It seems that almost every other day, there is something in the news about cookies. Many business owners are confused about the issues surrounding cookie consent. Why is everyone so panicky about cookies? What happens if we don’t have them? What can you do differently if you remove third party cookies from your sites? This article aims to answer these questions, and more.
What Are Cookies?
Cookies are basically text files that include notes saved by websites you’ve visited and can be accessed by them if you return to the same site. Cookies generally contain safe, non-personal information that is required for a more personalized user experience.
Your language option is saved thanks to cookies and you don’t have to re-enter your password every time you log in, could be an example of basic usage of cookies. You can also see the products in your basket when you log in again thanks to cookies.
First-party cookies are cookies in which a site saves the information of its visitors and can only be read by that site. They contain information that will improve the user experience such as the operation of the back button, remembering the product you added to the cart, remembering your language preference.
Third-party cookies are cookies in which your actions on a website are recorded by another source. Your user habits, interests, shopping trends can be tracked by third-party cookies.
Third-party cookies, at the center of the data security debate, are blocked by default in most modern browsers as of 2022, because of the rising concerns of the public and scandals like Cambridge Analytica. Due to a number of security incidents and privacy concerns after these, most browsers have set by default to block third-party cookies, which are cookies that aren’t needed for the completion of a current session. For example, if you go to Amazon and order something, it doesn’t need a cookie that sits on your computer for weeks or months at a time, just for the transaction.
However, although the default cookie settings in browsers such as Apple Safari, Firefox, Brave are to block third-party cookies, Google Chrome, which holds 60% of the market, still allows third-party cookies.
Invention of Cookies
Lou Montulli says on his blog that his motivation for inventing the cookie method in 1994 was to achieve a better user experience. The problem he was trying to solve was that websites had no memory. Users were treated like complete strangers every time. There was no session concept. One of the ways to solve this problem was to give each user a unique number and follow these numbers, but this was seen by Lou as problematic in terms of protecting privacy. Instead of this, he worked on the cookie method in which small notes about the user are saved on the device. Cookies have since been used to improve the user experience as well as to enable better targeting of advertisers.
What is the Cookie Policy?
Cookie policy is the text that websites inform users about the existence, purpose and usage of cookies. Cookie policies shown in some cases due to legal obligations and in some cases ethical concerns after increasing security discussion. Although it makes sense in theory to warn users with pop-ups to inform, in practice it is mostly designed to harm the user experience and lead to approval without reading to access the content.
What is FloC?
Google announced in 2021 that it will take action on the needless collection of people’s information by many cookies, especially those used for advertising, and will allow targeting through Federated Learning of Cohorts, which hides people in the crowd instead of the current cookie system.
FloC simply puts people into a group with others with similar interests. FloC is a system that aims to provide privacy-oriented data based on audiences in web analytics and advertising targets as an alternative to the use of third-party cookies. In the data collection methods they recommend instead of third-party cookies, keeping individuals confidential and sharing a total of data belonging to the entire group with businesses stands out as a solution.
In the system being developed by Google, people are in groups based on their interests. Their personal information will not be recorded and used. Announced by Chetna Bindra, Google’s product manager in 2019, FloC promises a privacy-based internet experience. Although the statement said the use of third-party cookies will be discontinued in 2022, the process seems to be prolonged.
Other browsers declared that they will not join Floc. However, we can say that in the next few years, targeting and measurement methods such as FloC will replace third-party cookies. In this way, the interests and behaviors of the masses will continue to be seen by businesses and advertisers, while the individual identities of individuals will remain confidential.
Transitioning to a Cookie-Free World
Online businesses will be affected by all these developments in many ways. Although Google says the FloC method will allow targeting and analysis without any changes, we can talk about some precautions that should be taken.
Personas
Understanding your target audience and their behavior with a deeper understanding is the first step you should take. User segmentation, which is also important when using third-party cookies, has become much more important now.
You should segment your existing customers and target audiences and make sure you understand the behavior of each segment. If you identify the interests, problems and pain points of your ideal personas well, you can adapt to the FloC method in a shorter time and you may need less data from other sites. You can use the empathy map method in order to understand your audiences, tio has an empathy map template ready to use.
Although data based on third-party cookies are effective in short-term digital marketing campaigns, you can get the quality you need to ensure long-term success through your own ideal personas.
Funnels
The best thing to do to reach user data that is successful in targeting and that will not be affected by the presence of third-party cookies is to establish funnels that are designed in detail and aim to obtain qualified data.
You can set up multiple funnels, taking into account the personas and information about the personas you set in the first step, and in this way, you can eliminate your audience and focus your attention on fewer people in the next step. The ROI of targeting a user who voluntarily leaves their contact information in exchange for downloading your free e-book, attending your webinar or subscribing to your newsletter will always be better than the audience you target with third-party cookies.
Content
In a world without third-party cookies, the time users spend on your site will become much more important, as you will not be able to learn about the activities of users on other sites. You should make sure that your site is worth spending time on and contains content that will affect your target audience. If you build your content strategy as a part of your marketing and analysis efforts, you will be able to make accurate targeting and measurement even when there are no third-party cookies.
The Answer Is Your Business Data
First-party data is data that users share with the business with their consent. You can obtain your first-party data through web analytics, your sales statistics, and various software. Many businesses are not good at acquiring and archiving first-party data. Most of the omni-channel businesses, in particular, find it difficult to combine their online and offline data to see a holistic picture.
You can obtain meaningful data about your business throughout all your operational processes from supply to delivery by using software such as 7işlem, where your business data is managed end-to-end, and you can easily access this data with the advanced reporting screen. While managing your accounting, production, retail, e-commerce, sales and marketing processes from a single platform, you can set up an independent business that is efficient and does not need external data.
