The Rise of a New Type of Agencies in the Post-Cookie Era
- Martijn Zoetebier
Google has announced that starting in 2024, there will be no support for third-party cookies in the Chrome browser. This has major implications for e-commerce companies, as they heavily rely on effectively gathering data and insights for their marketing purposes.
The Effects of Post-Cookie Monitoring
As the deadline approaches, one would expect companies to take action. However, the urgency seems to be less than anticipated. A study by Adobe reveals that 75% of marketers still heavily rely on third-party cookies. More than three-quarters of business leaders expect that phasing out third-party cookies will harm their companies. Marketers will struggle to reach their target audience effectively and map user behaviour, making it harder to personalize digital ads.
Consumers continue to expect highly personalized experiences, which poses a significant problem. According to Smart Insights, 63% of consumers are likely to stop purchasing from brands that use poor personalization tactics. Accenture shows that 83% of consumers are willing to share their data in exchange for a more personalized experience.
The data from Adobe highlights widespread concerns about how to address these challenges, reflecting crucial issues in the current approach to marketing campaigns. Since the pandemic, e-commerce companies have primarily focused on short-term performance-driven marketing solutions aimed at immediate sales, while paying less attention to future challenges. Many e-commerce businesses have invested heavily in PPC (Pay-per-click) campaigns and built their customer base using Google and Meta’s advertising services, while underinvesting in strategic marketing approaches, such as brand building.
Technological solutions
Let’s explore how technology can mitigate the impact of these challenges. One possibility is server-side tagging. This method replaces the reliance on third-party cookies with a script that runs on the company’s server instead of in the user’s browser. This reduces dependence on third-party cookies. By moving the collection and processing of data to the server, marketers can continue to gather valuable data and deliver personalized ads without third-party cookies.
However, this is not a perfect solution. Server-side tagging requires more technical knowledge and infrastructure than traditional tagging methods, making it harder to obtain real-time insights into user behaviour. Additionally, server-side tagging may impose limitations on data sharing with external parties since all data is processed on the server.
Other technical solutions include contextual targeting, where advertisers target users based on the content they are viewing rather than their behaviour. An alternative is Unified ID 2.0, a standardized ID that can be used by all parties in the advertising ecosystem.
Another option being developed by Google is FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts). Instead of tracking individual users, this approach groups users with similar interests into cohorts, allowing advertisers to target these groups. The idea behind FLoC is to ensure user privacy while still enabling relevant advertising.
Another discussed solution is probabilistic tracking. This involves advertisers using statistical models and machine learning to infer user behavior based on available data. While not as accurate as deterministic tracking, probabilistic tracking can still provide useful insights for ad targeting.
Unfortunately, none of these solutions can offer the same accuracy, reach, or ease of use as third-party cookies.
Martijn Zoetebier
Managing Director Conversive & Group Director Business Development
+31(0)36 200 21 30
