At NetElixir, we know that the key to a successful e-commerce business is leveraging data and analytics to create a web presence and user experience that engages customers, builds brand loyalty, and drives sales. For years, third-party cookies have been a staple of every business’s data and analytics diet. Now, due to shifts in public opinion around data privacy and corresponding changes in policies and regulations, your business will need to find new ways to capture customer data.
What Are Cookies And Why Are They Going Away?
First-party cookies are all about improving the user experience for your customers. They ensure customers have easy access to usernames and passwords, items they’ve added to their shopping carts, language preferences, and other information that customizes your site for each user. These cookies are created by your site and its host domain.
Third-party cookies are loaded by ad servers and other third-party servers on websites, and they can be accessed by any site – including yours! – that loads the code of those servers. Accessing that code allows you to learn about customers’ browsing activity to help you better target them with your digital campaigns.
As internet users have gotten more and more concerned about privacy and access to their data, there’s been a push toward transparency and toward offering users control and choice over how their data is used and shared. With changes in regulations and user expectations, websites are beginning to limit how much they track visitors and customers to comply with stricter privacy measures. That means you can no longer rely on the wealth of information third-party cookies provided.
Why Should My E-Commerce Business Prepare Now For The Shift To A Cookieless World?
If your business is part of the 68% percent of the digital industry that, according to IAB, isn’t changing up their measurement strategies to adjust to the end of cookies, your e-commerce business may trail competitors who are already working to transform how they collect and analyze data. Successful brands will make the shift from third-party to first-party data that draws on their strong relationships with their customers.
In this rapidly evolving digital environment, businesses must be nimble and find new ways to collect and analyze data to inform decision-making and innovation. By collaborating creatively with marketers and tech experts, you can continue to offer dynamic, frictionless user experiences for your customers that lead to conversions while maintaining customer privacy.
What Can I Do To Ensure My Business Has The Right Strategy For The Cookieless Future?
As third-party cookies disappear, first-party data will become more important than ever in informing how you communicate with customers and how you personalize the content you share with them. If you have a strong following and a loyal customer base, research shows that your customers will be more likely to trust you with the data that will help you refine your strategy and user experience. Building brand loyalty and recognition can be achieved through thoughtful and authentic storytelling that creates a connection with customers. At NetElixir we expect that direct-to-consumer brands with an already built-in fanbase will especially find success through those direct relationships with customers.
The tools available for data analytics in digital marketing continue to evolve, with Facebook, Amazon, and other platforms working on solutions to meet businesses’ needs. Google Analytics 4 is already emerging as an important industry tool that complies with privacy regulations while tracking data from events and audience creation.
How Can NetElixir Help?
The disappearance of cookies doesn’t mean you have to abandon real-time data-driven insights! NetElixir can help you continue to reach your high-value customers across channels with targeted content to ease their path to conversion.
We at NetElixir are always thinking about how the digital landscape will continue to change, from our expectation that there will be increasing prominence for ad platforms with robust first-party data to anticipating the rise of equity-based marketing and the use of machine learning to streamline and automate best practices. We predict that using a full-funnel approach, rather than focusing on specific channels, will help to drive business growth even as engagement with individual channels changes.
We are already improving and innovating our analytics tools to provide you with the data insights you need to make decisions about your business. We’ve developed an Analytics and Insights Solution that brings together Google Analytics and Power BI with our proprietary customer analytics platform LXRInsights to help you collect and understand the customer data you need to inform your digital strategy.
Want to learn more? This is the first post in a series on the future of analytics in a cookieless world. Check back for posts on loyalty programs, preparing for the end of cookies and understanding why third-party cookies are going away, and the future of cookieless tracking. And contact NetElixir today to discuss how we can help position your business for success.
Additional Resources
- Our latest e-book: Preparing for a Cookieless World
- NetElixir + Google webinar: The Future of Analytics and Thriving in A Cookieless World
- Preparing for the Cookieless World With Google Analytics 4
