The End of the Third-Party Cookie: 4 Steps to Shifting Your Data-driven Marketing

The third-party cookie has been a fundamental component for marketers since the launch of banner ads in the mid-nineties, but it’s time is coming to a close (at least partially). Within a year, Google will add its name to the list of tech giants – Apple and Mozilla, for example – removing cookie tracking from browser capabilities.

This does not mean, however, that cookies will no longer exist. 

The end of the cookie means tracking user behavior across disconnected domains and platforms in order to create targeted ads will become a thing of the past. Increasing privacy regulations, such as the European GDPR, have set strict guidelines for stronger data collection, transparency, and security practices. These actions have led brands to quickly adapt their data privacy policies – for example, deploying cookie acceptance notifications on their websites.

 

Effect On Measurement

Many marketers rely on multi-touch attribution (MTA) modeling to measure the effectiveness of their activities. Such measurement has been dependent on third-party cookies that reveal information about what happens next when someone clicks an ad or moves from page to page. Without the acceptance of this useful text file, it will become increasingly harder to measure the effectiveness of an advertisement – specifically, whether an ad contributed to a conversion.

 

Reliance On First-party Data

Right now, the majority of consumer data is owned by five companies — Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft. Privacy laws and the ensuing actions of these data aggregators, such as the removal of third-party cookies from web browsers, are intended to ensure consumers trust and provide control over how their personal data is used. With the removal of search engines as data sources for advertisers, brands will become more reliant on their own data. According to one source, “the focus of online media trading will be publishers’ first-party data as such a method of audience targeting will mean less personal information is traded between (comparatively) anonymous ad-tech players.”

 

4 Ways To Prepare For The End Of Third-party Cookies

Here are a few steps your brand can take to adjust to the loss of these long-held tracking assets:

 

Embrace media mix modeling for advertising campaigns

Media mix modeling (MMM) is an approach for advertisers to optimize their digital media buying while factoring in offline media, seasonality, and other variables. Similar to MTA, you’re examining the impact of marketing and advertising campaigns to determine how various elements contributed to your marketing goals. Without third-party cookies to help inform campaigns, MMM can help build confidence in metrics provided by Google and other platforms, leading to better conversations on effective optimization strategies.

 

Build your own customer data platform

While some brands have robust data management practices, the importance of native data collection will be more important now. During the next 12 to 24 months, you can build out your own customer data platform (CDP) or use a vendor to centralize all of the consumer data in your organization into a single internal repository. Bringing data management in house will go a long way in eliminating the uncertainty that will come with the removal of third-party cookies.

 

Establish server-to-server integrations

Another step is for IT to create server-to-server integrations, which allows a brand to have complete control over the data they send to other platforms. They are designed to have a single integration point as a means to “future-proof” their data collection platform against any further changes in technology, regulations, or data management practices.

 

Explore tracking alternatives

As a consequence of the actions taking by Google and others, it’s likely that new tools to identify and track consumers – while offering privacy protections – will enter the marketplace. While these alternatives may not provide the scope that Google, Apple, and Mozilla can, by combining independent tools with your own CDP, you can stitch together an infrastructure that will provide the insights needed to execute successful ad campaigns.

 

The pharma brands and ad agencies that anticipate the impact of losing third-party cookies and are able to build platforms and adjust their strategies will be the ones that come out ahead in a brave new cookieless world.

 

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Article Written by: Alex Brown