What are the Pros and Cons of a Cookieless Future?

There are two kinds of cookies. The ones you can eat and the ones that track and monitor a site you visit. In this blog, I will be writing about the latter.

First-Party and Third-Party Cookies

Cookies are defined as small pieces of code that can track users across multiple sites. First-party cookies track user engagement and are stored directly by the website you visit. Third-party cookies are created by other domains and used for tracking and online-advertising.

In January 2020, Google said they would phase out cookies in the Chrome web browser within 2 years. Since then, there has been a change of plans. Under their new timeline, Google is delaying their efforts to phase-out third-party cookies until the second half of 2024.

Impact on Marketers

Now, what does this mean from the standpoint of marketers? For marketers, the end of tracking cookies will impact a user’s experience since they will no longer be able to rely on third-party cookies to learn about website visitors from cross-site tracking or use that information to target and personalize ads. Aside from getting data about customers through cross-site tracking, cookies also give marketers the ability to expand their visible across other platforms.

Here are some implications provided to HubSpot from a GetApp Survey:

• 41% of marketers say the biggest challenge will be the inability to track detailed user data
• 44% of marketers estimate they will need to increase their spending by 5% to 25% to reach the same goals as 2021
• 23% of marketing experts predict they will invest in email marketing software because of Google’s new policy

Even with the death of third-party cookies, there are still first-party cookies. Since first party-cookies collect information directly from customers, it is reliable and effective in building last customer trust. Unlike first-party cookies, third-party cookies are collected and aggregated from various sources, which can lead to inaccurate data.

Without third-party cookies, marketers have to come up with new ways to navigate the cookieless world. It would be interesting to see the future innovative solutions after the death of third-party cookies.

Is this Good or Bad for Users?

Cookies are not entirely bad. Even though there are many negative aspects to cookies, there are also some benefits. Benefits include convenience and relevance. Since cookies collect your data, they can target and personalize information relevant to you as well as help autofill information.

The biggest problems with cookies relate to data privacy and security concerns. Marketers aren’t as concerned about these issues, but to many people, privacy and security are extremely important. Cookies allows marketers to collect a lot of data about consumers and their activity across the web and that information may also be inaccurate and irrelevant to the consumer due to aggregation. Without third-party cookies, users have more privacy and control over their personal data and there will also be more transparency and trust.

How do I feel?

As a marketer, this topic is controversial since there are implications from a marketer’s standpoint as well as from a user’s standpoint. In my opinion, I prefer to have more control over my data. As we know, first-party cookies still exist, and the data collected from first-party cookies comes directly from the consumer and it is more accurate than third-party cookies. Since first-party data is more accurate, it can provide a more personalized and relevant content to enhance my experience.

I think that many small businesses are more likely to suffer with the lack of data about users meanwhile some big businesses will benefit or not be at a loss due to all the information they have. With new technologies coming, I believe that businesses of all sizes will soon be able to navigate the cookieless world more easily while adhering to privacy regulations and respecting user’s privacy.

What are your thoughts on the end of third-party cookies?