🛶 71% of your audience expects this

Thank you so much!

I'm super appreciative of alllll of you who took my audience research survey. I'm overwhelmed at how many people were game!

My next step is conducting more in-depth interviews (about 12).

TBH this is something I recommend for all of my website redesign clients - before copy, you gotta have the convos 💪

🎁 Congrats to the site mini-audit winners:

• Catrina Mitchum
• Linda Vogt
• and Chauna Bryant

I feel we’re like the last outliers who don’t use Alexa or Siri.

“I talked to that speaker at Sam’s house again today. I forgot. ”

My husband grins and I give a small sigh.

“Kiddo,” I say, “I don’t want you to worry, It’s totally fine. We don’t use that technology at our house but absolutely nothing will happen if you do at a friend’s a couple of times.”

It’s hard to explain to my 9-year-old why at his friend’s house he can tell the lady to play whatever music or ask about the weather, and that it’s ok – but at our house there are only real live people to talk to, and it’s probably going to stay that way.

We also don’t do things like:

🙅🏼‍♀️ post pictures of him and his brother on social media
🙅🏻‍♀️ give our phone numbers for rewards cards
🙅🏿‍♀️ have a fridge that knows when we’re out of milk (is that a real thing??)

His dad tries to explain: “The reason we don’t like those devices – and some apps – is that they take the information you pass to them, then sell or give that to other companies, and then they either use that info or aggregate it, without our knowledge or consent.”

My kid knows the word “consent” (he’s Gen Alpha, after all).

He does not know “aggregate”.

“Buddy,” I say, half-smiling over his head at my husband. “If you’re not paying for a product, you are the product.”

But by then he has moved on to telling us about the cherry blossom treehouse he is building in Minecraft.

I read a report that 86% of Americans say their data privacy is a growing concern, and a recent McKinsey study reported that only 33% of American consumers believe that companies use their data responsibly.

👆I’m in that camp, obv.

Ironically, 71% of customers also expect brands to personalize their experience.

Ummmm…

There's a disconnect happening here. To personalize, which IS important, we need data.

And this is why I will not stop talking to online business owners about zero-party data tools.

Zero-party data is info that your audience shares willingly.

It is when you ask them straight out about themselves, and they say, “Oh gosh, where do I even begin??” and you (virtually) scooch your chair right on up and (figuratively) order two salted caramel lattes for a little sesh.

Rather than sneaky-sneaky slipping an AirTag in their purse to check which 5 stops they make, after you wave hello as you pass by.

Which – real talk – is essentially what a Facebook pixel does. And other third-party cookies.

Zero-party data is also the most accurate form of data since it comes straight from the source, rather than assumptions based on demographics, behaviors and observation.

Accuracy will always win in connecting with your audience.

So how do we get this magical unicorn zero-party data?

The shift isn't about chasing the perfect tool (though I have strong opinions if you ever want to hear).

It's about whether your data collection feels like part of the experience – or like something you're trying to sneak past someone.

A quiz that's actually fun to take pulls real answers out of people. They want to find out about themselves, and they'll happily tell you who they are while they do it.

A signup form that lets people pick what kind of content they want does the segmentation work for you. They self-select. They don't unsubscribe three weeks in because you sent them content meant for someone at a different stage of their business.

An inquiry form that asks values-aligned questions – pronouns, the kind of working relationship they want, what's driving them to reach out right now – filters out wrong-fit people and gathers real intel before you ever hop on a call.

The pattern: when the collection IS the experience, people share willingly and accurately.

They don't need to be tracked across 17 sites for you to figure out who they are. They already told you.

When the collection is a side effect (hellloooo Google Analytics you forgot you had), you're squinting at numbers trying to decode what they mean.

You can see that someone landed on your About page from LinkedIn. You can't see whether they're a right-fit client or someone curious about your bio. Google can't see it either.

I think about this constantly in my Northstar Site Build VIP projects.

Not because zero-party data is the sexiest part of a build (it is not) but because it determines whether someone engaging with your site feels like a real person being met – or another email address getting processed.

Talk soon,

PS Cookies came up in Website Wayfinder this week when one of the participants asked about legal pages – privacy policy, terms of service, cookie policy, the works. (Don't worry if you don't have those either. Almost noooobody comes to me with these already squared away.) The full convo, plus the easiest way to handle it without becoming an unpaid law clerk, gets its own email next Thursday.

PPS Want the quick, jargon-free lowdown on cookies vs data, 1st-party vs 3rd party, and all that jibber-jabber? I write about it here.​

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