Zero-Party Data Explained: How to Collect and Use It in 2025

As third-party cookies become a thing of the past, and as privacy laws increase in number and strictness, businesses will need to find new ways to compliantly collect useful data from consumers.

Here's where zero-party data comes in as the ultimate way to collect extremely helpful information directly from consumers.

This article will explain what zero-party data is, how you can implement it with your own business, and why you'll want to if you aren't doing so yet.

What is Zero-Party Data?

In short, zero-party data is data, or information, that you obtain directly from a consumer.

The term "Zero-party data" came about back in 2018 in a report by Forrester Research that discussed the importance of this type of data for marketers. The report defined zero-party data as the following:

"Zero-party data is that which a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand. It can include preference center data, purchase intentions, personal context, and how the individual wants the brand to recognize [them]."

Zero-Party Data Versus First-Party Data

Zero-party data is data that is actively and intentionally given by a consumer. For example, a consumer fills out a survey letting you know that they think your shipping costs are too high, that they would prefer a customer service chat option over email, and that they aren't likely to recommend your business to friends because they think you have an inadequate Return and Refund Policy.

With zero-party data, you get very specific information that doesn't leave much room for interpretation. The end user is choosing to share it with you and is actively engaged in the process.

First-party data is data that is collected more passively about a user's behavior. For example, first-party data would be information on how long a person remains on your website and on certain pages, what purchases they have made, and what sections of your website they have clicked on.

With first-party data, you get a lot of standard metrics information that must be interpreted. The end user usually isn't even aware that the information is being collected, and plays no role in the process.

Zero-Party Data Versus Second- and Third-Party Data

It's important to understand the differences between zero-party data and other types of data. As you saw in the last section, zero-party data differs greatly from first-party data.

Here are some other common types of data that should not be confused with zero-party data:

• Second-party data: This is first-party data that has been sold or shared to someone else. The person who receives the first-party data from someone else has second-party data.
• Third-party data: This is a catch-all phrase used to describe a variety of data collected from numerous sources, none of which have any direct relationship with the end user/consumer. The data is collected and then sold to marketers.

Here's a chart that will help show the differences between each type of data. This chart shows why zero-party data stands out for accuracy and ethical collection.

Here's a helpful and simple infographic from Bloomreach that explains the inherent differences between these data types:

Why is Zero-Party Data Important in 2025 and Beyond?

While zero-party data is not a new thing, it has experienced a surge in importance since around 2024.

This is because as more and more privacy laws are created and implemented, restrictions on the use of personal data have grown. These enhanced restrictions have affected marketers and businesses by really limiting the ways they can collect and use personal data that's helpful to knowing their consumer base and growing and expanding their business.

That's where zero-party data steps in as a fantastic solution for businesses who want to compliantly collect useful information from consumers.

Why is Zero-Party Data so Useful for Businesses?

Zero-party data is very useful for businesses for a number of reasons, such as the following:

• You can collect very specific and helpful information: With zero-party data, you get to ask specific questions about information that you want to know. For example, instead of assuming your consumers may want to purchase swimwear because you see they live in a warmer region of the world, you can explicitly ask your entire email list about how interested they would be in purchasing swimsuits if you started selling them.
• You collect trustworthy, accurate information: You're getting the information about your consumers directly from the source - the consumer his/herself. There's no inference or trying to make assumptions based on indirect, aggregate data. You basically skip all the middlemen and algorithms here and so straight to the people you're trying to learn about.
• You can make smarter decisions about changes to your business: With the zero-party data you obtain, you can make business decisions and changes based on what your actual customers actually want (or don't want). This can save you a lot of time and money versus experimenting with things and waiting for feedback after the fact. You can now make changes that are more tailored in reality versus assumptive.
• You show your users that you value them: When you use zero-party data methods of collection like asking your existing customers to take a survey, it's a nice chance to show them that their opinions matter. Consumers enjoy knowing that they have a voice in the products available to them and may play a small role in the future of their favorite companies. You can even do something like offer a discount code in exchange for taking the survey, which helps show you value their opinions even more.
• You are being privacy-minded in data collection: By being upfront with asking questions and gathering information, you're showing you value and respect your customers' privacy enough to go directly to them with things versus collecting data indirectly or buying it from someone else. Zero-party data collection has a very intimate and transparent nature about it that looks really good for privacy.

Does Collecting Zero-Party Data Trigger Privacy Law Issues?

Collecting zero-party data will rarely trigger privacy law issues, as long as you don't request legally protected personally identifiable information during the process.

Protected personally identifiable information includes things such as last names, financial account information, email addresses, dates of birth and mailing addresses. Laws such as the GDPR and CPRA protect this type of information and have strict requirements for its collection, storage and use.

If you stick to general questions of preference such as if someone likes or dislikes chat rooms, and if someone thinks your shipping costs are too high or reasonable, privacy laws will not be a concern here.

If you ask someone to provide a phone number along with their answers or something similar, then yes, you will be triggering privacy law issues.

What are Some Effective Ways to Collect Zero-Party Data?

Here are some effective ways to easily collect useful zero-party data:

• Surveys: Surveys are an excellent way to collect zero-party data from people on your email list or visitors to your website. You can do shorter surveys of just a few questions, or you can do more in-depth surveys with scaled responses (such as asking questions and giving answer options across a spectrum). Surveys can help you get detailed and accurate insights on very specific aspects of your business.
• Polls: Polls can be a very effective way to engage all visitors to your website and collect zero-party data on direct topics you're looking for data on. While some people may not want to take a full-length survey, a one-question poll takes minimal time so you're more likely to get engagement there. While the scope of data you collect will be much more narrow than with a full survey, you can still get great insight.
• Quizzes: A quiz can be a unique and interactive way for your customers to provide zero-party data to you about their preferences, interests and personal style. It's something you and your customers can have fun with. For example, if you sell furniture, you can have a quiz to match a customer up with the perfect type of couch. You can ask them if they prefer small and cozy seating, or large seating options that all their friends and pets can pile onto. You can ask if they like light and airy colors, or dark and cabin-like decor. At the end, you can give them a direct suggestion for a specific couch that they may like. You also just got a lot of data about how many people prefer small versus large options, dark or light colors, etc.
• Post-purchase reviews and feedback: Feedback from actual customers on actual purchases is fantastic zero-party data to obtain. Send out a call to action email shortly after a customer receives a product and ask them for a review or rating. You'll get a lot of great data here that you can use.
• Onboarding forms: When someone signs up for your site/creates a user account, consider having a short onboarding form that collects zero-party data. You can ask users for their preferences about the site, what types of products they're looking for, etc.
• Pop-up questions: This is a good way to present short polls. Consider having a pop-up on your website that collects relevant zero-point data. For example, when someone is browsing your shoe section, you can have a pop-up that polls the visitor on what types of shoes they're shopping for.

Some common and helpful questions to consider asking (if relevant to your business model) when collecting zero-party data include the following:

• How often do you want to receive emails from us?
• Do you wish to receive text messages?
• What's your favorite type of content to receive?
• How much money per shopping trip do you usually spend on ___?
• How often do you shop for ___?
• What types of promotions do you prefer? (discount codes, free products with purchase, etc.)
• If you could have just one additional feature on our website, what would you want to see?
• Would you be interested in ___ if we started offering it?

Examples of Implementations of Zero-Party Data Collection

Implementing zero-party data collection methods into your business can be quite simple. Below we will look at some examples of how existing businesses are collecting very helpful zero-party data from consumers via surveys, quizzes and onboarding forms.

Misfits Market, an online grocery delivery service, occasionally sends out surveys via email to existing customers and platform members. As you can see in the screenshot below, the email lets the customer know roughly how long the survey will take (2 minutes), and lets them know that the feedback is important and will be considered by the company. A link to easily access the survey is also included:

Once the user clicks to take the survey, they are presented with a variety of different questions with multiple choice options on a scale of satisfaction. This type of format helps cover a wide range of data points, while also getting precise information along a spectrum:

There are also some questions with empty text boxes where survey participants are able to write fully unique and personalized responses to share their thoughts and opinions:

At the end of the survey, there's a brief thank you message and another reminder that the survey responses help the company "create a better experience" for its customers. Helpful links are included as well, such as a contact form link and a link to the company's Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions agreement:

Here's how Gaia invites its members to take a short survey to "help shape the future of Gaia" and share their thoughts. The email notes that the responses will be anonymous, and a link directly to the survey is included:

The survey asks users questions about scenarios such as why they would join a community platform, and allows for users to select multiple different options:

This survey also asks about reasons people would not be interested in something, as this is very important information to collect as well:

If your company is considering adding new features, you can take an approach like the one seen here, where users can select their favorites from a list of possible features. You can see how this would be exceptionally useful information to have as a business owner:

Here's an example of a question that gives pre-filled options, as well as space for the end user to enter in their own response and additional information. Using this hybrid format is a great way to get thorough and detailed information on a topic:

Wyng offers a platform to help businesses start implementing zero-party data and shows a number of examples of how this data can be collected. Here's an example of how you can use a short interactive quiz to recommend a product and entertain the end user:

Here's an example of a quiz that asks for skin type information and then recommends a product based on the quiz responses:

You can see how quizzes like this help you collect a ton of important information about your users, while also offering them something of value with a product recommendation that's based on their unique, personal experience.

Having users create profiles to get product recommendations is another great way to collect zero-party data while helping guide and personalize your users' experiences. Here's an example of how a skincare and fragrance company can find out what users are looking for with skin goals and how long of a routine they want, as well as what scents they prefer:

Using short polls like this one can help you learn about your user base. For this example, think how useful this would be for an educational company to know. If most people select "watching," the company would know to create more video content:

If you want to learn about what types of products your customers would want the most, polls are great for this as well, as seen here:

Social media is a good place to conduct polls, as they have integrated options for easily creating them right on your profile or account page.

Summary

Zero-party data is crucially important and helpful for businesses to collect. This direct-from-consumer data gives you customizable and specific insight into what your users like, don't like, want to see, and prefer.

By using features like surveys, quizzes, polls and other data collection methods, you can get helpful data directly from consumers. This can help you make smarter business decisions and make sure you dedicate time and resources to exactly what your customers would be most receptive to.