How Third-Party Cookie Deprecation is Driving Digital Transformation

With the end of third-party cookies on the horizon, companies that have not yet embraced digital transformation will be obliged to do so in order to develop their own first-party data. Publishers are looking at their own assets and addressing how they can efficiently create their own customer data to prevent the effects that will follow the end of third-party cookies when they can no longer rely on Google retargeting.

In this post, we’ll look at how companies can succeed through digital transformation after third-party cookies are not an option anymore.

What is digital transformation?

To meet changing business and market requirements, digital transformation is the process of employing digital technology to build new — or adapt current — business processes, culture, and consumer experiences. Digital transformation is the redesigning of business in the digital era.

Digital transformation is built around four key elements, these include, technology, data, process, and organizational change. The end of third party cookies has an effect on each of these elements, the main one being data — brands need to build their own first-party data and move away from the reliance on third-party data, they need the right technology in order to build and collect their data, they need to have processes in place that their whole team implements and understand, in turn creating organizational change.

How will brands achieve success after the end of 3rd party cookies?

What data do you already own?

Firstly, brands should analyze what data they currently own when planning on digitally transforming the way their business utilizes customer information. What first-party data do they have easily accessible to them? Over the years, there has been a priority put on having first-party data, so brands should have started the collection of customer data long before now, they should be starting with some customer information already available to them. This might be data they have collected for the purposes of email marketing or first-party data they have available through their social media platforms.

What tools are brands using to manage their data?

Next, a brand will need to review how they are currently storing data and upgrade their technology if it’s not providing accurate information, in a secure environment. Brands should start off by investing in a reputable CRM platform such as Salesforce, to be confident that they are storing their first-party data in a safe place, to avoid customer data being compromised. Outside of the basic requirements of a CRM system, their solution should provide them with insights into their customers such as performance metrics and conversion rates. This data can help brands make informed decisions about the direction of their products and website.

Utilizing a CRM tool will help your brand have better control and visibility over your customer data and will help to increase ROI.

Personalization

Customers have stated that they have no issues with sharing their personal information with a brand if they know they will obtain a customized shopping experience as a result of doing so. The data that is supplied to a brand directly from a customer is the most accurate and dependable data that a brand can acquire. Building this data can provide a brand with a wealth of information about their typical customers. Customers should be assured that if they supply this first-party data, they will receive a personalized experience. This is a simple way to acquire reliable data while also increasing customer loyalty.

Email Marketing

The value of email marketing should not be overlooked by companies. Brands should not neglect a marketing technique that has been around for years and still produces a high ROI. Brands should look at the tool they’re using for email marketing and make sure it’s doing what they need it to; automating the process as much as possible to make it run seamlessly. Offering discounts is a wonderful approach to nurturing your consumers and driving sales. It’s also the simplest approach to generating your first-party data. Based on gender, region, and other factors, this data may be segmented into customer segments.

Email lists may be used to retarget people on your lists through platforms like Google AdWords, LinkedIn, and Facebook, thus it should be a priority for companies to start accumulating data so that they can leverage these third-party platforms in some way after the end of third party cookies.

Conclusion

Digital transformation isn’t anything new, it’s been around for the last few years, but it is growing in importance due to cookie deprecation. Over the next 12 months, brands are going to be entering or moving further into the digital transformation era to prepare themselves for the change in how they collect, grow, and use their data. It will be interesting to see what way digital transformation evolves with new processes and technology required to support the new cookieless era.

Originally published at https://www.advendio.com on March 29, 2022.