Connexity, a technology driven marketing solutions company that leverages billions of ecommerce signals to help retailers and brands reach online shoppers, today announced the results of a test to determine if first-party data (said to be the most accurate indicator of consumer interests) really performs better than third-party data.

As it turns out, it does, by a lot.

Connexity recently launched a branding campaign to promote shoes and dresses reaching several million consumers using its own retail-based, first-party audience data segment called “Fashion Insider.” They tested it against similar third-party audience segments purchased via a public exchange to see if data from third-party sources performed as well as first-party data.

The campaign used two ads, one with dresses and the other with shoes. Upon clicking an ad, the consumer was taken to a landing page that featured dozens of dresses or shoes, which they could click on to view individual items, as well as comparison shop.

The seven-day campaign was executed programmatically, with all inventory purchased from public ad exchanges. In all respects, the A and B groups were treated identically, including the bidding strategy, frequency capping, ads seen, and landing pages.

The results of the 1st vs 3rd test were dramatic. The Connexity first-party data delivered:

• 8% more page views
• 25% higher click-through rate
• 36% more time spent on site

There are several possible reasons why Connexity first-party data performed better, including:

Gender accuracy

Third-party data relies on “head of household” information to determine the gender, not the actual computer user in that session. Connexity uses proprietary self-reported survey information from the Bizrate Insights platform to derive and model gender.

Transparency

The third-party data sources provided very little information on how it classified individuals as active fashion consumers, just offering a one sentence description. That means they may have included women who, at one point, shopped intensely for a dress for a special occasion, but were no longer in market. Or they may just read an article about something fashion related.

Proximity to the source

Connexity data is 100% “Powered by Shopping” and always comes from a touch point in a shopper’s path to purchase. Being close to the data enables the company to collect, segment, and score audiences accurately—then bid based on the true value of each individual.

“Data quality has a significant – and measurable – impact on your campaign results. Unless data providers collect their own data, as opposed to aggregating it from other sources, marketers may not reach the right audience,” says Paul Martecchini, Connexity VP Marketing. “The closer you get to the source, the better it performs.”

Read more about the test here: http://connexity.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/CO-WhitePaper-03a.pdf.

Connexity, Inc. (http://www.connexity.com) is a technology driven marketing solutions company that leverages almost twenty years of ecommerce expertise to enable retailers and brands to understand their consumers better, acquire new customers at a lower cost, and increase sales. For retailers, Connexity offers a range of marketing solutions including search marketing, syndicated product listings, targeted display advertising, and the Bizrate Insights customer feedback program. For marketers and their agencies, Connexity delivers targeted audiences on any device through a programmatic media buying platform.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company operates sites and business services in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany including Bizrate, Beso, Shopzilla, Retrevo, TaDa, PrixMoinsCher, and SparDeinGeld. Connexity, Inc., formerly Shopzilla, Inc., is owned by Symphony Technology Group (STG).