Third-party cookies, which are pieces of data saved to the browser about a particular user, were historically supported by all browsers. However, due to rising concerns over their use (and abuse) within online advertising for tracking consumer behavior across the web, third-party cookies are now perceived as a threat to privacy. And today, browsers such as Firefox, Edge, Safari, and Chrome are either blocking their creation altogether or deleting them within a set number of days, sparking conversations about the future of cookieless marketing, including the practice of personalization.
However, while A/B testing software and Personalization Platforms only track behavior across the website, these technologies are still considered third-party services, with “cookieless tracking” directly impacting their ability to tailor the site and other channels according to personal data. Some providers within the space offer server-side solutions, allowing teams to deliver personalization via API using the same data but without cookies. This not only busts the myth that all cookies are going away but also allows brands to personalize as they always have.
But even for vendors who don’t provide this level of support, there are still a number of use cases that can be deployed without any dependency on cookies or personal data.
Cookieless personalization needs to simply follow these basic guidelines:
- Generic Recommendations: Recommendation use cases based on popularity, without personal targeting rules.
A real example from an online lingerie and loungewear brand that showed popular or top products to increase customers’ cart value. Read more about product recommendation strategies here.
- Behavioral Personalization: Content personalization based on behavior (element clicks, mouse hover, exit-intent, etc.) on that specific page.
A real example from a large French online casino company that triggered exit-intent overlays to recapture user attention. Read more about exit-intent strategies here.
- Contextual personalization: Content personalization based on referral data, local weather, and sometimes geo-location.
A real example from a leading Swedish outdoor equipment retailer that served homepage hero banners based on the local weather forecast. Read more about weather-based banners here.
Interested in seeing more cookieless personalization in action? Check out use cases with no dependency on cookies in Dynamic Yield’s Inspiration Library. And you can learn about its GDPR & privacy-compliant solution for safely and confidently launching your digital experiences in a new era of data protection.