What is Zero-Party Data?

Zero-Party Data is a term coined by Forrester Research to describe data that a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a business. This includes stated preferences, purchase intentions, communication preferences, and direct feedback. It's called "zero-party" because the customer gives it directly — there's no tracking, inference, or collection behind their back.

Zero-Party Data contrasts with first-party data (data collected from customer behavior on your platforms), second-party data (shared from a partner), and third-party data (purchased from data brokers). As privacy regulations tighten and third-party cookies disappear, zero-party data becomes increasingly valuable.

Examples of zero-party data include: product preferences stated in a quiz, frequency preferences for communications, flavor or variant preferences expressed through conversation, and feedback given in response to a direct question.

Zero-party data is collected through direct interactions where customers volunteer information. In SMS Commerce, this happens naturally through text conversations. When a customer replies to a text with their product preference, selects a variant, indicates reorder timing, or responds to a survey question — that's zero-party data.

The conversational nature of SMS makes it a particularly rich source of zero-party data. Every reply contains intent signals. A customer who replies "YES" to a coffee drop has expressed purchase intent for that specific product. A customer who replies "2" has indicated quantity preference. A customer who doesn't reply to a reorder prompt has signaled they don't need more yet.

This data feeds segmentation, personalization, and AI models. The more zero-party data you collect, the better you can target products, time reorder prompts, and personalize the customer experience.

In a post-cookie world where third-party data is increasingly restricted and behavioral tracking faces privacy pushback, zero-party data is gold. It's accurate (the customer told you directly), it's compliant (they volunteered it), and it's actionable (it reflects real intent).

For SMS Commerce, zero-party data creates a flywheel. Customer replies provide preference data → that data improves product targeting → better targeting drives higher conversion → higher conversion generates more reply data. Each text interaction makes the next one more relevant.

Brands that collect and use zero-party data effectively build a personalization advantage that competitors relying on third-party data or behavioral inference can't match.