First second and third hand data

What are first, second and third hand data? And what makes them different? These are questions we often get. In this post, we provide answers. 

First-party data:

Primary data is information you collect on your own channels. It's data from your customers and leads. Some advantages of first-party data are that the data quality is considered high, it's free and it's owned by you.

It can be data from, for example:

• Website
• Customer feedback
• CRM system
• First party cookie
• App

Second hand data:

Second-hand data is someone else's first-hand data that you pay for. It's about creating a partnership with a company that has data that's interesting to you.

Unlike primary data, the quality of this data can vary, you pay for it and it is owned by someone else.

Case on when secondary data could be used:

Imagine you own a moving company. Here, data from a brokerage firm would be of interest to you. You would then be able to get information about when a potential client is moving and where they are moving to. With this information, you would be able to get back to them with a relevant message at the right time.

Third-hand data:

Third-party data is data that you buy from a company that does not own the data itself. It is data from several different sources that is collected and then resold.

Like secondary data, this data is not free and is not data that you own. As for data quality, it is variable and a bit of a question mark. 

The difference between second hand data and third hand data is that second hand data is owned by the person you buy the data from, while third hand data is bought by a company that doesn't own that data, but they have bought someone else's first hand data in turn.

The difference between third-party cookies and third-party data:

A common mistake is to confuse third-party cookies with third-party data. Here's a brief general explanation of what makes them different:

A third-party cookie is a cookie that is placed on a website but owned and managed by a third party to collect information about your behaviour in order to target advertisements.

Third-party data, on the other hand, is data that you buy from a company that does not own the data itself.

If you want to read more about first-party cookies and third-party cookies, you can do so here.

Summary:

• Primary data is the data you collect and own.
• Second-hand data is the data that someone else collects and owns that you then buy.
• Third-party data is first-party data that someone who does not own it collects and then resells.
• Third-party data and third-party cookies are not the same thing.