The Way the Cookie Crumbles: the Elimination of Third Party Cookies

Managing the Transition and Maintaining Personalized Marketing Experiences

In recent years, several policies and regulations have been implemented to ensure that identities are secured and consent is obtained before personal data can be used for online advertising. While third-party cookies violated these basic principles time and time again, new initiatives (and subsequently, new tools) are opening the opportunity for a cookieless online environment that ultimately provides a more personalized digital experience, without the privacy issues.

As we get one quarter closer to the end of cookies (remember, firms like Google are preparing to completely block third-party cookies forever), we hope to provide a refresher on the actions required to ease tension and prepare your brand for the transition.

Third Party Cookies

The ability to monitor users’ browsing history across, multiple websites, enabled marketers the ability to gather data and personalize user profiles with in-depth interests to present tailored ads or content. However, this digital practice led to plenty of ethically dubious surveillance and potential invasion of privacy, as that level of tracking kind of exceeded the average person’s understanding of how data was collected across sites and experiences. That was the power of third-party cookies and, with them, advertisers were supplied with this “superpower”. Now though, we see the public and many web hosts andwebsites, have begun to speak up or speak out against the practice.

First Party Cookies

Tools such as first-party cookies allow websites to offer personalized user experiences by gathering information related only to the individual’s browsing activity on that specific site. This enables the site to provide a customized experience to each individual based on previous searches, items added to their cart, past clicks, and purchases. It’s similar to a retail store that can adapt its layout and appearance based on the aisles and items previously explored or purchased. This personalized experience increases engagement and conversion. It’s also well within the average person’s understanding and expectations of interacting with a website. I’m not surprised if my Starbucks knows my “regular” coffee order (1st Party Cookie), but I’d be surprised if Bed Bath and Beyond did (3rd Party Cookie).

How to Prepare

Make a list of actions and bring the right people into the discussion.

• Identify all third-party cookies currently being used on your website.
• Prioritize which cookies are essential for your website to function and which need to be removed or adjusted.
• Evaluate alternative tracking methods like first-party and identity-based marketing.
• Implement alternative tracking methods like contextual advertising to best suit your business needs.
• Update your website’s privacy policy to reflect the changes in both tracking and data collection practices.
• Communicate the changes to your users through various channels such as website, email, social, chat, and more.
• Provide users with an opt-in or opt-out option to secure their data privacy preferences.
• Monitor the website user experience and performance to identify improvement opportunities.
• Optimize practices to improve user engagement.
• Stay up-to-date with the latest privacy regulations and best practices to ensure compliance and reduce potential risks.

There are many resources available online that go into more detail for each of the to-do items on the list above. Of course, if you still need a hand getting started, would like a second set of eyes on your existing site setup, or are curious how the cookie regs may impact your Marketing Cloud or Pardot efforts, drop us a line! We’re always happy to help.

As always, will see you in the cloud.