What marketers should know about the new cookieless marketing in 2021?
Digital marketing relies intensively on cookies data. However, with increased privacy concerns and data protection regulations growing stricter, we move to the cookie-less era. So, what will happen?
Don’t be panic! This article will answer some popular questions around the cookie-less world that will help you prepare and adapt to these significant changes.
First, what is the cookie-less world?
Cookies are small pieces of code that are placed in your browser when you visit a website. They help capture a unique user ID, site name with more detailed information such as website configuration, log in details, or products added to a basket. With these consumer-driven data, advertisers can utilize them for multiple marketing purposes, like personalization, re-targeting, and significantly measurable metrics for digital marketing performance. Apparently, cookies have long been a source of invaluable data for both advertisers and tech companies, with two major purposes: personalization marketing and digital marketing measurement.
In the age that every data can transform to digital, people are increasingly concerned about their privacy online. In fact, a Pew report found that 79% of Americans are worried about the way companies use their data. Forty-one percent of U.S. consumers regularly delete cookies, and 30% have installed an adblocker.
The world of cookie-less - Source: HBR Staff/Burazin/Olga Kurbatova/Getty Images
Committing to the privacy issues, in January 2020, Google announced that it would phase out support for third-party cookies in Chrome within two years. Also, Apple Safari just announced it had blocked all third-party cookies as of March 2020. It happened the same for others browsers, such as Firefox, cookies have already been blocked by default.
“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.”
Can we do personalization without cookies?
The answer is YES, but it requires more effort and creativity. 75% percent of customers are more likely to purchase from a brand that offers personalized services based on their individual preferences. In other words, not having the right data source and the right data means it is difficult to engage customers and retain their attention. So, marketers need to become more creative with the data available to capture the attention of our consumers and make sure they’re fully engaged.
The concept of zero-party data is not new, but it works efficiently in this case. In contrast to third-party data, which is passively collected from cookies and used by companies to make inferences about broad demographic segments of people, zero-party data refers to information that is intentionally and proactively shared directly by individual consumers. Specifically, many brands have begun using mechanisms such as polls, quizzes, sweepstakes questionnaires, or interactive social media stories to collect explicitly opt-in data that provide precise insights into consumer preferences. This type of data collection is a win-win for both brand and customer. It offers customers greater control and transparency into exactly what data is being collected, while giving companies access to much more helpful information that enables them to target personalized offers much more effectively.
Another solution is to maximize the advances of automation, AI and machine learning to apply hyper-personalized marketing, also known as one-to-one marketing, but without customers’ data. It works by using multiple data sources in real-time to deliver engaging experiences to a specific person through the right channel at the right time.
How to measure the online advertising campaign without cookies?
The challenge for marketers between now and 2022 is to find a new way to ensure conversion tracking measurement and personalized targeting remains independently verifiable but without the use of third-party cookies.
In 2021, there will be a continued focus on the new and innovative measurement but privacy-first, with marketers relying on sophisticated techniques like conversion modelling, which uses machine learning to quantify how successful their digital campaigns are.
However, there will be no one-size-fits-all solution for all brands. Marketers have different approaches to exploring, trying and testing, or combining to measure advertising effectiveness levels. For example, after 2022, Google wants advertisers to work within its Privacy Sandbox initiative – a suite of tools that lets advertisers run targeted ads without having direct access to users’ personal details.
Be ready for the cookie-less marketing!
Conclusion
The era of cookies is coming to an end. But that doesn’t mean that advertisers should abandon personalization or there is no way to measure digital marketing — it’s just time for a new, better approach to win the game.
