We’re in the midst of radical change for marketers. Google’s plan to repeal third-party cookie tracking within the next couple of years, backed-up by Apple’s recent changes to its Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), and privacy legislation sweeping the globe, have irreversibly changed the landscape for marketers and the way in which they can connect with consumers.
Where privacy-conscious consumers win, marketers wedded to third-party cookies lose. It’s unlikely Google FLoC (cohort based advertising) is going to be the silver bullet to marketers advertising woes. Scott Cuningham, founder of the Interactive Advertising Bureau explains it succinctly.
27% of consumers Have Gone to the Trouble of Installing Ad-blocking Tech
The numbers are compelling. The 2021 Digital Consumer Trends Index polled over 5,000 global consumers, and 66% declared that ads based on cookies and tracked behavior were creepy, not cool. Furthermore, numbers show a mere 4% of Apple users are opting in to app tracking for advertisers, and that number is predicted to only dwindle. Consumers are tired of being tracked across the internet, being served irrelevant ads for
Although Chrome isn’t the first browser to phase out the third-party cookie, it’s the biggest, with Chrome accounting for 56% of the web browser market, and the demise of the cookie could be one of the biggest influences on how to reboot the brand-consumer relationship and establish a path to personalization at scale.
In their session Tim & Rich had some intriguing stats on consumer attitudes to cookie tracking and the personalization derived from it.
Implementing a Zero-Party Data Strategy
Zero-party data is the gold standard of data and it’s the rocket fuel behind the true-personalization the modern consumer expects from the brands they do business with. Unlike first- and third-party data, zero-party data can go beyond past behaviors and preferences to offer insights into people’s motivations, intentions, and interests. Rather than telling you what a consumer has bought in the past, you have the data to know what they intend to buy in the future.
This may sound a lot like first-party data with a 2019 rebrand, but zero-party data is collected directly from your customers and not by using cookies. Alas it’s not simply a case of ask, and you shall receive – digital consumers are more scrupulous than ever when it comes to handing over their personal details and preference data. You need to offer a value exchange.
The Value Exchange Economy
The utopia described above comes with a caveat. Consumers are not going to hand over their personal and preference data for nothing. You need to offer a tangible value exchange – offering something of value to the consumer in order to receive the data you need.
To collect the data required to power true-personalization, consumers need to be entertained, engaged, and receive something in return for their attention and preference data. Marketers can deliver this through interactive experiences that conduct research, accrue opt-ins, and deliver an altogether better experience for the consumer.
Questionnaires, polls, quizzes, contests or social stories can incorporate reward mechanics that give consumers a genuine reason to engage and submit their first- and zero-party data. And it doesn’t always have to be a discount or red-letter prize: exclusive content, social kudos, personalized recommendations and loyalty points can also be the catalyst for the collection of opt-ins and zero-party data.
One you’ve gathered consumer motivations, intentions, interests, and preferences at scale, you can think about delivering a truly personalized customer experience to beat the walled gardens and death of the cookie.
There’s still several weeks left of Signals21- the award winning virtual content series for marketers. Whether you’re looking to deliver personalization that goes beyond a first name and past purchases, implement a loyalty strategy that’s more than an occasional freebie, or just want to be entertained and motivated by expert and engaging speakers, we have a session for you.
