What to do When the Digital Cookie Crumbles

Earlier this year, Google announced it would end third-party cookies by 2022. For consumers who desire privacy, ending third-party cookie tracking is a huge win for them. For companies that rely on this type of tracking to connect with their customers, changes will have to be made. As a recent blog from Inc. points out, companies will need to invest in old-fashioned client outreach and engagement again.

Now that cookies will not be tracked, companies will need to perfect their first impression and make their marketing materials more compelling to potential customers. This has many companies considering unique welcome messages and creating signup or stay-in-touch banners on their websites. Finding a way to obtain the contact information of a potential customer is key as it helps you bring them back to your website or online story as targeted advertisements will no longer follow them from website to website.

It is also important for companies to personalize and customize their information for their customers. If a customer visits your site and learns about your brand, service or product long enough to give you their information, that is far more valuable than the information third parties are able to obtain. In order to personalize a user’s website experience, you must be able to capture the activity of the visitors, including what they viewed, added to their cart, purchased or even how they navigated the site.

This personalized communication works for more than just website visits as well.

This can also work for any direct marketing techniques that can be customized based on their habits, including email marketing.

A final suggestion is to nurture your networks. Without cookies, the ability to retarget and nurture customers who visited your site can become a challenge. Using a customer relationship management (CRM) tool for consistent communication with current and potential customers who have provided their contact information on your website can also help with this.

To continue growing your network, you can also share networks with those you don’t compete with. For example, banks, accountants and lawyers oftentimes hold seminars together on business-owning and taxes. Tying in likeminded companies that complement each other will help build—and can even nurture—networks.

So, in the grand scheme of things, what does this mean?

We have to get back out there and grow business, which undoubtedly took a hit in 2020. Zoom meetings and other forms of video communication will remain critical for networking. Now that we have the ability to network virtually, and in person, you can reap the benefits of both.

To learn more about how Black Twig can help you communicate with your customers and grow your network in the absence of cookies, contact Tom Gatti at 314-536-8906.