Posted by: Ash Fielder
24 June 2025
A campaign drives a surge of visitors. Sales asks which accounts engaged. Marketing wants to retarget by intent. The data looks busy, but answers are fuzzy. That is the moment first-party data earns its place. When you collect and act on your own data inside your CMS, you stop guessing and start moving. Teams align on one source of truth and you can see the path from click to conversation.
Business value takeaway: first-party data gives you clarity you can act on, not dashboards you debate.
Definition + pain points
Definition: First-party data is information you collect directly from users on your own channels. It includes on-site behaviour, forms, downloads and authenticated activity. It is consented, accurate and under your control. That makes it more reliable than third-party data for personalisation and measurement (ICO cookie guidance; Piwik PRO definition).
At a glance – questions leaders ask
- Can we personalise without leaking data to third parties
- How do we align consent, retention and reporting
- Why does GA4 show gaps when we need year-on-year analysis
- Can we connect website signals to CRM for timely follow-up
- How fast can we test, learn and improve conversion
Business value takeaway: define first-party data and you can tie privacy, personalisation and pipeline together.
How Umbraco Engage makes first-party data useful
A first-party tool inside your CMS
Umbraco Engage brings analytics, profiling, A/B testing and personalisation into the Umbraco backoffice, so marketers work where content lives, not across scattered tools (Introducing Umbraco Engage).
Server-side tracking for accuracy and control
Engage uses server-side tracking so data is collected on your infrastructure. This improves accuracy, reduces client-side losses and keeps sensitive data within your environment (Umbraco Engage product page; What is web analytics – Engage).
Consent and compliance made practical
Analytics and personalisation should respect consent. UK guidance treats analytics cookies as non-essential, so you need positive consent and clear controls. Engage supports consent-aware tracking and preference management inside the CMS (ICO guidance).
From signals to segments to action
Mark key interactions like downloads, repeat visits and video views. Build client classifications, view campaign analytics and trigger content targeting, all from the backoffice (Engage Analytics; Engage Campaigns).
Connect to your stack
Push qualified signals into CRM and marketing tools to support timely nurture. Umbraco documents common integrations such as Dynamics and HubSpot form capture alongside custom connectors (Dynamics integration example; HubSpot forms example).
Business value takeaway: Engage turns owned signals into segments, then into on-site action and CRM follow-up.
First-party with Engage vs GA4-only vs stitched scripts
Before the numbers, a note on data horizon. Standard GA4 properties retain user- and event-level data for 2 or 14 months depending on your settings, with longer horizons only in GA4 360 (GA4 data retention; GA4 360 retention). This matters for year-on-year analysis and cohort tracking.
| Capability | First-party with Umbraco Engage | GA4-only (client-side) | Patchwork scripts + third-party CDP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data control & residency | High – data collected server-side on your infra | Medium – processed on Google’s servers per GA4 settings | Mixed – data flows across vendors |
| Consent alignment | Strong – consent-aware tracking in CMS | Varies – extra work across tags | Varies – depends on vendors |
| Retention horizon | You set it in your systems | 2 or 14 months (standard GA4) | Vendor-defined |
| Accuracy & loss | Lower client-side loss via server-side collection | Higher loss from blockers | Varies |
| Time to implement | 2–6 weeks typical | 1–3 weeks | 6–12+ weeks |
| Personalisation | Native in CMS with testing | Limited without extra tooling | Strong, but complex |
| Uptime dependency | Your hosting SLA (e.g. Azure App Service up to 99.99% SLA) | Google Analytics availability | Multiple vendor SLAs |
Sources: Engage product and docs; GA4 help; Azure SLA overview (Microsoft Online Services SLA; Azure App Service).
Business value takeaway: Engage keeps data close, consent clear and activation fast, without a heavy CDP build.
Outcomes by role (with metrics)
- CEO – pipeline you can trust: Owned insights, faster test-and-learn, better conversion.
- CFO – lower cost of acquisition: Server-side tracking reduces data loss and improves attribution quality, supporting spend decisions (Server-side tracking explainer).
- CTO – privacy by design: Consent-aware tracking and server-side processing keep sensitive data within your control, aligned to UK guidance on cookies and consent (ICO cookie guidance).
- CMO – readiness for data deprecation: Analyst coverage shows marketers elevating first-party and zero-party data as cookies fade; priorities to update data strategy rose from 12% to 21% year-on-year in Forrester’s survey (Forrester marketing survey insight).
- COO – predictable operations: Fewer tools to coordinate, one backoffice, one audit trail.
Business value takeaway: each leader sees measurable upside – cleaner data, faster iteration and lower risk.
Proof points and validation
- Vendor – Umbraco Engage: server-side tracking, analytics, profiling, A/B testing and personalisation in the backoffice (Product page; Intro post; Analytics docs).
- Regulator/standard – ICO: analytics cookies need consent; clarity and control matter for lawful tracking (ICO cookie guidance PDF).
- Vendor – Google: GA4 standard data retention is 2 or 14 months, longer in GA4 360 (GA4 retention; GA4 360 retention).
- Vendor – Microsoft: Azure App Service offers an uptime SLA target up to 99.99% to underpin CMS-hosted analytics (Azure App Service; Microsoft SLA overview).
Quantified client example (Growcreate): A B2B services client implemented Engage with consent-aware tracking, CRM integration and three personalisation tests. In 60 days, content engagement on target pages rose 28%, form conversion improved 16%, and qualified leads increased 19%. The team cut reliance on third-party scripts and gained a cleaner audit trail.
Business value takeaway: independent guidance plus platform capability, proven by a quantified rollout.
Own your data. Own your growth.
First-party data should live where you publish and sell. We implement Umbraco Engage cleanly, align it to your funnel and deliver fast wins.
Book a first-party strategy review – a 60-minute session to map signals, consent and quick-win tests.
FAQs
First-party data is collected on your channels with clear consent. It is more accurate, easier to govern and faster to activate for personalisation and sales follow-up. You control storage, retention and access (ICO cookie guidance).
No. Many teams run both. Engage gives you first-party analytics, profiling and personalisation in the CMS. GA4 remains useful for channel reporting. Note that standard GA4 retention for user- and event-level data is 2 or 14 months unless you use GA4 360 (GA4 retention).
Collecting on your server reduces client-side losses from blockers and lets you filter what is sent to third parties, improving accuracy and compliance controls (Server-side tracking guide).
Engage runs inside Umbraco and your hosting. With Azure App Service or equivalent, you can meet strict uptime and security targets while keeping tracking under your control (Azure App Service).
With clear goals and a focused test plan, teams often ship initial tracking and one or two personalisation tests in 2–6 weeks, then iterate. Results depend on traffic and offer quality.
Yes. We assess your setup, enable Engage, connect CRM where needed and phase in personalisation with minimal disruption (Engage docs).
