By Prince Osuagwu

CEO of Tarragon, Mr. Elo Umeh has advised business owners to build ownership of first party customer data into their management structure, in order to survive the dynamic tech business ecosystem.

Umeh said ownership of customers First-Party data plays a critical role to brands’survival in technology business environment, just as it also adds value in Online Advertising.

First-party data refers to information brands collect directly from their customers or audiences, from various touchpoints such as Customer Relationship Management, CRM software, actions or interests demonstrated across websites or apps, customer feedback, completed customer surveys, forms, among others. First-party data is usually consented to and so privacy concerns surrounding it is minimal.

According to Umeh,”first party customer data is the most valuable data businesses own and is the starting point for any form of customer engagement. Now more than ever, the need for businesses to own and manage first-party data could be the difference between staying in business and going under.

“Customer behaviour is dynamic and ever-changing as well as the landscape within which they operate. The first step towards understanding and responding to customer needs is through data.”

Speaking on how some forward-thinking brands are taking advantage of first-party data, he said: “Our Customer Data Platform, CDP, was used by a top global FMCG Brand in Nigeria to surpass their target of building a verified database of their customers with 1 million first-party data. Owing to the success of the previous target, the brand is currently in discussion with us to grow that database to four million this year.”

He added: “A number of Top Tier banks have also been using our CDP to enrich their first-party database for various levels of customer engagement including cross-selling and upselling their products and they have reported an improvement in returns on their Ad spend.”

A CDP is designed to pull data from multiple sources and touchpoints and create a 360-degree view of each customer. This allows for personalised and contextual advertising. For instance, to market a specific brand of beer to male customers in the East during a premier league football match, as against a female in the North; or promote travel insurance to a bank customer who just made a payment for a flight ticket.

This sort of segmentation and personalised marketing capability is made possible on the Terragon CDP. Uniquely equipped with over 108 million profiles to enable enrichment of first-party data using strict data privacy compliance methods, advertisers are able to create audience buckets based on various criteria including demography, location, behaviour and interest; and target them via available multi-channel options – offline (mobile) and online (web).