Cookieless Marketing
The positive and negative aspects for marketers and consumers in a post-cookie world.
Are you ever worried if your google home or Alexa can hear you? What about your location tracker on your devices, or saving all of your information online? The rise of privacy concerns with technology is increasing and cookies are just one part of this issue. Cookies are small files that contain personal data to identify your computer and network. These files are delivered by the website and stay whilst you browse the site. Personal information in cookies is stored either in the form of information or ad tracking.
Third-party cookies fuel digital advertising as they help track consumers on different websites in order to target their ads; however, there are privacy concerns related to cookies, and thus they might be removed. For example, Google plans to remove its third party cookies for advertising in 2024- this has positive and negative implications for both the user and marketers.
Removing cookies for the users:
The advantages of removing cookies for users are that they no longer have an invasion of privacy, there is enhanced security, and faster computer performance. The disadvantage of removing third-party cookies is that users no longer get personalized advertising messages, thus it might be harder to reach the consumer directly. Secondly, it is less convenient as the user will be logged out of all online accounts and website preferences will be reset. Additionally, the online shopping experience will be less convenient as the user’s cart items will no longer be there once they return to the page. Lastly, suggested content and related searches on shopping websites will not be there as it relies on the cookie data to be stored.
Removing cookies for the marketer:
The advantages of removing cookies for markets allow for a heavier focus on first-party user data, which can increase the sales for loyal customers. There will be an increase in innovation and new strategies, which will force brands to create real-time and authentic connections to reach the consumer, such as the rise in contextual advertising, content creation, and keywords. Removing cookies will also allow for improved methods to measure customer interactions.
The disadvantage of removing cookies on the marketer is that they there is limited online marketing as they can no longer track users across multiple websites. Secondly, the removal of cookies means a consumer may not click on an ad thus the company will lose out on advertising revenue. Furthermore, with less personalized information it will be harder for the marketer to reach the right audience at the right time, and smaller businesses that rely on third-party cookies will suffer.
Conclusion :
Overall I believe removing cookies is a good move as this will allow marketers to experiment with new innovative ideas on how to reach their target audience whilst consumers can browse online in a more ethical way with less information of their being stored. Whilst consumers may not get directly targeted ads they will get a more curated and tailored experience with the rise of keywords, contextual advertising, and video content.
