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Glossary
Glossary · F

What is first-party data?

Why is first-party data becoming more important?

Banks, insurers, municipal utilities and car dealerships hold a large wealth of their own data: contract start and end, tariff, product holdings, responsible adviser, responses to previous campaigns. This data is more accurate and up to date than purchased profiles, and its origin is known. In addition, there is interaction data from their own channels: which landing page did a customer visit, which argument did they read, which letter did they respond to?

At the same time, third-party cookies are losing their significance because browsers increasingly restrict them. Anyone who wants to measure impact needs their own measurement points: personal landing pages, signed links, feedback from their own systems. This makes measurement less dependent on browser decisions and at the same time more transparent towards customers.

Important: first-party data is not automatically free to use. Your own data is also subject to the GDPR, in particular purpose limitation (Art. 5(1)(b) GDPR). The fact that an insurer knows dates of birth for the contract does not mean it may use them for every advertising message. Personalisation with first-party data therefore begins with the question of which attribute is approved for which purpose.

Autohaus Muster GmbH Example

The lease of Stefan Lang, 51, ends in five months – a date from the company’s own contract system. It starts a journey with sales adviser Marco Pohl as the sender. Which vehicle offers Mr Lang views on his personal landing page becomes further first-party information.

Distinction

Distinction: first-party data and related terms
TermDifference
Zero-party data preferences deliberately shared by the customer (e.g. “Letters only, please”)
Second-party data a partner’s first-party data that is shared
Third-party data collected and traded by third parties, origin often unclear

How the PBM Campaign Platform supports it

Import by file or API with freely definable attributes per list; re-import as an upsert that never deletes; measurement via personal codes and platform-signed tracking links without third-party cookies.

Related terms

Related pages

Marc Zimmermann · CTO, PBM Personal Business Machine AG · Last updated: 25 Sep 2026

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