The end of cookies is near. Why are marketers still dragging their feet?

Marketers today recognize the importance of first-party data, and many of them even feel it’s more valuable than ever before. They’re aware the top browsers worldwide (Mozillla Firefox, Chrome) are stepping away from third-party tracking. But 81% of companies are still reliant on third-party cookies and what’s worse is — they continue to hesitate to move away from them. 

The tough reality is that the majority of marketers aren’t ready for a cookieless world. And according to RetailWire, when surveyed, 55% of both businesses leaders and consumers agreed that companies today aren’t equipped to embrace a first-party data strategy. 

So, what is it that has marketers sticking with third-party cookies (and holding on so tightly)? Let’s explore some of the factors at play.

What’s holding marketers back?

1. The data silo problem

Unless businesses utilize the right technology to eliminate data silos, they are likely to experience the “data silo problem”. It is key to understand that the systems in your tech stack should be connected and able to to “talk” to each other when sharing information to avoid time-consuming manual labor, errors, or complex integrations.

2. Introducing data without context

The next challenge is that businesses often introduce more data without context. Organizations should be mindful of having the right technology available to organize that data, contextualize and categorize it accordingly, and use those insights to make actionable decisions. 

3. Not having the right technology

Some marketers hesitate to embrace first-party data because they have a lack of resources to invest in the right technology, processes, and people to handle the volume of data they’d need. To successfully use first-party data in marketing campaigns, data should be “collected, cleaned, normalized, stored, analyzed, and deployed” through technological platforms. In this process, there is a high risk of facing failure when unifying data, especially when both online and offline channels are taken into account. With Lytics, that complexity is made simple. 

4. Limited scale and reach

Lastly, first-party data is often considered to be limited in scale and reach, unlike third-party cookies. Marketers, however, should consider the massive value in the fact that first-party data is verified at the source and highly accurate because it is shared willingly by the consumer. This means marketing initiatives can be more intentional, meaningful, and relevant. Plus, more and more tools are popping up to help organizations extend the reach of first-party data, including Lytics First-Party Modeled Audiences Powered by Google.

The advantages of a first-party data strategy

Despite the challenges, there are many advantages that indicate marketers should start adapting to a first-party data strategy to stay competitive. In a post-cookie world, they’ll need one to create specific, targeted customer profiles and sales funnels. Plus, this data will be crucial when building customer personas and behavioral profiles. Here are a few more wins.

1. Smarter personalization 

By analyzing first-party data, marketers can fully understand their customers — and they have a basis for effectively segmenting their customers to create highly personalized experiences. With a CDP like Lytics, it’s easy. Once a marketer identifies their preferred segments, they can also further enrich that by employing AI and machine learning to collect information about customer lifetime value, predicted behavior, and propensity to purchase.

2. Complying with online privacy regulations

Recently, Google announced they would “prioritize a web that values privacy”, diminishing the viability of third-party cookies. A first-party data strategy ensures marketers can easily comply with data privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA. 

3. Real-time decisioning

By collecting first-party data to understand them more deeply and meaningfully, marketers can build better relationships with their customers. As customers’ behaviors can change over time, marketers can use their consent-positive first-party data to inform how the customer experience should be adjusted, accordingly, to create frictionless, meaningful, personalized experiences across channels.

Discover how Lytics can help supercharge your first-party data strategy. Try Lytics free for 30 days.