Last year, Google announced that they would no longer be using 3rd party cookies on Chrome from the end of 2023. They were not the first browser to make this decision and it comes as a result of growing consumer concern over privacy and data misuse online. More than 48% of consumers have stopped buying from a company over privacy concerns and that number is only rising. Furthermore, the UK and the EU have implemented laws that regulate the ways businesses collect, store, use, and secure customer data.
These changes are causing huge disruptions to the tools and methods digital marketers have relied on for years. Such as 3rd party data cookies that have been instrumental in understanding user-profiles and targeting personalised ads. With these new changes, digital marketers are having to rethink their strategies. Here are a couple of things you might want to consider as we approach a more privacy-first web.
1. Transparency and Consumer Trust
One of the most important parts of the privacy-first age is the increased value of first-party data and the rebuilding of consumer trust. First-party data is the information a company collects directly from its customers with their permission. With the increased emphasis on first-party, brands will have to find new ways to collect this data directly. To achieve this in the face of consumer scepticism about the handing over of information online companies will have to be 100% transparent with their customers.
2. Future Proof Measurements and Attributions
Cookies have long helped advertisers understand the user journey across sites and the impact of their advertising. To address this challenge Google is already rolling out new tools to support measurement in a privacy-safe way: global site tagging, enhanced conversions, consent mode, and GA4. By using these tools together successfully Google assures advertisers that they will provide accurate conversions measuring using first-party data, and by using machine learning to fill in the gaps of the user journey marketers will be able to unlock additional insights. Facebook too has introduced the conversion API.
For comprehensive cross-channel measuring, marketers may need to find their own solution, as the sharing of data across large companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon is not likely.
3. Be Proactive and Diversify Your Approach
In this time of industry-wide upheaval, it is vital for marketers to remain proactive and alert, keeping up to date with the introduction of new solutions from big vendors, legislation changes, and consumers’ responses to online privacy measures. There is currently a window of opportunity for digital marketers, we can see and feel the changes coming but they are not yet fully upon us, therefore there is a chance now to build new strategies and diversify.
Marketers don’t need to only look at the solutions offered by the major sites or try and find a direct replacement for cookies, now is the time to experiment with different methods.
And Lastly, Don’t Panic! Marketers across the globe are all facing the same challenges and are in the same position in terms of searching for a solution, as are publishers.
