5 Ways Cookies Affect Your Marketing Campaigns
Marketing relies on information. While you can employ your imagination to help you develop the ideal USP, the problem is that you’re always working with a small sample size.
Many entrepreneurs sell products they are not the primary demographic for, and the same goes for many marketers. While it paints your brand negatively, there’s no law demanding that you even use your product.
So, where do you get all the info you need to craft a compelling message? How do you find the places where your audience meets so that you can engage them more effectively? Is there a way for you to reliably track your progress?
Website cookies are the answer to all of these questions.
Now, while some claim that we’re witnessing the last days of cookies, others are cautioning against dismissing them just yet.
With all this in mind, here are the top five ways cookies can affect your marketing campaigns.
- Profiling target audience
The success of a message depends on two factors:
- The content of the message
- The recipient of the message
Now, these two factors are tightly intertwined. While the content may contain your product/service’s USP, the USP will also depend on the target audience.
The recipient of the message (your target audience) will also use different language, and find a different tone and voice appealing, depending on their age, location, and interests.
If you have a very niche product, chances are your audience will be more knowledgeable about the terminology. Therefore, you might give an impression of amateurism if you oversimplify and avoid using complex industry-related terminology.
So, how do you know what language to use, what USP will give the best effect, and what brand voice your audience will find appealing?
How do cookies achieve all of that?
It’s simple, via cookies, you can track:
- Age
- Location
- Interests
- Gender
- Behavior on search engines
Each of these factors is vital for your campaign.
For instance, if most of your audience comes from a specific non-English speaking country, you may have to make a version of the website in their native tongue. Sure, they understand English, but taking that extra step could make a difference.
Most importantly, cookies can inform marketers of the ads already served to the user. So, if different ads contain parts of the damage, you’ll have the right follow-up. Then again, if we are to believe the rule of seven (that it takes seven interactions with a brand to ensure a conversion), this helps inform us how much more to go.
- Be careful with your GDPR compliance
While cookies can tell you all this, you must have the right GDPR cookie policy. Privacy laws are not to be trifled with.
The thing is that when it comes to personal information, you cannot afford to be reckless. Due to all the implications and hazards, regulatory bodies are taking a vested interest in these matters.
The most important thing to understand about GDPR compliance is that you don’t have to be in the EU to fall under its jurisdiction. As long as you are doing business with parties from the EU, you need to be GDPR compliant.
GDPR aims to protect EU residents and all online consumers doing business in the EU from online threats.
The biggest problem with abiding by privacy laws is that there’s so much paperwork if you do it manually.
Moreover, there are new rules and regulations introduced weekly. After all, we’re living in a dynamic online environment. The development of AI and blockchain and the popularization of crypto has made a massive shift in online users’ average activity and interest. Regulatory bodies have a hard time catching up, which is why they are constantly amending privacy laws. It’s hard for businesses and server owners to keep up with everything.
Fortunately, with the help of specialized platforms, the platform will notify you of all there is to know and update you on the latest trends.
- First-party vs. third-party cookies
The difference between first-party and third-party cookies is simple.
The websites that you visit store first-party cookies on your website. Their purpose is to collect data to provide a great user experience.
Third-party cookies, on the other hand, are created by the website that you’re not visiting. Online advertisers usually use them. For instance, you use a website and agree to its first-party cookies, but the site in question also runs ads, which save third-party cookies onto your computer.
The main purpose of first-party cookies is user retention. The better the user experience you provide, the more your brand benefits. If you’re selling directly, about 20% of loyal customers make 80% of your profit.
Even outside of this, high user experience has numerous SEO benefits. For instance, a high user experience lowers your bounce rate, increases the average duration of a visit, and improves your online reputation. All of these directly affect your SERP efforts.
For the majority of people, third-party cookies improve the web experience. While some people fear third-party cookies, there’s a complex risk/reward ratio. Most internet users understand there are no escaping ads in today’s digital world. Third-party ads determine whether you’re getting random or relevant ads.
Now, third-party cookies usually focus on factors like:
- Language preference
- Login details
- User preferences
- Shopping cart products
Keeping track of an item they’ve put in the shopping cart is vital, especially when the shopping cart abandonment rate accounts for 70% of scenarios. This doesn’t have to be the end of their customer’s lifecycle. If you just keep track and find the right way to reengage.
The biggest problem is that Google announced they’ll back away from third-party cookies by 2024. For now, however, they are still both useful and usable.
- Assessing marketing performance
One of the most significant advantages of using cookies for marketing is that they can help you measure your progress. Conversion tracking is one of the most important things to monitor in your AdWords campaign. This gives you a much greater insight into the conversion rate of your target audience, which is a KPI worth keeping an eye out for.
The most important fields to track and analyze are:
- Demographic info (age, gender, location, interests)
- Behavior info (session length, return rate, new visitors)
- Conversion info (you can set multiple conversion goals here)
- Browser and device info
Every single piece of information here matters.
For instance, when optimizing your website, you must know what devices and browsers your audience uses. When innovating, you need to know what portion of your audience still uses legacy browsers, which may not support all the latest features.
Regardless of what kind of campaign you’re running, you need to track its progress. Cookies are probably the simplest and the most reliable way to do so.
- Cookies might not be here for long
The last thing you must remember is that cookies might not be here long. As we’ve mentioned, Google intends to ban third-party cookies, which means that, on this front, the time is ticking.
Now, for your current marketing campaign, this doesn’t mean abandoning cookies right away. They’re still a valid marketing tool, and they’re still incredibly useful. You might want to start preparing for the post-cookies digital marketing landscape.
The first thing that will change is an increased focus on first-party data. This means a higher emphasis on converting your existing customers and frequent visitors.
Previously, we’ve discussed profiling; however, with third-party cookies, you can access so much data that you can easily profile larger demographics. With first-party data, you’ll have to shift your focus on precise customer data of individual customers. This means more work, but the conversion rates might also be higher.
Another thing you need to do is build a subscriber base. A subscriber registers on your platform, meaning they’ll voluntarily provide all the information you need. In post-cookie marketing, making subscribers might be slightly more complicated. So, use the time window that you still have and take full advantage of cookies while they’re available. You’ll gain a serious advantage if you build an extensive enough subscriber base until 2024.
As we’ve already said, privacy concerns are the main reason browsers and search engines are looking to replace cookies. This is why adhering to regulatory compliances is even more critical while basing your marketing campaign on cookies.
Cookies are still indispensable in profiling, messaging, and tracking your audience
While this may not always remain so, website cookies are still indispensable marketing tools. You can use them to learn more about your audience, which will help you make a better USP, and improve your messaging.
Since privacy issues are the main concern regarding the use of cookies, abide by all the necessary regulations and compliances.
Other than just profiling and messaging, make sure to use cookies for tracking your marketing campaign.
Lastly, even though they might not be here for long, you can still use them to improve your brand’s standing in your industry.
