What are the solutions for dealing with the end of third-party cookies?

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The beginning of the end? Twilio shares its advice for coping with the disappearance of third-party cookies in 2024.

Planned for the second half of 2024, the elimination of third-party cookies by Google, despite having been announced four years ago, is causing fear among digital marketing professionals. However, companies need to prepare for this change, which has already been gradually implemented since January 4. In Apple-Safari and Mozilla-Firefox browsers, for example, third-party cookies are already completely blocked in the default settings. But while the end of third-party cookies is nothing new, it does represent a major challenge for businesses. Indeed, many companies still rely heavily on the use of third-party cookies to collect customer data and deliver personalized experiences. The transition to a cookie-free world will therefore probably entail some upheaval in the way companies collect data. There are, however, easy-to-implement alternative solutions to help get rid of third-party cookies and combine personalization and privacy.

A world without cookies: what are the consequences for businesses?

Until now, much of the information linked to customers and prospects has come from third-party cookies, and having to do without them altogether will have certain consequences for the way companies build their communication and customer engagement campaigns.

For example, it will be more difficult to obtain a complete picture of the habits and preferences of customers and prospects. Without third-party cookies, companies will have to rethink their advertising strategies and find new ways to collect data, build detailed customer profiles and offer personalized, engaging experiences.

Measuring the impact of advertising will also become more complex, and a decline in the ROI of advertising spend can be expected if companies don't take the right steps to evolve their strategy. They will therefore need reliable alternative means of collecting and exploiting quality data .

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What are the solutions following the end of third-party cookies?

As the end of third-party cookies approaches, Twilio, a customer engagement platform that enables brands to create personalized experiences in real time, shares the solutions and strategies companies need to employ to effectively replace third-party cookies:

Collecting first-party data

Companies that have already started collecting and using first-hand data undoubtedly have a competitive advantage as the total end of third-party cookies approaches. For others, it's not too late, but to make sure you're collecting first-hand user data optimally, it's important to enlist the help of a customer engagement solution, as is the case with Twilio Engage.

The solution collects first-party, post-consent data from numerous sources, and centralizes it to create real-time customer profiles. This user data is then used to create personalized customer experiences. This type of platform also enables companies to automate most or all actions, giving teams more time to develop personalized marketing and advertising campaigns that boost engagement and conversions.

Think look-alike audiences

Similar audiences are a great way to leverage the first-hand data that many advertising platforms such as Facebook, Google and Twitter have already collected to target audiences similar to your existing customers. By collecting valuable first-hand data via a customer engagement solution, the platform "matches" and identifies customers shared between the company and the advertising database. Then, the platform finds similar customers to target your ads using its own first-hand data. This is a relatively inexpensive and reliable way of reaching valuable new customers using first-hand data from advertising platforms such as Facebook and Google.

Rethinking your attribution model

Tracking the customer journey has become more complex over time with the emergence of new technologies and channels. In an attempt to understand which channels are driving users to convert, many companies have moved from first- or last-click attribution to multi-touch attribution. Unfortunately, the longevity of this now-common attribution model is also compromised by the end of third-party cookies. As many companies use this model to measure success, track ROI and make future investments, they will need to find new alternatives to gauge the effectiveness of their campaigns. To cope with this, many companies are investing more in their own media channels such as e-mail, SMS, push notifications and so on. These channels generally have relatively low costs, improved targeting capabilities and better access to data. Complementing this, a customer engagement solution, such as Twilio Engage, can enable brands to easily leverage first-hand data to offer targeted, personalized communications to its customers using these channels. Twilio Engage is also equipped with best-in-class identity resolution features, giving each customer a unique identifier across all channels (known and anonymous). This facilitates a more precise understanding of customer behavior across channels, and therefore attribution.

A world without cookies is not an end in itself, and by adopting the right solutions, companies can easily take advantage of this change to optimize their customer journey and build loyalty s over the long term. A major asset for boosting sales in a period of economic instability.

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