Zero-party data
Zero-party data is information a customer shares with a brand on purpose, through quizzes, polls, preference centres, wishlists, or post-purchase surveys. It is different from tracked behaviour. The shopper knows they are giving it and expects the brand to use it for better recommendations, personalised offers, and clearer communication.
Zero-party data is information a customer shares with a brand on purpose, through quizzes, polls, preference centres, wishlists, or post-purchase surveys. It is different from tracked behaviour. The shopper knows they are giving it and expects the brand to use it for better recommendations, personalised offers, and clearer communication.
Zero-party data is information a shopper hands over on purpose, not data you observe in the background. A quiz that asks about hair type, a poll on preferred fragrance, a wishlist tap, a size selector saved to a profile, a survey after delivery. The shopper knows they are sharing it and expects you to use it to serve them better.
It sits next to first-party data, which is behaviour you record on your own site like pageviews, cart adds, and orders. First-party data is what people did. Zero-party data is what people said. Combined, the two give a much sharper picture than tracking pixels and third-party cookies, which are now restricted on most browsers anyway.
For Indian D2C brands this matters because privacy rules under the DPDP Act lean on consent and purpose. Data a customer voluntarily gave you, for a stated reason, is the safest kind to hold and the most useful for personalisation, retention, and WhatsApp follow-ups.
On beyondRegular
On beyondRegular, zero-party data shows up when a shopper taps a hotspot, opens a variant, or signals interest inside a shoppable video. If you pair the widget with a short quiz or a saved preference on the storefront, you can sequence the right videos for the right shopper. A skincare brand can show oily-skin clips to a shopper who self-declared oily skin, a jewellery brand can lead with bridal sets for someone who picked wedding as the occasion. The store still owns the checkout and the customer record, so the data stays inside your Shopify or custom backend and your Razorpay or Shopify Payments order history.
Common questions
How is zero-party data different from first-party data?
First-party data is what you observe on your own site, such as pages viewed, products added to cart, and orders placed. Zero-party data is what the shopper deliberately tells you, like skin type, preferred size, gifting occasion, or fragrance preference. First-party shows behaviour. Zero-party shows intent and stated preference. Most strong personalisation programmes use both together, with zero-party data filling the gaps that pure tracking cannot.
How do D2C brands in India collect zero-party data without annoying shoppers?
Keep it short and give something back. A three-question skin quiz that ends in a routine recommendation, a fit finder before the size chart, a post-delivery survey with a small store credit, a WhatsApp opt-in that asks for category interest. Ask only for what you will actually use. Be clear about why you are asking, store the answers against the customer profile, and act on them in the next email, WhatsApp message, or product feed.
Related resources
First-party data
First-party data is information a brand collects directly from its own shoppers through its website, app, checkout, widgets, or messaging. It includes orders, product views, video engagement, email, phone, and on-site behaviour. Because the brand owns the relationship, it can use this data for personalisation and remarketing without depending on third-party cookies.
Personalisation
Personalisation is the practice of changing what a shopper sees on a storefront based on signals about them, such as past behaviour, location, device, or stage in the buying journey. It can adjust product order, recommendations, banners, video clips, offers, and messaging so each visitor gets a more relevant experience instead of one fixed page.