Could Changes To Third Party Data Tracking (Cookies) Make Your Advertising Performance Tank In 2024?

Google Chrome is phasing out third party tracking cookies mid to late 2024. This follows a similar move from Apple via its Safari browser and iPhone devices.

What is the impact of this move? Ads become more expensive due to the increased difficulty of targeting potential customers, resulting in higher costs to achieve the same level of consumer engagement. It also makes it harder to measure success.

If your business advertises online or plans to, it has never been more important to have a first party data strategy. We have put together a series of posts that will help you prepare your business for these changes and get ahead of your competitors.

What is First-Party Data?

First-party data refers to the information a company collects directly from its customers and users. This includes data from interactions on a company’s own websites, apps, social media, surveys, customer feedback, and transactions. It is gathered through direct engagement with customers and is owned by the company, ensuring control and privacy compliance.

How Will The Removal Of Third-Party Cookies Affect Businesses That Advertise?

The decision to phase out third-party cookies marks a significant shift in digital advertising. Third-party cookies have been crucial for tracking user behaviour across different websites, enabling targeted advertising.

Businesses will need to find new methods for collecting and analysing customer data without compromising user privacy.

As the rules change and less external (third party) data is available, businesses are facing hurdles in advertising effectively. First, it is becoming harder to find and target the right customers because the detailed information previously available via third party cookies is reduced.

Why Will Your Ads Become More Expensive?

Your Ads might not reach the people most likely to be interested in them due to limitations in targeting, potentially making advertising more expensive and less effective.

Tracking how ads are doing and understanding customer actions is also becoming more difficult, making it hard to measure success and improve future ads. Furthermore, re-engaging people who have shown interest but haven’t purchased will be tougher without first party data tracking their interests.

Businesses need to find new ways to gather and use first party data to keep their advertising effective.

How Can First Party Data Help Improve Your Advertising Performance and ROAS?

1. Tailored Audience Targeting: Meta and Google can utilise 1st party data to refine audience targeting, ensuring adverts reach individuals who have previously interacted with the brand. This approach increases the relevance of the adverts, leading to higher engagement rates.
2. Customised Ad Content: By analysing 1st party data, these platforms can customise advert content to match user preferences and past behaviour, making the adverts more appealing and increasing the likelihood of conversion.
3. Optimised Bidding Strategies: 1st party data aids in fine-tuning bidding strategies. Meta and Google can use historical data on advert performance to allocate budgets more effectively, targeting adverts at times and on platforms where they perform best.
4. Enhanced Retargeting Efforts: 1st party data enables effective retargeting campaigns by allowing Meta and Google to show adverts to users who have previously interacted with your business eg: made a purchase, signed up for a newsletter, abandoned cart etc.
5. Predictive Analytics: Leveraging 1st party data for predictive analytics, Meta and Google can forecast future consumer behaviour and trends, helping advertisers to anticipate market changes and adapt their campaigns accordingly.

Our next posts will cover some examples of first party data strategies your business can implement that will enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns. We will also cover the tools google and meta have available to use your first party data in campaigns.

If you would like a review of your existing set-up to ensure you are using your first part data effectively, send us a message or book a free strategy call. We would be happy to help.