This is an article “Every Marketer’s Guide To 2022’s Cookie Disruption” by Marc Primo
Why do marketers work with only one hand?
Because they're always caught with the other inside the cookie jar.
That joke rings true to many because most marketers love themselves a handful of cookies. Cookies that will get them in the loop when it comes to customer trends. Whether tracking bounce rates, counting visitors, looking into shopping carts and studying customer behavior and preferences, these cookies are the main recipe for the best insights that can fuel any digital marketing strategy.
However, while these mini digital text files are filled with useful data like chocolate chips sprinkled on actual cookies, Google is set to end its support for third-party cookies on Chrome by 2023. Naturally, this development could spell drastic changes to the way marketers collect information.
For the record, Google did not say that individual tracking methods will replace third-party cookies. However, as the platform sets to amplify its cause towards privacy protection and every user's anonymity on Chrome, this cookie disruption may find marketers struggling to gain analytics for over 67% of the entire web browsing market.
No need to worry, though, as there are several workarounds you can do to weather the disruption and brace yourself as the Google cookie crumbles.
Shift to first-party data strategies
As Google says goodbye to third-party cookie support, it's best to turn and invest in first-party data to develop better digital marketing strategies—and there are a few creative ways to do so. Just ask the 85% of businesses in the United States that went ahead and improved their first-party data strategies.
One is to target and collect data from your audiences, according to the standards of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Doing so will allow you to drop your reliance on third-party cookies while generating new revenue sources via segmented user information.
Look for valuable platforms that focus on customer relationship management (CRM) or customer data platforms (CDPs) to help you collect first-party data. You can also provide answer sheets on your billing systems to broaden what information you can gather.
Push your brand's trust and credibility further
Consumers award their loyalty to brands they trust and consider to be credible. That's because these types of brands assure them that the data collected from them is safe and will remain private.
You can start gaining your audiences' trust by focusing on things that they need instead of asking too many questions for the sake of data gathering. As long as they know you prioritize their needs and preferences, the more chances they'll freely answer all the questions you need for insights.
As 92% of today's business investments have shifted towards automated marketing strategies, investing in such solutions can help you better understand your target market's needs via first-party data. Build your audience base by establishing data management platforms (DMPs) that can segment your target audiences and help you enrich their experiences on your sites and social media accounts. While doing so, ask the right questions and don't spam them with more content that they don't need.
Review your strategies and manage the data you collect correctly for the best measure. Do this by integrating your data sources into one platform to sort out customer uniqueness and assign corresponding strategies according to their identifiers.
Be transparent while building your audience
Remember, today's marketing game aims to earn customer trust, and being transparent with them is the best way to gain their loyalty.
Featuring 'behind the scenes' content on your site or social media accounts can encourage them to explore your brand further down the marketing funnel. Be transparent by sharing the data you collected from them and showcasing how well you manage and protect their privacy. This way, you can push your credibility forward and earn trust while enhancing your customer relationships.
Another way of showing your transparency is by adjusting their cookie preferences. Show pop-ups on your website that let them know you collect cookies, provided they give their consent according to how they are willing to share. Offering your audience's comfort in how well you protect their privacy shows that you can be a reliable brand that looks out for them for the long term.
Power up your tech capabilities
Since you're shifting towards first-party data collection, turning to better technologies that can give you new solutions that don't rely on cookies can give you the upper hand. Even tech giants like Facebook and Google have already turned to various tech advances to mitigate the impacts of cookie disruption.
Review your legal rights first in collecting data from your customers, then test your connectivity and management systems to gain useful results. You can practice this by using such automated technologies in hyper-targeted or pay-per-click (PPC) ads while also looking for other data mining software that can reach your audiences without collecting cookies.
Always put customer experience on top
This latest cookie disruption is born out of the demand for better customer experiences and privacy protection. Suppose that's the direction today's digital marketing strategies are going. In that case, you should plot your route towards winning more loyal customers by anchoring on better user interface and user experience (UI/UX).
UI refers to your design elements that can generate appeal from your target audiences, while UX is how much fun they will get from visiting your website. Satisfying their experiences can lead them to trust your brand and offer their data freely.
Some of the best ways to capitalize on experiential strategies are surveys for your upcoming campaigns, customer support, and offering perks for their loyalty. Any way you can show them that they are your top-of-mind will enhance their experience. In turn, you can analyze who your prospective audiences are and further illustrate clear touchpoints for each.
Create scalable environments for your audiences that address their needs and are relevant to them. Refrain from clickbait strategies for your content as your customers can smell them a mile away and turn them off.
Prepare for future marketing disruptions
Building your audiences from scratch in the current cookie disruption may not be easy, but it's not impossible either. As long as you concentrate on enriching your customer relationships, you can ensure your business’s alignment with today's consumer-friendly ecosystems.
Focusing on first-party data, aligning your tech, and amplifying your trustworthiness and reliability for your customers will lift your brand towards this new marketing game and more disruptions that will surely follow soon.