2023 will be the year the cookie crumbles. Google announced plans to delay the phase-out of third-party cookies in Chrome, giving marketers just a bit more time to prepare. But does that mean brands are ready?
Nearly half (49%) of all US digital media professionals polled by Integral Ad Science in October 2020 cited third-party cookie deprecation as one of their top three industry challenges. What’s a savvy marketer to do? Here are six things to keep in mind as third-party cookies go the way of the dinosaur.
1. Third-party cookies weren’t always accurate
Ad blockers, sharing a browser with other household members and clearing cookie caches have all chipped away at the effectiveness of third-party cookies over time. The research is not clear whether ads using third-party cookies add value. A University of British Columbia paper published in 2016 found that under the right circumstances, people are 2.7% more likely to make a purchase when ads use cookie tracking.
2. The time to invest in first-party data is now
Now is the time for renewed focus on customer experience. In a January 2021 survey, 42% of US data professionals noted they planned to increase spending on the use of first-party data in response to the demise of third-party cookies. Delivering personalized and tailored digital experiences at scale can help brands acquire and retain customers.
3. Integrate customer data platforms (CDPs)
CDPs are becoming an indispensable tool in the modern martech stack. In an August 2020 Advertiser Perceptions study, 89% of US marketing tech decision-makers reported that CDPs led to significant or some improvement on online sales, with 92% also citing significant or some improvement in ROI.
OpenText™ Experience™ CDP enables brands to create a single view of their customers by centralizing data from disparate sources. With a Google Marketing audiences integration, Experience CDP gathers valuable segment and audience data in real time – enabling marketers to deliver the right interaction at the right time, in the right place and the right context. It collects data directly from customers and prospects and unifies cross-channel marketing efforts. Its customer acquisition analytics can help marketers understand the ROI across campaigns.
4. Re-target, re-target, re-target
Experience CDP allows marketers to create re-targeting campaigns to activate customer segments for continuous engagements across web, email and SMS. It allows marketers to nudge prospects and customers with information related to a transaction to encourage them to take action.
5. Prioritize point-in-time personalization
Using a CDP opens up greater opportunities to elevate the customer experience with enriched personalization. Use machine learning to generate individual user attributes like lifetime value (LTV), customer acquisition value (CAC), propensity scores and churn risk that can then be used for highly personalized customer communications and support.
6. Authenticated experiences are king
An Enterprise CMS like OpenText™ TeamSite™ can help create personalized content for targeted audiences. In addition to serving up different content based on a referring site, marketers can easily create highly personalized experiences for known users.
Are there templates available that solve an analytics challenge? Engaging webcasts with highly sought-after industry experts? By enticing customers to sign in, marketers can begin to identify who they are and what they’re looking for at each stage in their buying journey. For example, a brand could help customers manage their warranties post-purchase or offer an in-app promotion based on a recently watched video. Marketers could send a promotional email to users with items in their cart that have recently gone on sale, encouraging them to purchase. OpenText TeamSite can help build and manage authenticated portals for customers to provide even more value.
Unlock your customer data: how to drive better customer experiences
Learn more about how OpenText Experience Platform, powered by TeamSite and Experience CDP, can help modernize your martech stack to deliver superior customer experiences.
Are you looking to increase conversions with data-driven decisions? Register now for our webinar to discover the benefits of unlocking your first-party customer data with OpenText and Google.
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If you have the latest version of TeamSite or Exstream, talk to us about adding Experience CDP.
