When You Don’t Give A Mouse A Cookie
Enter 2020 — A new era where consumers are demanding transparency. People want to know where their food came from, how their clothes are made, and what you are doing with their personal data. Thanks to the writers and documentarists who made the blogs and Netflix specials that unveiled the hard to hear truths about the industries’ best kept secrets, people are now demanding answers.
A few years ago, there was a good chance that an average internet user did not know what an internet cookie was. Fast forward to 2021, an average internet user probably has some idea that internet cookies are bad even if they don’t know exactly what they do. In 2020, Google announced their goal to ban third party cookies by 2022. Recently, they delayed these changes until 2023. Now, I personally never pegged Google to be procrastinators but by glancing at their competitors like Firefox and Safari, both browsers have done their part to limit third party cookies years ago!
So what is the hold up, Google?
I’d say it’s pretty obvious. If Google’s browser, Chrome, were to ban third party cookies, what will it mean for advertisers and businesses that heavily rely on third party cookies? Catastrophe? Maybe. Lucky for Google, it seems as though they will most likely come out of this change largely unscathed. This is largely due to Google limiting third party cookies on their browser but does not limit their individual tracking and data collection methods on their other platforms such as YouTube and Google Search. However, Google is wise enough to understand that since they are currently the #1 most used browser, that instituting such a change might topple the more profitable advertisers and businesses that rely on third party cookies.
We need to move at a responsible pace — Google
What are my options?
So what does this mean for marketers and digital marketing as we know it? Luckily, marketers are adaptive and are problem-solvers. Right now, there are some alternatives marketers are already looking into in anticipation of this change.
1. Go back to using first party cookies
First party cookies are unlike third party cookies in that first party cookies are essential to running a website. First party cookies includes basic information about the user such as language preference, login information, and remembering what is in your shopping cart. There is plenty of information that can be used and leveraged to learn more about your targeted audience. If you think outside of the box, collecting data through customer service can also help. For example, when a customer has a complaint or has a question for customer service, patterns can be drawn and data can be collected all on speaking directly to your customers.
2. Contextual marketing
Contextual marketing is when you browse a sneaker store website and happen to see an advertisement for the newest Adidas running sneaker. This is a basic but also effective way of reaching your targeted audience without storing their search history from 2 weeks ago.
3. Permission based e-mail marketing
This method is something I imagine all marketers and businesses moan and sigh about. Although it is difficult to build an e-mail list, it is very effective and bypasses third party cookies. It also requires marketers and businesses to invest in their e-mail lists by providing consistent value to their community and actually building relationships with their consumers. Ground breaking, I know.
My Takeaway
In summary, banning third party cookies for the most used web browser will shake things up enough that marketers and businesses will have to shift and adapt accordingly. But, there are effective alternatives that can be used to replace third party cookies. Recently, I noticed a trend to shift back to basics and seeing reiterations of techniques, methods, and platforms we have seen before. Marketing is no exception. I believe that changes like this should happen because it holds companies more accountable. Although it doesn’t entirely solve the problem of user privacy and being able to see what they do with our data, at least it is a step in the right direction. I disagree with the extremist point of view of wishing to ban tracking entirely. Some tracking and data collection is necessary for personalization and improving user experience. However, there should be a healthy balance and should not go beyond tracking the user on other applications.
