Post-Purchase Surveys: Unlock Zero-Party Data

Post-purchase surveys have become extremely popular in the last few years. Why? Because of zero-party data. To fully understand what this means, let's review the three types of data parties.

What is Zero-Party Data?

Zero-party data is the newest addition to the data landscape, addressing concerns around data privacy and consent. This type of data is voluntarily provided by users who share their preferences, interests, and needs with a brand.

Post-purchase surveys are a prime example of zero-party data collection, where customers willingly offer insights into their experiences and preferences. The primary advantage of zero-party data is the fact that it is collected with the user's explicit consent, making it more valuable for personalization and marketing attribution.

Ok, Got It. What are First and Third-Party Data?

In the early days of digital marketing, third-party data was the most commonly used source of information. This data is collected by entities that have no direct relationship with the users whose information is being gathered. Typically, third-party data is aggregated from various websites and platforms, and then sold to advertisers for targeting purposes. While it provides broad reach, its accuracy and relevance can be questionable due to the lack of a direct relationship with the users.

The launch of iOS 14.5 and new privacy settings further diminished the reliability of third-party data, making it even more challenging for marketers to target and personalize their campaigns.

As a result of iOS 14.5, first-party data gained traction because it offered valuable and accurate insights by tracking customer behavior and interactions with a brand’s owned channels, such as its website or app. (Enter Triple Whale) First-party data is considered more reliable and accurate than third-party data because it comes from a direct relationship with the user. However, its limitation lies in the scope of the data, which only covers interactions with the specific business collecting it.

Benefits Zero-Party Data

Now that we’ve covered all 3 data parties, which is the best?

Third-party data offers a broad reach but may lack accuracy, first-party data provides reliable insights but is limited to a business's direct interactions, and zero-party data offers the most accurate and consent-based information for effective personalization and marketing attribution. The winner. As the advertising landscape continues to evolve, zero-party data is becoming increasingly essential for brands to deliver tailored experiences and optimize their marketing strategies. However, there is one key challenge with zero-party data…

The Key to Unlocking Zero-Party Data

The big downside of zero-party data is that your customers must voluntarily and deliberately share it with you.

The solution? Post-purchase surveys.

Post-purchase surveys (PPS) are arguably the most effective way to collect zero-party data. After a customer completes a transaction, a brand may ask them to fill out a survey to understand what led them to purchase and gain feedback on their experience or preferences.

Here is a quote on the value of zero-party data from one of Triple Whale’s platinum agency partners:

"For growth and the quality of engagement at every single level, combining attribution data with validation from customer surveys is crucial. The customer voice tells us which channels are working and which aren't.” Justin Buckley, Co-Founder & Partner, ATTN Agency

Triple Whale offers a free post-purchase survey tool as part of our product. If you are not yet using Triple Whale, Fairing and KnoCommerce are two great PPS options for e-commerce brands. The best part is that they are both technology partners with Triple Whale, meaning they integrate directly with our platform for seamless zero-party data analysis.

Triple Whale's Post-Purchase Survey

Ever wanted to ask your customers how they found out about you, who they're buying for or what you should make next? With Triple Whale's post-purchase survey, you can ask your customers questions directly in the Thank You page of your checkout flow.

With Triple Whale's default "What led you purchase from us today?" question and custom question builder, you can unlock improved attribution and learn more about who your customers are. The best part? It's free.

Key Features of Triple Whale’s Post-Purchase Survey include:

1. Custom question builder: Add up to two custom questions and get improved attribution and customer insights.
2. Language support: Translate the default question into various languages, including English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Hebrew.
3. Drag & drop responses: Reorder responses as desired, except for the "none of the above" option.
4. Hide responses: Hide irrelevant default responses.
5. Custom responses: Add up to 5 custom responses to the default question and 10 custom responses to your custom questions.
6. Affluencers integration: Add up to 5 Affluencers (influencers and affiliates) from your Affluencer Hub to your survey.
7. Save or cancel changes: Ensure your changes are saved or reverted as needed.
8. Custom Pixel Mapping: Assign custom answers to a source that Triple Whale has already tracked.
9. Free-form responses: Customers can provide their own answers if they choose "none of the above."
10. Survey installation: Automatically add the survey to your Order Confirmation page.

Once your survey is fully set up, it will look like this on your order confirmation page:

Once your survey is installed and collecting data, you’ll be able to analyze your results in the survey report. As you can see below, the data will be visualized as a bar graph, table, and pie chart.

As the Triple Whale Post-Purchase Survey collects zero-party data, Triple Whale will use it to enrich your attribution.

Triple Whale’s Total Impact Model

First-party data + Zero-party data + Proprietary algorithm = Total Impact Attribution

Triple Whale’s Total Impact Model is a holistic approach to marketing attribution. The new gold standard.

To date, Triple Whale has been providing marketers with the ability to analyze the impact of advertising efforts through Triple Attribution and Linear Attribution models. However, click-based attribution only tells part of the story, and Total Impact provides a more comprehensive view by using a multitude of data points to determine the impact of prospecting channels like TikTok and Facebook on a business. Total Impact gives clarity on advertising investments, which tactics are working or not, and provides insight for future marketing tests.

First-party data via Pixel and zero-party data via a post-purchase survey are necessary to power the Total Impact Model. If you don’t have a post-purchase survey yet, you can:

1. Install Triple Whale's free post-purchase survey.
2. Connect or sign up for one of our partner Post-purchase survey tools.
   - Sign-up with Fairing‍
   - Sign-up with Kno

You can read more on Triple Whale’s Total Impact Model here.

Zero-party data, gathered through tools like post-purchase surveys, is becoming increasingly valuable for businesses in the ever-evolving advertising landscape.

Triple Whale's Post-Purchase Survey feature and Total Impact Model allow brands to leverage zero-party data for accurate insights, better personalization, and to guide informed marketing decisions.

Transform Your Data Into Profitable Growth. Book A Free Demo Today!