For years, marketers have been using cookies to track website visitors, enhance user experience, collect data, target messaging and retain user account details and user preferences. But as users seek increased privacy, governments are increasing regulations. As a result, internet browsers are responding by gradually phasing out third-party cookies. According to Google, “Users are demanding greater privacy—including transparency, choice, and control over how their data is used—and it’s clear the web ecosystem needs to evolve to meet these increasing demands.” To meet these demands, Google began making efforts to reduce third-party cookie usage, with the intent to have it fully phased out by 2023. With approximately 80 percent of advertisers and marketers relying on third-party cookies to boost the impact of their tactics, what does the phaseout mean for marketing professionals?
Defining Website Cookies
A tracking cookie is a short code that is added to the user’s web browser after they visit certain websites. The code is stored in the user’s browser over a period set by its creators or until the user deletes it. This code changes the way that user’s web browser interacts with certain pages. Examples include saved autocomplete details, login authentication and recorded user activity.
A first-party cookie is the data of a user directly interacting with and providing information to a site. A third-party cookie is that same information but passed or sold to new sites later visited by that user. Third-party cookies transfer user data to different websites to personalize website interactions. “Cookies make online activity easier for consumers by recognizing user behavior,” writes Melissa McGrath of MNI Targeted Media. “It’s like walking into your local diner, and the waiter knows you’re a vegetarian and that you don’t like green onions in your home fries. Cookies tailor your online experience.”
What the Cookie Phase-Out Means for Marketing
In response to users’ widespread desire for more user privacy across digital platforms, major browser players like Apple and Google started to change their data collection processes. One of the most significant changes was the promise to phase out third-party cookies. This resulted in a shifting landscape for data analysis, advertising and targeted marketing. Many marketers and advertisers know this will change the state of digital marketing. But how?
- Prioritization of digital privacy and improved trust with brands. A 2021 Epsilon study found that 62 percent of marketers believed the phaseout won’t help consumers. In the grand scheme, however, the long-term goals and benefits of these changes put the consumer first. Research shows that 74 percent of U.S. internet users are more concerned with their online privacy than ever before. Large browser moguls like Google and Apple are shaping a digital landscape that prioritizes that privacy. When users aren’t worried about where and how their data is being sold, they can enter business relationships with brands founded on mutual trust and genuine engagement. To build this trust with your audiences, prioritize transparency and honesty in your brand communications to address prospective customer concerns.
- More strategic campaign and content management. Advertisers and marketers rely on their ability to understand their target market to deliver the right messages at the right time and via the appropriate mediums. Cookies commonly are used to tap into buyer personas and create targeted segments. Marketers also need an array of tools to develop a clear and ongoing understanding of their target market. Examples include data management, customer relationship management, social media management, email and advertising campaign management tools. From there, marketers can craft strategic and personalized content and advertising campaigns with buyer needs, challenges and preferences in mind.
- First-party and permission-based data are vital. This phaseout applies to third-party, not first-party, cookies. This means websites can still gather data from their own website visitors, with their permission. Businesses need to ensure they are making the most of this data by utilizing the right analytics tools and strategies such as strategic landing pages to gather user data, maintenance of an ongoing data inventory, ongoing analysis of website visitor trends and optimization of the website user experience.
- SEO becomes more important than ever. Increased digital privacy could mean it will be harder to track and target users who might be interested in your products or services, but it doesn’t change how users can find you. A strong search-engine optimization strategy means users can discover your business when they’re looking for solutions. Optimize your website, thought leadership content and marketing messages for search. Use the buyer personas crafted through your analytics to understand what users are searching for, how you can provide solutions and what buyers are looking for at each stage of the sales funnel.
Always Put the Customer First
While the death of third-party cookies may strike fear in marketers, advertisers and data engineers, don’t panic. If your marketing strategies rely on third-party cookies, it’s time to start looking for other options. Perhaps the most important solution will be the easiest to implement. Successful businesses know how and when to put the customer first. While shifts in the landscape of digital privacy are changing the way we market, these changes follow the same principle: understand and address the needs and values of the customer. Prioritize the privacy values of your prospects and clients to begin a relationship founded on trust. Maintain this customer-centric mindset across your strategy, content and outreach to generate results that matter.
