I think lots of brands believe they’re delivering personalisation, but the reality is they aren’t. This is because how they are collecting and using the data could be much more valuable for the customer. Successful brands put the customer first, at all times, and that includes providing genuine value to a customer’s life through good content, relevant products and excellent customer experience. Put simply, brands and marketers should think about both smarter capture and use of data.

How Important Is Personalisation Really?

Recent research from Mailchimp shows that 69% of consumers want more personalised content in their lives, with 87% more likely to read and click through emails that feel personally relevant. This statistic would have felt incredibly optimistic a few years ago, and that’s because “personalisation” felt intrusive – it felt like marketers thought consumers wanted it, but really it manifested in to just being bombarded with irrelevant re-marketing at much too high frequency (not to say that this doesn’t happen still, however).

Over the years, personalisation has significantly improved, and I believe there is rising trust again from consumers because they’re feeling inspired by brands through more relevant marketing. On top of this, consumers welcome personalisation to help them make a choice, in a world of so much opportunity, it’s helpful to have both guidance and inspiration from brands. This is backed up by research from McKinsey & Company, identifying that companies who personalise consumer interactions with clever use of their own customer data see a 5-15% increase in revenue and a 10-30% improvement in marketing ROI, this highlights that brands who advertise to customers that they know are important, with more relevant content, are likely to see growth as well as efficiency savings.  

This means our focus as marketers and brands when we think about use of data, is how we create experiences that feel genuinely tailored and valuable to what we know people would want. The irony being, that customers are usually happy to tell you what that is – as long as you ask in the right way.

Introducing “Zero-Party Data”

Zero-party data is information that customers deliberately share with you about themselves – their preferences, interests, and intentions. Unlike tracking cookies or purchase history, it’s data they actively give you.

There’s a lot of creative ways brands can facilitate this. The smart ones are running interactive style quizzes that genuinely help customers find the right products. They’re building preference centers that let people choose what content they want to see. They’re using social polls and community engagement that feel like actual conversations rather than data collection exercises.

Zero-party data offers two distinct strategic advantages. First, it’s an invaluable research tool that helps shape both brand positioning and content strategy. Instead of relying on assumptions or broad market research, you’re getting direct insights from your actual audience about what matters to them.

Second, it enables smarter data strategies, particularly crucial as third-party data is now much less reliable. When you know exactly what someone is interested in because they’ve told you, both your content and targeting becomes more accurate and you spend your creative and advertising budget more effectively. 

Mind the Say-Do Gap

Data as we know needs to be carefully analysed with a critical and unbiased mind. While zero-party data is incredibly valuable, it comes with important caveats. People don’t always do what they say they’ll do. Sometimes they share aspirational preferences rather than actual behaviors, or they tell you what they think you want to hear. This doesn’t invalidate the data – it just means we need to be conscious about how the data is used, and consider testing in areas of uncertainty first. 

This could mean cross-referencing stated preferences with behavior data we’re seeing in marketing channels, testing hypotheses from the research within activation channels, or cross-referencing the collected data with other forms of survey or third party research. Use zero-party data to inform your targeting and creative strategies, but validate it against other sources. Think of it as one piece of a larger puzzle, not the whole picture.

What Nike Plus Can Teach Us 

Nike does this well. Despite recent challenges and competition the brand has faced, their use of customer data and loyalty remains successful. Nike Plus is their loyalty program, and they use it as a way to build community and turn data collection into something customers want to participate in.

With over 100 million members who spend three times more than regular customers on Nike.com, they’ve made data exchange valuable for everyone involved, and they plan to triple this membership over the next five years.

Through a network of four interconnected programs – Nike Run Club, SNKRS, Nike App, and Nike Training Club – they’ve created an ecosystem where sharing data makes for better customer experiences. Each interaction, from tracking runs to shopping preferences, leads to immediate value: personalised coaching, early product access, or custom training plans.

79% of Nike consumers say loyalty incentives are a major driver of their brand advocacy. It helps Nike transform customer retention into brand love.

But perhaps the smartest part is how Nike uses this data. It informs everything from new store locations to product development, creating a continuous loop of customer insight and innovation. They’ve partnered with Salesforce to tie together all digital channels, ensuring every piece of data contributes to a better customer experience.

This is about building something that drives real business results while making customers’ lives better. With a 37% global brand engagement rate and ranking ninth worldwide for consumer brand loyalty, Nike Plus (along with Nike’s many other successful marketing strategies) has been a great way to improve their relationship with existing customers, by giving back genuine value. 

Making This Work: Practical Ideas

To build on the Nike example and these principles of data collection, I thought it would be valuable to provide some ideas and practical approaches that brands can implement to collect customer data. With a focus on solutions that create genuine value and feel intuitive and non-intrusive for consumers.

Value Exchange

Allow customers to build highly specific content feeds based on detailed interest selections, then use engagement with that content to further refine understanding of preferences. Unlike basic newsletters, these would adapt in real-time based on interaction.

Visual Feedback 

Replace text surveys with visual tools where customers can quickly drag-and-drop items into preference categories or use sliders to indicate interest levels. This makes providing feedback feel intuitive rather than tedious.

Preference-Matching 

Allow customers to find “preference twins” with similar tastes and see what products these similar customers enjoy. Show messaging like: “85% of customers with your taste profile also loved these items” – creating clear value for sharing preferences.

Curated Social Commerce

Create micro-communities where you can gauge customer interests with specific products, designs or types of content. The brand facilitates these connections whilst collecting rich data about how products fit into customers’ lives. For example, themed inspiration boards on Pinterest or your website, where you can track boards and themes your customers are most engaged with, or using Threads on instagram to create micro-community groups. 

Product Customisation

Analyse customisation patterns to inform both marketing and product development. When a customer consistently chooses certain colours or materials when designing products, use those preferences to influence future recommendations across all touchpoints.

The Modern Brand Method

Privacy concerns are rising and data compliance is tighter than ever, zero-party data in this world is essential. But it’s also more than that, it’s an opportunity to build the kind of relationships with customers that they genuinely want, and improve your communications with them through all touchpoints. 

The key is to start small. Choose one area where better customer insight would make a real difference. Maybe it’s content preferences, product interests or communication frequency. Create a simple way to collect this information that provides immediate value to your customers.

Don’t guess what your customers want. Just ask them. Then do something meaningful with what they tell you.

The brands that will win aren’t those with the most data – they’re the ones who collect that data in a considered way, and use their data intelligently to create better customer experiences.