The evolution of privacy and the future without cookies

The data privacy landscape is increasingly shifting in favor of the consumer. This is because over the years it has become transparent how increasingly opaque companies are with the data they collect about you.

There is no overarching law in the US that completely standardizes the regulations on how companies collect, store and share customer data. There are several industry-specific laws (such as HIPPA, COPPA and perhaps ROSCA currently the closest), but nothing that holds companies fully accountable for the customer data they collect, store and sell in a standardized way.

And so begins, what I like to call, the road to regulation.

Before the GDPR in 2018 (the EU’s huge push on the General Data Protection Regulation), Apple launched Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) in 2017, limiting the ability to track websites in Safari. The GDPR would soon follow. Since then, we’ve had Firefox cookie blocking, CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), Apple’s ATT (App Tracking Transparency), and several state-level CCPA regulations (including Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia). All this to say that Chrome, which is phasing out its third-party cookies, is dominated by this ongoing privacy evolution. (Regardless of when it actually takes place, now slated for 2024).

Building consumer confidence

So, what does this all come down to? Consumers trust. I mean, isn’t trust the foundation of a healthy relationship? My POV has always been that brand safety is a two-way street. Often (especially in my early days as a media buyer), the brand safety conversation has centered around blocked keyword lists and validating that ad impressions were served alongside brand-safe content. Brand safety also means: is your brand safe? Can your brand be trusted? If I, as a consumer, give you, the brand, my personal information – how can I trust that my data will not be leaked in the event of a breach, that it will not be sold without my consent or knowledge, that I will’ not several spammed times a day?

This conversation is vital to reassess how brands can build and cultivate consumer trust. This is where Customer Experience (CX) teams can enter the chat. Give consumers the choice of what personal information they share and set preferences for the cadence and type of brand communication they want to receive. (For once, I want to unsubscribe from a newsletter I don’t even know how I got on the list in the first place and actually want to be “unsubscribed”.)

Giving consumers more control over the who/what/where/when/how of their data is the future. Consent is becoming a little more democratized and this will be the catalyst for brands to strengthen their customer relationships.

Brands can start with more strategic ways to capture and use their own first party data.

• Understand your customers: This can include data audits and enrichment efforts or identity building.
• Engage your customers: Improve CX based on your amplified customer data.
• Incentivize: Implement personalization strategies, promotions, or loyalty rewards.

Personalization follows with data

With consumer confidence and robust first-party data, personalization can follow. We all spend so much money cultivating and retargeting customers – isn’t that the name of the game? Why not give them the value exchange they’re looking for in their interaction with your brand? People want to feel that they are being treated or stimulated specially, as opposed to a one-to-many experience.

Since people love to share information directly with you, it’s the brand’s responsibility to provide better experiences, while remaining compliant and providing some measure of value sharing.

Marketing in the future without cookies

The disappearance of cookies does not mean the end of marketing. What it does mean, however, is a rethinking of the approach to data capture and management. Supported by consent, accuracy and scale in assessing compliance efforts: the type of data you use, how you collect it, how it is distributed and how you keep it secure.

Third party data can still be very useful in addition to your first party data. That’s why it’s important to diversify data strategies.

Teams can audit existing data partners to understand how data is collected, whether it is deterministic/probabilistic, which is the key identifier in establishing matches (and much more).

In essence: start testing now, learn what works and what doesn’t and be open to changes.

After all, the only constant we can ever rely on in this industry is change.

Kristen Dolan is VP of Media Strategy and Innovation at influential.