The death of third-party cookies is happening now. And brands need to act.
Big Tech is retiring the third-party cookies that track consumer web actions.
You can already opt-out of ad tracking on iPhones, and new functions in Safari and Mail prevent brands from tracking pixels or IP addresses. Google Chrome is retiring cookies by 2023.
These developments mean third-party data will no longer be a reliable source of segmentation, targeting, personalization, and insight for brands that market and advertise to consumers.
In the long term, the death of cookies is good for consumers and brands. It enables more consumer choice and privacy. It also motivates brands to develop better experiences to retain consumers.
But it also presents short-term difficulties.
Brands have been dependent on third-party cookies to inform the personalized experiences consumers say they want.. But without third-party cookies, how can brands deliver a relevant experience and achieve their marketing goals?
“As an industry, we are transitioning away from opaque consumer data collection and usage and toward a choice-driven, transparent, and privacy-friendly future.”
- Forrester
To deal with the death of cookies, almost 60% of brands plan to increase spending on first-party data.
First-party data is the information brands collect from customers who willingly share it. First-party data can include anything from form submissions to CRM data. It is often superior to other data sources because it’s relevant and accurate, since it comes directly from the customer. It’s also data that you own, making it valuable and proprietary.
Many brands are sitting on a goldmine of first-party data—or have the means to collect it. However, few are taking full advantage of its power. The impending death of cookies is forcing brands to take a closer look at the first-party data they have or could collect.
To start, brands must audit and collect their first-party data. When looking at sources of first-party data, consider:
It’s not just about collecting first-party data, however.
To deliver compelling personalized experiences, brands need to activate this data.
AI is the key to first-party data activation at scale.
“CMOs need to skill up in AI and tech if they’re going to drive growth.”
- Kristin Lemkau, JPMorgan Chase, CEO, U.S. Wealth Management Group
Why AI?
The reason is simple but powerful:
Your brand has or will have a considerable amount of first-party data. But human teams, no matter how talented, can only extract so much insight from this data in a cost-effective way. And they cannot extract insights reliably at speed and scale. This is especially true when the actions of customers change over channels and time.
Any brand undergoing digital transformation has experienced this. It’s challenging and expensive to acquire and act on insights from data at speed fast enough to impact your marketing and market.
Artificial intelligence can help.
AI tools have the power to activate first-party data to personalize marketing language automatically. Consumers get the right message, one based on their demonstrated behaviors and needs.
For example, a credit card issuer used AI to gain more traction for a loyalty card using personalized language on Facebook ads. The card issuer adapted the message to highlight different loyalty benefits that would best appeal to a given user based on real-time viewer behavior. The AI optimized and learned what inspired customers to action without collecting or depending on identifying third-party data.
Once trained, the AI system could accomplish personalized language for every customer at speed and scale, freeing humans to focus on more strategic tasks.
It’s a marketing match that makes sense.
Humans devise compelling campaigns to collect first-party data.
AI uses that first-party data to personalize marketing language at scale, unlocking value.
So how do brands start activating their first-party data with AI?
A new ebook has the answer.
In Forget Cookies, you’ll discover a new way to use personalized language to activate first-party data. The ebook will help you:
Click below to get it now.