THE POST-COOKIE PLAYBOOK In a privacy-first era, third-party cookies are no longer on the menu. Third-party cookies no longer on the menu Zero-party data is information customers proactively share through surveys, polls and interactive elements. Zero-party data proactively shared by the customer Companies combine different data sets — loyalty, purchase history — to build a comprehensive customer profile. Combined data sets loyalty + purchase history A data clean room is a secure environment that brings data together without compromising customer privacy. Data clean room secure, no privacy compromise Brands can still build personalised, effective campaigns and measure them accurately. Personalised campaigns, privacy intact Permission marketing: zero-party data and clean rooms for a cookie-less future.
AdTech

Data clean rooms and zero-party data: Powerful solutions for a cookie-less future

· 2 min read · Originally on LinkedIn
The gist

Third-party cookies are dying, but marketers don't have to fly blind. Zero-party data — what customers proactively tell you through surveys and polls — is the cleanest signal there is, while data clean rooms let companies combine data sets for targeting and attribution without exposing raw customer records. Together they form the durable, permission-based identity stack for a privacy-first era.

In a world where customer privacy is now king, cookies will no longer be on the menu. That doesn’t necessarily mean brands and marketers have to starve. The ad tech industry must look elsewhere for ways to get to know their customers by asking the right questions.

Zero-party data (ZPD) could be one solution and it’s a good one. This is data that the customer has proactively shared with a brand through surveys, polls or interactive elements on a website.

It gives you a wealth of information on customers such as their preferences, interests, and intentions. For example, if a customer indicates that they are interested in environmentally-friendly products, you now know that you should be highlighting the eco-friendliness of your product to them.

In many cases, it’s the cleanest data there is which also makes it the most valuable. Brands can use ZPD to create marketing strategies that better understand their customers and deliver more personalised product recommendations. It can even inform product development by providing a window into customer preferences and identifying gaps in the market.

By seeking and utilising ZPD, brands can build trust with their customers and show in practice that they are committed to understanding and meeting their needs. Happy customers tend to be loyal ones.

If it’s good for NASA, it’s good for you

Another digital marketing solution that we’ll be seeing a lot of in 2024 is data clean rooms. Traditionally, physical clean rooms are where NASA assembles spacecraft hardware such as moon landers and Mars rovers. It’s an environment where every aspect is perfectly controlled to prevent contamination.

The digital marketing equivalent of this is secure data environments or ‘data clean rooms’ that enable companies to bring together data from multiple sources without compromising customer privacy. Data clean rooms are critical for digital marketing because they allow companies to access valuable customer insights while complying with data privacy regulations.

Clean rooms let you get creative without compromising data

Once third-party cookies are out of the picture, we’ll be looking to clean rooms for enhanced customer targeting where companies can combine different data sets to build a more comprehensive customer profile. So, brands can still create extremely personalised and effective marketing campaigns. For example, a retail company could use a clean room to combine data from its loyalty program with data from a credit card company to create a more complete view of a customer’s purchase history and buying habits. With this information, the company could send targeted promotions and offers to customers based on their previous purchases.

Clean rooms can also enable companies to measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns more accurately. With access to comprehensive customer data, companies can attribute conversions to specific marketing channels and optimise their campaigns accordingly.

One example of this is a healthcare company that could use a clean room to combine data from its customer database with data from a wearable fitness device, letting them create hyper-personalised health and wellness content tailored to a customer’s individual needs.

Adjusting for success in a world without third-party cookies might be hard but it’s not impossible. As we steadily find ourselves in a privacy-first era, permission marketing might be the way forward and solutions like zero-party data and clean rooms will just be the beginning.

PRIVACY-FIRST · THE POST-COOKIE STACK The third-party cookie is off the menu. In a privacy-first world, brands must look elsewhere to get to know their customers. RETIRED 3rd-party cookie shift Zero-Party Data — data the customer proactively shares through surveys, polls, and interactive elements: their preferences, interests, and intentions. Often the cleanest, most valuable data there is. SOLUTION · ONE Zero-Party Data proactively shared preferences · intentions Data Clean Rooms — a secure, contamination-free environment, like a NASA clean room, where data from multiple sources is combined to build a comprehensive customer profile without compromising privacy. SOLUTION · TWO Data Clean Rooms secure · contamination-free sources combined safely built on permission The outcome — a complete, privacy-safe customer profile, built on permission. Personalised, effective marketing without compromising customer trust. THE OUTCOME A complete, privacy-safe customer profile In a privacy-first era, permission marketing is the way forward.
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