Google is Dumping Third-Party Cookies and What Does It Means?
Google has been planning to ban third-party cookies. In the world of digital, cutting cookies could turn the digital marketing industry upside down. Here are some positive and negative aspects of the end of third-party cookies as both a user and a marketer.
What is a third-party cookie exactly?
These cookies, not those cookies. Cookies in the digital world are simply trackers that are placed on a user’s computer by a website or application. Unlike first-party cookies that connect us to a single website. Third-party cookies allow someone to track our shopping or other activity across the internet.
So, what do users and marketers need to expect if we don’t have third-party cookies anymore?
Impact on the Users
Third-party cookies have always been a big concern of privacy violation. In fact, 41% of U.S. consumers regularly delete cookies, and 30% have installed an ad-blocker. Cutting cookies can reduce the number of companies collecting and storing information about users which gives us more control over our data and will potentially prevent data misuse beyond stated intentions.
On the other side, tracking cookies is very convenience for users. Cutting cookies means we can’t take advantage of pre-filled address information on order forms and websites can no longer get their location and serve the most relevant information about the area. People enjoy seeing things they have an interest in, and third-party cookies are the reason they can do so. No cookies simply mean less relevant content.
Impact on the Marketers
Since third-party cookies carry information on browsing data, cutting cookies meaning it will be more difficult for marketers who depend upon third-party cookies to use personalization in their advertising. It will also be much more difficult to assess the impact of the advertising.
The change may hit especially hard if it is a startup or smaller brand, as they likely rely heavily on digital advertising. As the cookie-less internet unfolds, marketers have to come up with better ways to measure and track users online.
But everything has two sides. Google will still keep its first-party cookies, which allow marketers to track basic analytics on the brand’s site. The lasting impact of no cookies might be a positive one because it will also force marketers to stop their focus on the cookies and “instead focus on the consumer’s overall journey”
As Both a Marketer and a User
Like it or hate it, the cookie-less world is coming near the corner.
As a marketer, I think it gives us a chance to innovate and be creative with the way we approach customers. Brands must produce more relevant content and enhance customers’ experience on-site. I believe email marketing will be stronger than ever because it is one of the few things that customers have given consent to receive communications. Marketers need to come up with strategic plans for the customer journeys and meet the customers at the place they wanted to be engaged. It might be the time to kick third-party data for good and focus on developing relationships with our customers.
As a user, I don’t know if my web surfing experience will be a little choppy as I need to re-enter passwords and update other settings. I don’t mind giving out some of my data if they can show me the perfect winter puffer coat I’m looking for. So, in that sense, I think I’ll miss those days when YouTube serve me a The North Face ad 20 min after I searched for a winter coat online.
