26 Sep How the Cookie Crumbles: The Future of Third-Party Data
As it turns out, third-party cookies haven’t totally been thrown off the digital marketing baking sheet yet.
In a recent pivot in July 2024, Google announced that they no longer plan to deprecate third-party cookies in the Chrome browser — a notable shift from their prior decision to discontinue third-party cookies by 2025.
Instead, Google has proposed an “updated approach that elevates user choice” as the new future of cookies. With that comes the introduction of “a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing.”
But just because the answer to the question “Are cookies going away?” is now “no,” doesn’t mean they should be (or even can be) an integral part of any brand or advertiser’s digital marketing strategy. Cookies are now more half-baked than ever when it comes to being a reliable marketing source.
So, what’s next for advertisers when it comes to navigating a brave new world with half-baked cookies — and how will the future of cookies impact digital marketing? Let’s take a closer look by discussing:
- The definition of third-party cookies
- Shortcomings of third-party cookies
- Preparing for a post-cookie future (even with cookies)
Definition of Third-Party Cookies
Digital advertising cookies are small pieces of data that trigger a website to recall information about your visit. The site domain you’re directly visiting creates and stores first-party cookies. Third-party cookies are a bit different, though, in that sites other than the one you’re visiting create them.
Third-party cookies capture third-party data, which is often collected not only from websites but also apps, CRMs, POS systems, and more, to provide an overarching snapshot of consumer behaviors and trends — advertisers can then leverage the information for targeted advertising, cross-site tracking, and other marketing purposes.
Shortcomings of Third-Party Cookies
This isn’t the first time that third-party cookies have come under fire — and are getting burned. They’ve become an increasingly sticky and controversial issue in recent years due to privacy concerns about the third-party data they track. That’s because consumers have increasingly found this kind of third-party tracking to be intrusive and irritating.
Some 11 years ago, in 2013, browsers (including Firefox and Safari) were already placing restrictions on third-party cookies and automatically blocking them. That left Chrome to do the heavy lifting for cookies in the desktop internet browsers — and, with 64% of the global desktop market share, it was and is still a big piece of the pie.
Yet even with Google now rescinding its 2020 decision to phase out third-party cookies, it’s still wise to continue to prepare for a future that doesn’t rely on cookies — especially since Google is now going to offer users an even more upfront way to opt out of third-party cookies and tracking.
Preparing for a Post-Cookie Future (Even with Cookies)
Whether you’ve been bracing for a post-cookie future or not, the decline of third-party cookies should trigger a new and revised — and ultimately better — approach to online advertising.
It’s both a challenge and an opportunity for advertisers and marketers. As such, here are four ways you can evolve your digital marketing strategy to be sweeter — and more effective — than third-party cookies ever could be.
1. Activate First-Party Data Tracking
Remember: First-party data is still invited to the party; it’s third-party cookies that you can no longer rely upon. That means it’s time for businesses to buckle down and get serious about getting to know their consumers — and potential customers — more directly and personally.
Here are a few ideas for collecting additional first-party data and learning more about your consumers:
- Use tools like Google Analytics to collect and evaluate first-party data about your website visitors. While this data is anonymous, it can still provide overarching trends and indicators that can inform your digital marketing strategy.
- Employ lead-generation strategies, such as downloadable assets, to capture additional information from consumers in exchange for offering a valuable free product to them.
- Activate surveys or polls to collect consumer insights.
- Ask consumers, “How did you hear about us?” by adding fields to survey forms, checkout pages, or landing pages that include additional questions.
- Implement server-side tracking, which you can collect through Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) and Google Tag Manager tracking.
2. Use a Data Onboarding Platform
Data onboarding platforms like LiveRamp facilitate the use of offline first-party data across platforms, basically acting as a middleman to ingest datasets and make them more useful in targeted marketing efforts.
These platforms ultimately bring offline data about consumers online, so it’s actionable and can improve marketing insights and attribution, expand your target audience, and improve your campaign performance.
3. Set Up Advanced Platform Analytics
Google Analytics can only take you so far when it comes to analyzing your online data — and with the shifting landscape of third-party cookies, GA is not nearly enough. Google Enhanced Conversions, Meta’s Conversion API, and offline conversion tracking through CRM data are all ways for advertisers to analyze consumer behavior and conversions. With or without cookies, each of these advanced platform analytics solutions provides more robust data to leverage across your digital marketing strategy.
4. Consider Contextual Advertising
In lieu of third-party cookies, contextual advertising offers another way for marketers to align with target audiences in accordance with specific, relevant themes or topics. Ads are served and displayed based on the content of any given web page — ads that are likely to be of interest to the user. For example, in contextual advertising, a user browsing an article about dog ownership might see an ad for a specific kind of dog food.
Conclusion
Even though third-party cookies aren’t totally cooked, they should still be an integral part of your digital marketing strategy. With these four digital marketing strategies and systems in place, you can continue to successfully equip your business for a future that’s far less reliant on third-party cookies (and Google’s changing tastes for cookies).
Partnering with an agency to help navigate and implement new marketing strategies that don’t rely on third-party cookies can be helpful. The Threadgill Agency has already successfully helped many brands through this process — and can do the same for you. We are committed to the success of each of our partners — from small businesses looking to make a name for themselves to established powerhouses seeking next-level strategic ideas and advanced reporting. We take a customized approach to each and every business that we partner with. Get in touch with us to learn more about our advertising solutions today!