First party data is a critical currency for brands looking to market their products as we all know. Whilst there’s many different ways to obtain this data (paid ads, SEO etc), one option that’s often forgotten about is connected experiences. Here’s why you should consider them as part of your data collection strategy.

What is a connected experience?

In this context we’re talking about any interaction between a brand and a consumer that is triggered via a QR code scan or NFC tap from a product, packaging or media asset in any environment – retail, transit or home etc. 

When we talk about data collection, we’re also talking about two different kinds of data. The first is the interaction data – the data generated by the interaction with the digital trigger such as where, when or what device etc. The second is the first party data given by a consumer as part of the associated experience – entering emails, names etc as part of competitions or joining loyalty schemes or accessing promotions.

Real time data collection

One of the biggest advantages of using connected experiences to collect data is that it is immediate and at the real moment of truth for a brand owner or retailer – most often when the product is in the consumer’s hands. What better time is there to engage your loyal consumer or possible consumer, than when they are holding your product and seeking the final bit of reassurance to purchase or the additional benefit or value to choose your brand over a competitor? 

When it comes to the interaction data, the transfer of data is immediate and accurate, much like it is for any browsing data, but because it is contextual to your product it can give you immediate insights into how, where and when your product is being purchased or consumed – data that would ordinarily be either beyond your grasp or at best delayed until you collect sales data via retailers or financial providers.

First party data is always subject to it being an input from the consumer, but the chance of this data being more accurate is greatly increased if you are offering an immediate benefit that the consumer can redeem if the data being given is accurate – email address for coupons or signing up to loyalty schemes to be leveraged at checkout.

Data accuracy and granularity

The accuracy of data is all important. We all know that data is the new oil, it makes the marketing world turn and is used in all parts of your business to optimise your effort. As your connected experience is capturing user behaviour, you can be sure that the data you are collecting is more accurate than that data which is collected via self-reporting. Put simple, what people say they do versus what they actually do, is often very different. 

If you are deploying serialised QR codes then you can get extremely granular on your interaction data, by user and by individual ID on product and this can often be gathered well past purchase – depending on the kind of experience that you are giving to consumers. This makes the data you collect more powerful as you can analyse it with greater context. But even if you are using standard QR codes, you can still rest safe knowing that the data you are gathering is actual actions, not a version of what people think they do.

Personalisation and user insights

The granularity of the data being collected means that you can also offer your consumers extremely personalised connected experiences. In general, the more personalised you can make the experience, the more a consumer is going to value it. 

One of the great changes in product marketing in the last ten years has been the ability for brand owners to offer consumers more personalisation – not only in their marketing by choosing how they are communicated with, but increasingly in the product itself. 

Could you imagine a few years ago that you could order dog food based on your pets DNA profile? Or that you could easily personalise your gift or clothing purchases in all the myriad the ways now possible? All of that personalisation is driven by data, giving consumers more relevant products and experiences… and it is teaching consumers to expect this as standard. Delivering connected experiences is a great way to both capture the data that powers this personalisation, but also to use it to deliver back the personalised experiences.

Efficiency, automation, scalability, security and integration

You should always measure the ROI of your marketing investments and connected experiences is no exception. The good news is that over ten years we’ve been working in this field we have consistently seen fantastic ROI when it comes to data collection with connected experiences – very often double-digit ROI. Partially this is driven by the relative cost of enabling your own media channel as a media owner versus having to pay for the media space to activate your marketing efforts. This is a massive cost saving. Marry this with the right kind of connected experience, personalised or otherwise and delivered at the moment of truth, and you have the perfect storm for the efficient collection of first party data.

If you are deploying dynamic QR codes that are being managed through an ID management platform, then the control and automation that this brings will allow you to scale your efforts across your entire brand portfolio. This platform approach to ID management means you can keep iterating the experience that you give your consumers, without the need to continually change your packaging or labelling. It also means that you retain centralised control over data collection and the flow of data into your organisation, with first party data being directed via API directly in your CRM or CDP in a compliant, transparent and timely manner.

If you'd like to trial a connected experience campaign in your own brand, get in touch with one of our packaging experts or start a free trial on our platform io.tt.