Google has announced that third-party cookies will disappear by 2023. This is because of new European laws and regulations regarding online privacy. What are the implications for crossborder e-commerce entrepreneurs and how can you prepare for this? We enlighten you.
Alternatives
The disappearance of third-party cookies has implications for Web shops and other online entrepreneurs. It becomes more difficult to target specific audiences with ads and campaigns. In addition, consumers today are quite tech-savvy and more concerned with online privacy. So it is important to think about alternatives.
Concrete implications
To be specific, analytics, targeting and remarketing are going to be trickier. Measuring the effect of campaigns will also become challenging. As a result, understanding the effect of ads will become more difficult.
What can e-commerce entrepreneurs do?
1. First party cookies remain
Data collection for self-management remains. Data on visitor behavior within their own environment, such as pages visited and time spent, are highly relevant when deploying ads and campaigns.
2. Usinginterest targeting (FLoC)
Google is coming out with a tool that clusters interests of user groups, without using third-party cookies. This data can then be shared anonymously with advertisers.
3. Upload APIs.
Some platforms allow sales data to be uploaded via API. By linking that data to email addresses, the impact of ads can still be measured.
4. Consent mode
If consumers do not consent to tracking, enable consent mode. This feature of Google fills in missing data via machine-learning.
5. Server-side tagging
With Google, for example, it is possible to give visitors who click through to your webshop a click-id. This sends information about the visitor's user actions directly to you. This feature is in development and is still being expanded.
6. Contextual targeting
Contextual targeting is a way of advertising that allows you to place your ads (especially display variants such as banners) on websites that fit within the context of your product. Think of a banner of leased cars on a car dealership website. Through increasingly sophisticated NLP technology, these types of ads can be automated and tailored to the market. Also useful for e-commerce web shops with an international focus.
And now?
It remains to be seen exactly what the disappearance of third-party cookies will do for online ads. We will have to find out once the change is implemented. But one thing is certain: alternatives are widely available. With these tips, at least as an e-commerce entrepreneur, you can prepare yourself as well as possible.
