As we usher in the new year, marketers will also face a new cookie-less reality. Google will start phasing out the use of third-party cookies through the end of 2024, and many other tech giants are following suit. The end of cookie-based advertising will impact how marketers track information on their consumers and serve them targeted ads.
In this article, we’ll discuss how to transition from cookie-based advertising and suggest new strategies for financial marketers.
What’s the Deal with Cookies?
When you visit a website, you’ll frequently be greeted with a pop-up that informs you whether the website uses cookies; you usually get a range of options, including accepting all cookies, declining all, or managing your preferences to suit your needs. If you aren’t familiar with any cookies beyond the chocolate chip variety, we can break them down for you:
First-party cookies are common, and they are stored under the website you’re visiting. They remember the pages you visited, your preferences on the site, and if you have something in your online shopping cart.
Third-party cookies are why you could see an ad that’s targeted to your previous online behavior on various unrelated websites you visit. Google’s phase-out is more aimed at third-party cookies. These types of cookies track your activity and store data from different websites, leaving “cookie crumbs” of your online behavior behind. They can be used to provide a personalized experience, but data privacy is valuable to many people, and some sites haven’t been transparent about the types of cookies they use or how they use them.
New Strategies to Prepare Your Team
As the use of third-party data dwindles, marketers should focus on how to gather zero-party and first-party data. This is the data that consumers willingly give to you or the data you gather from your own channels such as your website, social media, or call center.
One of the greatest aspects of first-party data is that you own it and are in full control of its accuracy and how it is used. If you’re wondering how your FI can collect first-party data, you can utilize event sign-up forms, newsletters, surveys, or branch visit polls for the people who prefer in-person interactions. From first-party data collection, you can start grouping your consumers by their behaviors and preferences to better inform your targeting efforts.
To maintain a positive reputation and relationships with your consumers, it’s important to balance smart data usage with the value of data privacy. With privacy and data best practices at the forefront of your marketing strategy, this ensures consumers that they can trust you with their personal information.
A McKinsey study found that the majority of people will consider sharing personal information to get additional value in return, so it’s beneficial to share how data will be used and how it will benefit someone’s experience with your financial institution. If answering a survey or providing feedback feeds into a loyalty program or unlocks exclusive webinar content, this is an attractive, incentivizing way to learn more about consumers and personalize their experience.
The start of the new year is a great time to optimize your website and content marketing strategy to make sure your consumers are introduced to and educated on the breadth of your financial offerings and educational resources. Moving forward, this encourages people to check back in on your communication channels and engage with the content they find informative and useful. With a solution like Prisma, you can take full advantage of your data and implement high-performing omnichannel campaigns.
Take control of your advertising efforts as we say farewell to the cookie-based advertising era of the past and see what Prisma’s marketing automation software can do for your financial institution. You can also visit Prisma’s blog posts for more useful marketing tips and strategies.
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