And the cookie crumbles: What you need to know about 3rd party cookie depreciation

March 20, 2023 Stan

Since 1992 when Netscape invented a little bit of JavaScript code to allow websites to remember user information and preferences, marketers have been using third-party cookies to track website visitors, collect data to target ads to specific audiences, and improve user experiences. As a reminder, third-party cookies are created by domains that are not the website (or domain) that you are visiting and are accessible to any website that loads the third party server’s code. It has been the primary way that display advertising has built and measured digital ad campaigns and has enabled the free content and web experiences we have grown to expect on the internet.

Similarly, we’ve been hearing for years that cookies are going away, and it looks like it’s finally going to happen across all web browsers. Mozilla’s Firefox started limiting cookies as far back as 2013 and Apple’s Safari took the same actions in 2017. Google declared in 2020 that it would begin phasing out third-party cookies on Chrome browsers by 2022 and then delayed that action until late 2023 and, well, here we are! With Google holding more than half of the global browser market, the phase out of their third-party cookies will have the most far-reaching consequences. Are you ready?

Why is 3rd party cookie depreciation happening?

As web sophistication has grown, consumers are demanding greater privacy and control over their own data, including transparency about what data is being collected, by whom, and how it is being traded with other companies. In addition, we have seen the proliferation of privacy regulations such as GDPR, CASL, CAN-SPAM, CCPA and others going into effect – and being enforced – to protect private citizen data. It is all related; it’s about improving consumer control over the personal information that businesses can collect and use and reducing privacy concerns and risk.

What does it mean for me as a marketer?

The loss of the third-party cookie that advertisers have relied on using to serve and target ads is having a profound effect on the digital advertising ecosystem. Not only do advertisers have a more difficult time tracking users across the web to serve targeted ads, but also publishers are having a harder time monetizing their content due to the inability to sell targeted advertising. With the crumbling of the cookie, we must enable better ways to engage our prospects in a way that they are willing to voluntarily share information with us. And, we can’t sell or share that trusted information to other advertisers or we risk losing that consumer trust, and consequently, their permission to market to them.

But it’s not all gloom and doom. It is true that businesses that rely on cookies for digital marketing and advertising need to shift tactics to remain relevant in the market. However, it is imperative that the quality of online content does not decline. Remember, consumers are more sophisticated now than ever before, and resorting to subscriptions or paywalls to monetize content is not simply the answer. We have to get smarter too. And the good news is that there are other ways to collect data on your website visitor and customers that are even more reliable than traditional third-party cookie information.

How do I market in a post-cookie world?

There are quite a few mechanisms already in place that will help ease marketers’ transition to a world without cookies. In all honesty, cookies are no longer necessary for online advertising! The primary way marketers can shift to non-cookie marketing is to focus on what is known as “zero-party data.” Zero-party data is data that is voluntarily shared by users with your company. It can include things like content and communication frequency preferences, interests and direct contact information. It is highly likely you are already collecting this zero-party data through form submissions, surveys, polls and quizzes on your website, social media and webinar interactions. This data is more reliable than cookie information because it is directly obtained from consumers, and because it is collected with the user’s consent, there are no privacy concerns. Most marketers today use this information to personalize messaging and measure performance of their campaigns.

Taking it a step further, many companies are investing time and resources into identity tracking solutions. This method involves stitching together a customer profile from many disparate sources and tying it together with a universal identifier that is known to your entire tech stack. This could be as simple as using email address or phone number as a standard identifier for your customer or a more robust solution with an abstracted identifier that better protects consumer privacy. It is a good idea to make your identity tracking methodology or solution a part customer data platform (CDP) or data-lake to capitalize on an aggregated data set about your prospects and customers across your marketing ecosystem. In addition, you may also want to investigate adding a digital analytics platform that can analyze your customers’ behaviors and optimize their digital journey with your content and product/service offerings in real time. This mix of marketing technologies will allow you to tailor the user’s web experience by making on-the-fly recommendations, predictions, and personalization during their engagement with you. Now that’s powerful marketing!

It may also be time to invest in contextual advertising and content nurture strategies and technologies. Providing rich, contextual journeys while a customer is interacting with your website is quickly becoming the norm. Instead of using data about the user, the system displays relevant ads based on the content of the page. In this way, you could place pay-per-click ads alongside content that the user is already consuming, indicating their interest.

Similarly, contextualizing your own website is a must. By using a content marketing platform to provide real-time, hyper-personalized content journeys and campaigns, you can gain key insights into content consumption to gauge buyer intent and accelerate the buying cycle. There are a number of content experience platforms and you can use them to gain even more zero-party data by creating a content adventure – recommending the next best piece of content, providing in-window forms, creating polls and quizzes, using progressive profile techniques – all tactics that increase time on site and fill out both direct and behavioral customer profiles that you can use in all your marketing efforts.

The short of it is….don’t panic. With the proliferation of ad blockers, millions of internet users are already suppressing cookies and other tracking technologies. There are also greater governance requirements dictating what data can and cannot be collected. We are already in a cookie-scarce world, and we are already able to use tactics and technologies that will actually help create more engaged and actionable leads and customers. The key is to make your company and your brand as safe as possible from future governance by using the strategies you already have and ones you can employ to reach your audience with relevant content and advertising…even without cookies.

Need help strategizing a plan or enabling new technologies in this new cookie-less world? Relationship One is here to help!

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