Blog HomeIf you can incentivize customers to provide zero-party data, you can significantly lower customer acquisition costs with your new insights. In this post, we’ll detail strategies so customers agree to your data policy.
Customer acquisition costs have gotten a little out of hand for retailers. In 2024, acquiring a retail customer set you back $226 on average. And the trends aren’t any better: over the past five years, average customer costs have increased by 60%.
What’s happening? If you rely on customer data to lower your customer acquisition costs (CAC), you’re well aware of privacy regulations like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). These regulations have pushed companies towards zero and first-party data. The challenge for ecommerce brands is figuring out how to attract more customers with less data to work from.
But there’s good news. 78% of businesses say first-party data is not only plenty helpful but also their most valuable source for personalization. All you have to do is find out how to get it. Given that shoppers’ data is now at a premium, the “how” can be a bit complex. Maybe your shop has features that tell you which customers have clicked “add to cart.” But what if you want personalization and data that go a step above those features?
Even more challenging: can you do it without being icky, creepy, or intrusive with how you collect data? Can you put the customer in the driver’s seat and make them want to click: Sure, I’ll share my data?
In this post:
Enter the wish list.
The wish list is a customer-friendly feature because customers want to use it. Customers can use a wish list to save products for later, sign up for back-in-stock alerts, and set up gift registries. Even better, customers know that they’ll have to share some data with your shop to make these tools possible.
Wish list features make zero-party data (data customers willingly share, different from first-party data gleaned on the back end) easier to collect because they’re customer-first. The data captured on the back end can be a great way to lower customer acquisition costs as you learn more about your customer’s behavior.
This data is more than valuable. It’s actionable. When you understand which products people save, revisit, or remove, you can create an entirely new shopping experience—tailoring product recommendations and promotions based on customer-centric data. It’s not that you can’t use customer data, after all. It’s that you need customers to agree to send you the data.
To get customers to share data, you’ll need to offer something valuable in return. A more personalizing shopping experience feels natural and helpful, for example. Customers like it when you care to listen to their tastes and preferences—without feeling like their phone is eavesdropping on them.
To accomplish that, you need customers to trust you. They start trusting you to do that by involving them in the choice of data they send you. Generally, there are two ways to build trust: incentives and clear communication.
How do you implement this approach? More importantly, how do you get customers to gladly click to share their data?
Your features will only seem beneficial if they help your users meet their specific needs. That means you should leverage the data you have to personalize their shopping experiences as much as possible.
71% of consumers expect personalized interactions, per McKinsey. What if you were to build a wish list feature with customized notifications for price drops on their favorite products? Or allow them to make and share gift registries? Your customers would now have a reason to share their data with you.
Personalization also works on both ends. It helps you capture more data, for starters. Then once you have the data, you can use personalization to minimize CAC. A price drop alert doesn’t just work because it’s a price drop—it’s a price drop on a product that a specific customer was watching.
Personalization is about more than discounts. It’s about relevance. People like knowing more about their specific wishlisted products—whether that comes from retargeted ads on Instagram or a push notification about a price drop alert, personalization gives customers a “concierge”-like feeling that their preferences are being put first.
As Insider notes, personalization is key to lowering CAC. They specifically highlighted Avon’s personalization tools, like tailored product recommendations and countdown bars. Insider writes, “Each strategy delivered over a 20% increase in conversions, with their personalized banners alone driving a 78% conversion boost.”
If you can add tools to your shop to collect more customer data, you’re on the fast track to reducing CAC.
As Insider said, after you personalize your messaging, “a much higher percentage of [customers] are likely to convert, which brings down acquisition costs.”
Here’s an example. If you were to use a customer engagement platform that lets customers save preferred products before logging in, it engages them even before they register with your shop. If they see another product they like, they’re more incentivized to sign up and potentially share their data with you.
The better the tools you offer, the more likely you are to convert browsers into shoppers. And once you have shoppers sharing their browsing data with you, you’ve got a system in place to optimize CAC in the future.
“Reciprocity” is a persuasion principle based on a simple notion: you sometimes have to give to get. That’s why brands sometimes launch new food products with free samples in the grocery store.
It works the same with customer data. Consider the example of SEMRush, which got more first-party data by offering users a chance to win a $100 gift card by filling out a survey.
You don’t have to get customers to fill out surveys every week, however. You only need to give your customers features they’ll like using, like:
Put it all together and create a better customer experience while enhancing the quality of the data you collect.
Ideally, you can use tools with wishlist features to offer customers these benefits. If you were using Swym, for example, you could activate the same “reciprocity” effect with your customers to get them to start sharing your data or make more purchases, lowering your CAC. Consider:
Zero-party data shouldn’t have to be a challenge to collect these days. You only need to incentivize customers to agree to send you this data. If you show them the value and benefits of sharing their information, customers will be glad to share it with you.
Once you do, you can use backend systems like Swym’s Wishlist Plus reports and accounting features to track what customers are doing. You’ll know more about shopping preferences and intent, which will help you target your marketing campaigns to reduce CAC.
If you’re interested in collecting higher-quality data, consider adding the Wishlist App to your store and starting to incentivize a stronger relationship with your customers.
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