Zero-party data – information consumers intentionally share with a brand – isn’t just about learning what people like or how they feel. When collected directly in ads, it becomes a powerful tool you can apply mid-flight to make campaigns perform better, faster, and more efficiently.

Here are three ways consumer feedback fuels smarter media plans:

1) Target Smarter

Make your first, second and third party audience segments stronger with zero-party data. By layering in zero-party data, you can identify high-intent consumers and build audiences that actually want to hear from you. VoiceAlike® AI takes it a step further by predicting intent, preferences, and needs, pinpointing the people most likely to take action.

• Pharma Example: A pharma brand used ViralGains’ Zero-Party Ads to find people who self-identify as living with gout. ViralGains scaled the gout audience with VoiceAlike® and improved their Crossix quality score by 3x.

2) Optimize Faster

Don’t wait until the campaign ends to see what worked. Use in-ad feedback to shift spend to the creative that resonates most with consumers.

• Retail Example: A luxury brand tested three video creatives – work attire, fashion-forward, and loungewear. Each video ended with a ViralGains survey measuring shopping intent. Mid-campaign, they learned loungewear drove 4x higher shopping intent than work attire. They quickly reallocated the budget to boost performance for the remainder of the campaign.

3) Waste Less

Why waste dollars on the wrong people? VoiceAlike® AI allows you to identify and suppress low-fit segments to free up budget for the audiences that matter.

• B2B Software Example: A software company used video ads to educate its target audience on their platform and included a ViralGains survey asking about consideration.  ViralGains built high and low consideration VoiceAlike® segments and retargeted the high group while suppressing the low intent group. The result: 25% higher engagement and 60% more efficiency compared to standard Google Display Network retargeting.

When you treat every ad impression as a chance to listen, your campaigns stop being static and start being adaptive. 

Want to see exactly how to do it? Our free 45-page playbook is packed with ready-to-use survey questions, case studies, and campaign examples. Download it here.