After years of discussion, legal battles, politicking, and innovation, Google has seemingly relinquished all plans to deprecate third party cookies in Chrome. So, what does this mean and how does it impact loyalty?
What are Cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of data that are generally used to unknowingly track users in their digital journeys, and they have been a major source of contention for years. Some examples of what cookies do:
- Help websites remember user information across different pages or visits. For example, they keep you logged in to your account or remember items in your shopping cart.
- Store user preferences, allowing websites to provide a personalized experience. This can include language settings, theme preferences, or customized content.
- Collect data on user behavior, such as pages visited, time spent on the site, and interactions with content. This information helps improve website functionality and user experience.
- Enable targeted advertising by tracking user activity across different sites. This allows advertisers to display relevant ads based on user interests and browsing history.
The GDPR and other pro-privacy legislation have successfully added transparency measures to ensure users are knowingly consenting to data usage, but they haven’t been consistently adopted.
Why does it matter for loyalty?
Tracking your customers across their digital experience can be super tempting. It provides great context for what customers are doing when they are not with you. It can give you ideas of where you want invest in product, who you want to partner with, how you fit within a competitive set, and your overall wallet share.
But nothing destroys loyalty quicker than feeling manipulated. Are you annoyed when you get re-targeted for something you already purchased? Would you have positive inclinations toward a brand that you think misuses your data?
If you are a member of a loyalty program, you are already willing to give data to your brand of choice. You are raising your hand and asking them to track your transactions, to send you emails, and to learn about you. So, what is the cost of getting it wrong?
Considerations in approaching your 3rd party cookie strategy:
- If you decide to invest in 3rd party cookie data, do so carefully! Use the data for insight and scores, not as explicit fact.
Have clear goals around cookie data and measure them continuously – this data can be expensive and measuring ROI creates business case. - Double down on zero party data. Ask yourself if it’s more cost effective to incentivize customers to provide zero party data instead of purchasing data externally. It will definitely be more accurate!
- Connect all your customer data and ensure behavior, transactions, and voice of customer is coordinated
- Be conservative with consent – customers appreciate transparency.
- Ensure data privacy and security – if you’re going to collect it, you need to protect it for both your brand and your consumer’s sake.
Some of the latest consumer loyalty research indicates that most program members are willing to provide zero-party data, such as email address, hobbies, preferences and more with or without an incentive. So, as you consider your approach to a 3rd party cookie strategy given the latest decision from Google, see how you can leverage your loyalty strategy to become less reliant on the outcomes of ongoing cookies conversations.
Written By: Rachel Bicking
As Kobie’s EVP of Innovation, Rachel Bicking brings a wealth of experience incubating new products and services by harnessing data-driven strategies to drive customer behaviors. With nearly 20 years in the digital, customer experience and loyalty industries, her career spans multiple Solutions Architecture and Customer Intelligence/Insights roles.
