Marketing Expert Krishen Iyer Speaks on the Importance of First-Party Data

As the founder and CEO of MAIS Consulting, Krishen Iyer understands what it takes to run successful marketing campaigns. His current role positions him to work with clients on marketing, company policies and contracting to achieve better company growth. Regardless of each client’s niche or current market share, Krishen Iyer consistently reinforces the importance of first-party data collection.

Krishen Iyer Explains First-Party to Third-Party Data Collection

When meeting a client for the first time, Krishen Iyer is careful to explain first-party data collection in simple terms. The phrase refers to the gathering of first-hand information about the primary audience a company intends to reach. Here is a breakdown of first-party, second-party, and third-party data collection.

  • First-party data includes information collected directly from the intended customer. Typical examples include social media platforms, website cookies, surveys, subscription-based email, and voluntary feedback from customers.
  • Second-party data describes information received from another business, usually a partner company. Although the partner business obtains customer data first-hand, it becomes second-party data when transferred or sold to another business.
  • Third-party data is an aggregate collection that does not involve any direct relationships. Businesses typically purchase third-party data from a data provider. The quality of information about individuals and target customer groups is considerably lower and often requires manual review.

Krishen Iyer stands behind the power of first-party data. He recently stated that marketers will struggle to build relationships with customers or meet their financial targets without it. However, collecting such data is not without its challenges. Consumers must give their consent, and marketers must know how to evaluate data to understand buying journeys. The good news is that they have plenty of tools available to them, all of which Krishen Iyer can help them access.

Areas of Marketing Most Driven by First-Party Data

Krishen Iyer founded and operated two businesses in the Carlsbad, California area before launching MAIS Consulting. His experience and success in the fields of insurance and marketing helped form the advice he gives clients today. In his view, businesses must have access to first-party data to drive growth in these areas:

  • Advertising
  • Demand generation
  • Ecommerce
  • Subscriptions

Having good insights into the intended audience is only the first step in achieving marketing success. The ability to leverage those insights is what truly makes a difference. Companies can maximize the data they have collected to understand and cater to customer buying behaviors. When businesses understand how customers think, marketing teams must be ready to present products that strongly appeal to them.

The Importance of Using a Customer Data Platform to Obtain Insights

Raw data dumps are overwhelming and not helpful to most marketers. According to Krishen Iyer, businesses would better serve their needs by setting up a single customer view. Taking this step requires pulling in different data sources and analyzing them to understand the customer. Offline data is just as crucial as online data in this regard.

Customer data platforms (CDP) collect customer information from a range of sources. The program then analyzes and normalizes the data. From there, the CDP goes on to build unique customer profiles and a unified customer database. The best CDPs allow for instant sharing of data with other systems and members of the marketing team.

As someone who works closely with other marketers, Krishen Iyer knows that they have been seeking this solution for years. Interest in CDPs has risen dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic as containment concerns have driven millions of transactions online. Both B2B and B2C marketers have accepted that they must be willing to conduct more business on digital channels. Below is a partial list of tasks a good CDP should be able to accomplish:

  • Receive data from any source
  • Share data with any system
  • Capture all details of incoming data
  • Store data indefinitely in collaboration with privacy laws
  • Create a unified profile for each customer
  • Offline and online data management capabilities
  • Ability to manage structured and unstructured data
  • Can connect to and from any external system while remaining neutral to all vendors

These capabilities represent only the minimum that any CDP should have. Krishen Iyer works with his clients to evaluate the criteria and features of various programs. He wants to ensure that clients choose the best CDP without having to waste time on an inefficient program.

Krishen Iyer Stresses that Data Collection Involves People and Processes Behind the Scenes

Collecting first-party data through a CDP is an involved process that relies upon the work of skilled individuals. Companies should prepare marketing budgets to hire top talent to operate data collection systems if they hope to benefit. By hiring the best people for the job from the start, businesses can avoid missing important data. They will also not suffer the financial losses associated with turnover due to poor hiring practices.

About Krishen Iyer

California business owner Krishen Iyer specializes in the following areas:

  • Entrepreneurship
  • Insurance
  • Marketing
  • Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Other business concerns related to company growth

As someone who has been an entrepreneur himself since shortly after graduating from college, Krishen Iyer understands their concerns. He launched his first business, MNP Insurance, within months of graduation. The company now goes by the name of Name My Premium. Inc. 5000 included Name My Premium on its list in 2015 thanks to its exceptional growth.

The next entrepreneurial adventure for Krishen Iyer was founding Quick Link Marketing, later known as Managed Benefit Services (MBS). He worked on both the insurance and marketing sides of the business to help clients generate leads. After stepping down from that business, he launched his current venture with MAIS Consulting. Krishen Iyer enjoys the excitement and challenge of helping clients define their marketing strategies and realize results from their decisions.

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