Quick answer
Zero-party data is data a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand, such as preferences, purchase intentions, goals and how they want to be contacted, as opposed to behavior a company observes (first-party) or buys (third-party).
What is zero-party data?
Zero-party data is information a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand: their preferences, intentions, context and how they want to be treated. Answers to "What will you use this for?", a style quiz, communication preferences or a stated budget are zero-party data.
The term was coined by Forrester Research in 2018 to distinguish data people tell you from data you observe about them (first-party behavioral data) or buy (third-party data).
Zero-, first-, second- and third-party data
| Type | Source | Example | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zero-party | Customer tells you directly | Onboarding answer "I run a 20-person marketing team" | Explicit intent and context | Self-reported, can be incomplete or aspirational |
| First-party | You observe on your own properties | Pages viewed, features used, purchases | Accurate behavior, you own it | Says what, not why |
| Second-party | Another company's first-party data, shared with you | A partner shares event attendee lists | Relevant audiences | Depends on contracts and consent |
| Third-party | Aggregators who collected it elsewhere | Purchased interest segments | Scale | Often inaccurate, declining availability, privacy risk; see third-party data |
In practice zero-party data is usually stored and governed as part of your first-party data; the distinction is about how it was obtained.
Examples of collecting zero-party data
- Onboarding questions: role, team size, main goal.
- Preference centers: topics and frequency for emails.
- Quizzes and product finders in e-commerce.
- In-product surveys at relevant moments.
- Account settings such as currency, language and time zone.
- Conversations, for example a buyer telling a chat agent what they are trying to solve.
The pattern is a value exchange: people share information because they get something better in return, such as a relevant setup, recommendations or fewer irrelevant emails.
Worked example: using an onboarding answer in analytics
A SaaS product asks new users one question at sign-up: "What will you mainly use us for?" Over a month (sample data):
| Answer (zero-party) | Sign-ups | Activated in 7 days | Activation rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing reporting | 1,200 | 504 | 42% |
| Product analytics | 900 | 495 | 55% |
| Developer integration | 600 | 366 | 61% |
| Other / skipped | 300 | 90 | 30% |
| Total | 3,000 | 1,455 | 48.5% |
Behavioral data alone showed an overall 48.5% activation. The stated goal reveals that marketing users activate least, which points to a gap in the marketing onboarding path, while developers activate fastest. The team can now tailor setup steps by answer and measure each path separately.
Using zero-party data responsibly
- It is personal data when linked to a person. Under the GDPR and similar laws you still need a lawful basis, a clear purpose and retention limits; "they gave it to us" does not mean "we can use it for anything".
- Ask only what you will use, and say why you are asking.
- Let people update or delete it from their settings.
- Do not put free-text answers in analytics properties; use fixed options, and keep anything sensitive out. See keep personal data out of analytics.
- Validate it against behavior. Stated intent is useful, but people do not always do what they say.
In TapCub
Store zero-party answers as user or account properties with fixed values (for example primary_goal = "marketing_reporting"), set at sign-up or when settings change. You can then build segments from them and compare activation, funnels and retention by answer. Mark any sensitive property in the property dictionary so it is masked in lists and exports. See segments and first-party data strategy.
Sources
- Forrester Research. Khatibloo, F. (2018). Zero-party data: what it is and how to use it.
- Salesforce. What is zero-party data?
- European Commission. What is personal data?
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Solutions Engineer
Covers SDKs, API integrations, and data implementation, with an emphasis on validation, system interoperability, and troubleshooting.