A customer data platform (CDP) can help you collect and leverage first-party data

For years, marketers have used cookies to track the activity of website visitors, collect data to use for targeted ads, and improve the overall user experience.

But now that Google has announced it will phase out third-party cookies with the launch of its new Chrome browser in 2022, marketers must find a new way to meet customers online.

The answer: first-party data.

Let’s take a quick look at what the extinction of third-party cookies means in the digital marketing world and how a customer data platform (CDP) can help you collect and leverage first-party data.

What are Third-Party Cookies and Why are They Going Away?

Third-party cookies are snippets of code that are installed on your website to collect information on users visiting and engaging with your website and digital content.

What happens with the data collected is that it can act intelligently to segment users and create actions based on their behaviors.

The data collected can act intelligently to segment users and create actions based on their behaviors.

Think if you have visited a website and then go to another website and see an ad for that company – that’s called retargeting. These cookies can also help marketers with outbound emails, advertising and tracking.

Are Marketers Ready for a Shift in the Digital Advertising Landscape?

In Digiday’s report “The accelerating state of digital marketing: Marketers and advertisers are racing to master the post-analog world,” the answer is a clear majority “no.”

In August and September 2020, Digiday surveyed 186 brand and agency decision-makers, including 108 C-suite executives and 78 vice presidents.

They asked these marketing executives about their plans for digital investment in the post-pandemic era as well as the challenges they’re facing as they expand their digital footprint.

Tightening privacy regulations and the death of cookies present new challenges to marketers. They each make it difficult for digital marketers to target users, measure behavior, and personalize content at a time when these abilities are more crucial than ever.

According to Digiday, “no technological roadblock is more challenging than identifying unique user IDs in the post-cookies era.”

Brands and agencies in the survey made clear the importance of establishing unique user identities, especially when it comes to targeting and customer engagement.

Survey respondents identified the critical roles for user IDs as follows:

• 44% – Personalized ad targeting
• 25% – Day-to-day engagement with customers
• 11% – Overall customer retention
• 10% – Driving repeat/returning customers
• 10% – Overall customer acquisition

While brands are aware of the importance of unique user IDs for personalization and engagement, many admit to struggling with it. Asked to what extent organizations are able to engage with unique user identities on digital platforms, just 22 percent seemed comfortable and used personalization widely.

Thirty-eight percent said “to some extent,” 34 percent “to a small extent,” and 6 percent “not at all.”

This identifies a clear gap between awareness and capability. Additionally, executives do not have confidence in their ability to personalize content on digital channels.

Just 30 percent claimed to have a “high ability” while roughly half at 49 percent said they were “moderate.” Twenty percent admitted a low ability while one percent had no ability at all.

Here are a few of the area that these marketing executives highlighted as lacking the focus, tools, and skills to personalize their user experience:

• Email targeting
• Targeted promotions/discounts
• Setting optimal pricing
• Setting personalized recommendations based on past interactions

Brands and marketers also say they aren’t confident in their ability to collect real-time data. Only 31 percent said they had a “high ability,” while the remainder were moderate, low, or none.

But it’s not a doomsday scenario, as help is available.

“Non-cookie-based identity solutions currently exist,” said Rob Auger, Senior Vice President and Head of Media Technology at Digitas. “What will be important is for brands to organize and harness their own first-party data in a platform like a CDP so that it can be joined with these ID-based solutions and activated across channels.”

First-Party Data and CDP’s Step in to Fill the Void

With third-party cookies going away, first-party data now rises to become the number one priority for digital marketers looking to leverage personalization.

As we’ve said before, consumers are looking for some level of personalization when they browse online, and if your company does not provide it, you’re likely missing out on business. The ability to collect and leverage first-party data is so important, and a CDP like Fulcrum allows companies to collect and use first-party data.

Fulcrum helps companies provide a relevant and valuable experience for your users in your ads, emails, or right there on your website. This type of personalization has been shown to increase engagement and conversion rates, which means more sales!

Ready to harness the power of first-party data? Contact Fulcrum for more information and to schedule a 1:1 demo.