While concerns surrounding consumer data keep increasing, marketers need to expect some significant changes in the next years, including third-party cookies going away. 👽 Welcome to the cookieless future.

Joking apart, change can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be negative! Succeeding in this cookieless world will mean being adaptable and developing new advertising strategies to boost revenue.

In this post, we give you the necessary background to understand what the cookieless future holds and some of the best ways to seize its opportunities.

No need to get too concerned. This change will be gradual:

• in Q1 of 2024, Google plans to deprecate third-party cookies for 1% of users, so that developers can conduct real world experiments and understand how ready the new alternatives are;
• in Q4 of 2023, developers will be able to simulate Chrome third-party cookie deprecation for a configurable percentage of their users.

• 🌐 Firefox reviewed its privacy settings in September 2019 as part of its feature called Enhanced Tracking Protection. In June 2022, it rolled out an improved version called Total Cookie Protection, set by default to all Firefox users worldwide. This version is less invasive: trackers cannot link up behavior on multiple sites, they just get to see behavior on individual sites. ➡️ Firefox says that “people can enjoy better privacy and have the great browsing experience they’ve come to expect”.

• 🌐 Safari blocked third-party cookies by default at the beginning of 2020 with a feature called Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP). Third-parties are restricted to ask users to allow the use of cookies through Storage Access API. ➡️ Apple can afford to make user privacy a priority AND be very strict about cookies because its revenue does not strongly depend on advertising.

The above browsers haven’t provided clear guidelines on potential alternatives. Google, on the other hand, has a clearer answer.

About Google’s Topics API

Google defined a series of solutions as part of its Privacy Sandbox initiative.

It recently proposed Topics API. In a nutshell, with Topics API, the browser keeps an eye on your web activity and determines what you’re interested in based on the category of websites you browse the most, without needing to know the specific sites you’ve visited. This still allows advertisers to display relevant ads.

👉 It’s important to understand that Google won’t stop tracking people entirely. Different technologies in the early phases of development aim to replace third-party cookies to show relevant content and ads.

In April 2023, Google released some results on Google Ads’ interest-based advertising testing. Interest-based audience solutions’ performance showed promising. Ad spending with internet-based audience solutions (which include privacy-preserving signals) was down 1% to 3% compared to third-party-cookie results. However, click-through rates remained within 90% of the status quo.

In the meantime, there are a few things you can easily implement to make the cookieless future your ally.

🚀 Tips to Thrive in the Cookieless Future

Can there be a win-win for consumers and marketers? Definitely! 🎉

While publishers and marketers have been relying greatly on third-party cookies, there is now an opportunity to choose among different alternatives which gather high-value data and place privacy and trust as governing principles.

Take advantage of zero-party and first-party data

👉 The cookieless future does not mean “no data”. It only affects third-party cookies.

Zero-party data is data that a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand. The benefits are clear:

• the data gathered is precise since it comes directly from the client (i.e., buying intentions, information related to their preferences, quizzes, polls, etc.);
• the data gathered is relevant and compliant: clients trust the brand and are aware that their data could be used in order to benefit from a better buyer experience.

In a nutshell, zero-party data is the best of both worlds: a privacy-conscious alternative, giving control back to consumers and providing marketers with high-quality personalized data.

On the other hand, first-party cookies (mentioned before) help to provide a seamless user experience. They can also give you some analytics data on website traffic.

👉 Early adopters of first and zero-party data solutions will reap great benefits. Make sure to implement a strategy that relies on this valuable data.

Double down your efforts on contextual and content-focused targeting

These two methods were previously overlooked in favor of third-party cookies, but could make a quick comeback:

• Contextual targeting, which places the most relevant ads in the most appropriate context in order to reach the right audience. A simple example: an ad for a new car inserted in a car magazine.
• Content-focused targeting includes a variety of channels, including emailing, events, and social media, and aims at providing high-value content experiences.

💡 Aside from the usual effort with ads, it becomes important to inform and educate the audience with relevant and native messages that allow better decision-making.

Ensure your data practices remain compliant and privacy-friendly in the cookieless future

In this new cookieless world, along with adopting new privacy-friendly methods, companies and marketers alike must put user privacy and trust first. Users must be shielded from having their data collected without consent. At all costs.

Luckily, legal software solutions can assist with the technical aspect of all of the above. They help you be compliant with international privacy laws and ultimately build valuable relationships and trust with users.

👉 If you haven’t already, definitely consider getting one. Leverage consent, privacy, and compliance in your favor to build more serene customer experiences.

Learn more

• What is cross-site tracking?
• Privacy Policy template for Google Analytics
• Marketing Consent in the GDPR