First-party data (1PD) is the data you have collected, you own, and you manage. It represents a direct, trusted, and legally compliant relationship with the consumer, which is why it is now the single most powerful asset in modern marketing.
Owning 1PD freedom to create your own segments and lookalike audiences, unaffected by browser changes.Owning first-party data also gives you the freedom to create your own segments and profiles based on the unique consumer data you have on hand. First-party data is considered to be more valuable and relevant through its specificity and quality compared to second or third- party data.
What is 3rd party data
Third-party data (3PD) is aggregated from disparate sources, often by entities that lack a direct consumer relationship. While historically useful for reach and inferred behavioral profiles, the imminent deprecation of third-party cookies by major browsers means 3PD is rapidly becoming obsolete, unreliable, and non-compliant for core targeting and measurement purpose and not on information, provided explicitly by the user. By collecting detailed behavioral profiles of users such as interests, patterns of browsing activities, hobbies or preferences third-party data has an incredible reach.
How & why Wicked uses 1st party data
Wicked Reports utilizes a patented process to automatically detect, verify, and harmonize First-Party Data conversions from your CRM, Email Service Provider, and Shopping Cart. This reliable, compliant data is then accurately attributed across all your marketing efforts—paid, organic, and email.
We use 1st party data conversions because they are real, verifiable, and the highest signal of intent. Also, they are going to remain legal!
This is a crucial point: most ad platform pixel trackers rely on fallible 3rd party data. By using verifiable 1PD from your systems, Wicked Reports gives you the real count and real value of conversions, which often highlights the massive over-reporting and inaccuracy of traditional pixel-based attribution.
Each morning we pull all the 1st party data conversions from the previous day and attribute them with our various attribution models that inform different marketing strategies. We match up the conversion revenue from 1st party data against the marketing spend to calculate ROI at the source, campaign, and ad level.
Our 1PD approach is the only way to get accurate, defensible revenue value for every conversion, calculate Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) immediately, and precisely track high-value subscription revenue, ensuring you are not over-bidding on "loser" ad platforms.
FAQ
Why is relying on First-Party Data now considered mandatory for marketers?
It is mandatory because the cookieless future is here. Without third-party cookies, traditional media platforms (like Facebook and Google) struggle to track user journeys and verify conversions. First-Party Data is the only high-quality, privacy-compliant, and persistent data stream that marketers can own and control for accurate attribution, personalization, and compliance.
How does Wicked Reports' patented 1st-Party Data process compare to ad platform reporting?
Ad platform reporting (Meta, Google, etc.) primarily tracks what the platform thinks happened, often relying on fallible third-party signals and taking credit for conversions they didn't earn. Wicked Reports uses a patented process to track what actually happened—verifying sales, revenue, and LTV directly from your CRM and shopping cart (your 1PD source) and then accurately attributing those real sales back to the marketing touchpoints.
If I own 1st-Party Data, why do I still need an attribution platform like Wicked Reports?
Owning the data is only half the battle. You need an attribution platform to connect that data. Wicked Reports links the 1PD conversion (e.g., a Stripe sale) to the original marketing touchpoints (e.g., the Facebook Ad click) and applies sophisticated, multi-touch models to calculate the true ROI. This tells you which ad drove the profitable customer, a critical insight your CRM cannot provide alone.
