Acoustic hosted a webinar with Forrester and our partner the Allant Group to discuss the decline of data in the digital marketing world. Once a balancing act between advertisers’, publishers’, and consumers’ needs, advertising has become increasingly consumer-centric. Consumers have called for more data privacy and as a result, a flurry of data-protection laws have passed, such as GDPR, LGPD, and CPRA, limiting the amount of data we’re able to consume. 

On top of data laws, the cookie has crumbled — digital cookies, that is. Cookies made it possible to track internet browsing for decades. Some browsers, such as Safari and Firefox, have already put the kibosh on third-party cookies and Google announced that by the end of 2024, its Chrome browser will follow suit.  

These industry changes have led to data deprecation, and it’s becoming a detriment to digital marketing. Tina Moffett from Forrester defines data deprecation as the “…reduction in available data marketers use to build relevant data-driven marketing strategies.” So much of online advertising today is behaviorally triggered and without the proper data, these ads won’t be able to function. Without the data showing us who’s looking at our ads, if we engaged with them before, and how likely are they to buy our products, we won’t be able to properly measure our impact. With these deterring factors, marketing becomes much harder. 

Yet despite these challenges, it’s not all doom and gloom for marketers. There are different approaches we can deploy to ensure our messages reach the right audiences. By listening to consumers’ desire for increased privacy and protection, you’ll earn their trust — the first step to building brand loyalty. 

The heightened importance of a customer-centric approach 

According to a Forrester survey, 63% of consumers say it’s not OK for companies to track their activities across multiple devices to send them more relevant ads. Additionally, 24% of consumers don’t trust any companies to keep their information secure. Consumers clearly aren’t a fan of all the data we collect; more data privacy is a good thing in their eyes, so it’s time we get onboard too, without giving up our marketing performance. 

Developing a consumer-centric marketing strategy means embracing data privacy and giving consumers the power to choose how their data is collected and used. Tell consumers what you’re using their data for and give them the choice to opt in or out. How you communicate this will be crucial — you’ll want to convey what kind of data you collect and the value you’ll provide them by using it. If consumers understand they will benefit from the data you collect and use, they’ll often be more willing to opt-in. By giving them transparency and choice, and communicating the value they will derive, you’ll develop stronger relationships at each stage of the customer lifecycle. 

Creating a data deprecation roadmap 

Transparency and empathy will only get you so far. You’ll need a data deprecation roadmap to fully defend against the attack on data. Remember, it’s only third-party cookies that will go away; zero- and first-party data will be yours for targeting. While first-party data is the information you collect directly from your audience such as site traffic, zero-party data is information a customer intentionally and proactively shares with you such as purchase intentions. You’ll want to develop a closed-loop marketing approach that enriches the first-party data you own by connecting it with zero-party data via your CRM. You can decrease the time from insight to action by analyzing this data and inferring behaviors, context, and intent to create more personalized experiences.  

You should also embrace other targeting approaches. About half of marketers have already changed their use of third-party data and audience acquisition processes. Instead, analyze first-party data signals to develop your targeted audiences. Contextual and predictive audiences, using first-party data, can be a richer replacement to third-party data acquisition. 

It’s also essential to evaluate your marketing and advertising tech stack and the cross-platform relationships you have. Are your partners ready for a cookieless world? A critical piece of this stage will be to build cross-platform relationships between your agencies and service providers. They’ll connect data and insights for you as support for cookies reaches end of life. These parties will be the centerpiece to making up for the data lost and the enablers for data analytics and insights derived. 

The opportunity to innovate 

While the end of cookies is daunting, it’s an opportunity for us to innovate how we collect data and interact with our customers. When consumers choose to opt into your data collection, you’ll have deeper engagements with the customers who’ve expressed interest in your brand. First-party data will be your “best friend” in a cookieless world and advertisements can be even more effective because of them. So, try not to think only of the obstacles to overcome, but also how we can prioritize personalization, and do so quickly and powerfully through automated processes.  

To learn more about how marketers will thrive in a cookieless world and the roadmap to get there, check out our on-demand webinar.