessing what your users want. You know. Because they told you.
When buying zero-party data, it’s helpful to understand how that data was gathered in the first place. On Datarade, many providers collect data through opt-in, consent-driven models that offer users a clear benefit in return for sharing insights. Below are some common methods used by providers on our marketplace.
1. Onboarding Questionnaires
Some providers use app or platform sign-up flows to collect information about a user’s role, industry, habits, or goals. This allows them to build datasets where each row reflects direct user input, rather than inferred behavior.
2. Interactive Quizzes
Quizzes are used to gather preferences or product feedback. They often appear on lifestyle or retail platforms, where users are happy to answer a few questions in exchange for better recommendations or incentives.
3. Preference Centers
In environments like publisher networks, fitness apps, or community platforms, users can set or adjust their content and communication preferences. These declared inputs often form the basis of segmentable, structured datasets.
4. Email and SMS Surveys
Providers with established user bases may collect declared data by sending out short questions via email or text. This kind of outreach is useful for gathering sentiment, product interest, or feature demand.
5. Conversational Interfaces (Chatbots and Forms)
Chatbots embedded in mobile apps or service platforms guide users through quick questions to capture needs and preferences in real time. These conversations are stored as structured zero-party data.
6. Rewarded Participation Models
We’re seeing more projects where users are rewarded for voluntarily sharing smartphone-generated data, such as location signals, movement behavior, or environmental insights. These projects allow users to choose exactly which types of data they share, and receive incentives in return.
As a buyer, you should always check how zero-party data was sourced. Ask:
These details help you judge how reliable the data is, and whether it’s a good fit for your use case.
When this data is collected transparently and ethically, it becomes one of the most accurate signals available for segmentation, personalization, and targeting. Here are real examples of how data buyers across industries are using zero-party datasets.
1. Advertising & Media Planning
Buyers in the adtech space are using zero-party data to build more precise audience segments. For example, a media agency working on a sports campaign buys declared interest data showing which users follow which sports and what types of content they prefer (live scores, video highlights, articles). The agency builds custom audiences that match the campaign brief exactly, without relying on behavioral tracking or third-party cookies.
2. Retail & Consumer Brands
Consumer brands use zero-party data to plan promotions and launch products with a more accurate read on real demand. A CPG buyer purchases a dataset collected through opt-in mobile surveys, where users selected their favorite snack categories and flavor preferences. The brand uses this data to refine its next product release and adjust regional marketing efforts based on what real people said they want.
3. Mobility & Smart Cities
A transport company purchases location and noise-level data gathered through a mobile app rewards program. Users shared this data voluntarily and chose what types of signals to contribute (location, ambient noise, travel mode). The company uses it to map commuter flows and assess street-level sound conditions in target areas.
4. Real Estate & Urban Planning
An investment firm uses zero-party data to understand lifestyle preferences of renters and homebuyers. They access datasets where users answered questions about neighborhood priorities, commuting distance, and amenity preferences. These insights help inform which markets to target and what features to prioritize in new developments.
5. Fitness & Health Tech
A fitness platform purchases declared activity data from an app where users opt in to share their preferred workout types and health goals. This helps the platform tailor its campaign messaging and build fitness plans that match the goals of different target segments.
At Datarade, we’re seeing more buyers request zero-party data than ever before. As marketers move away from third-party cookies and look for privacy-friendly ways to personalize campaigns, demand for consent-based, user-provided data is growing fast. Zero-party data offers exactly that. On our marketplace, more data providers are now offering this type of data to meet that demand, and we expect this trend to continue throughout 2025.
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