Survival Guide: Marketing in a World Without Cookies

1

Survival Guide: Marketing in a World Without CookiesThree Ways the Logged-In User Revolution Is Crumbling the Third-Party Cookie

The evolution of the connected consumer requires marketers to completely rethink the way they connect with current and prospective customers. Traditionally, marketers “cookie” visitors to their sites to track and analyze their online behaviors to improve user targeting and conversions. However, since the large majority of consumers leave sites without purchasing, marketers are usually left with only the hopes of leveraging cookie data to drive customers to conversion the next time they visit.

Today’s consumers are reaching out across multiple channels, demanding direct connections with brands, sharing terabytes of personal data, and worrying more about privacy than ever before. Modern marketers have begun migrating away from traditional tactics like cookie data collection in favor of a new way to connect closer with customers, establishing the trust and understanding necessary to reach them with the right messages on the right channels at the right times – right away.

Three Ways the Cookie CrumblesThis guide outlines three ways that permission-based marketing is overtaking traditional third-party cookies and retargeting, and what you can do to start updating the way you collect user data and connect with your customers:

1. Responsible access to data

2. Access to users’ identity data

3. Cross-channel unification

Why Cookies Aren’t So Sweet• Deleted Cookies — 65% of US consumers delete their cookies (MediaPost)

• Incognito Mode — 39% of consumers change their browser settings to block cookies (MediaPost)

• Multiple Devices — Over 20% of consumers ages 18-49 visit websites from 4 different devices each week (Experian)

2

Responsible Access to Data Many businesses are built upon marketers simply dropping cookies on unassuming consumers as they make their way across the Internet, bombarding them with an onslaught of “relevant” ads and content. To today’s consumers, who crave open communication and transparency with brands, this type of marketing is often viewed as a “sneak attack,” in some cases causing more damage to consumer perception of brands than increasing purchase intent.

Social login allows customers to choose the data that they share with brands. When a consumer decides to register for a website via one or more of her existing user accounts, a dialogue box appears, requesting permission to access specific pre-existing data points. Not only does social login allow brands to choose exactly the information they want from consumers up front, helping avoid data overload, but it also fosters consumer trust, building the type of authentic relationship that leads to long-term brand loyalty.

3

The Way the Cookie Crumbles By requesting only the information necessary to provide a better, more relevant user experience, users are more likely to grant you permission. Request this information early in the relationship to immediately begin providing an enhanced user experience, rather than waiting for a purchase transaction to collect user data. Finally, be sure to add clear text to your website that informs customers what data is being collected and exactly how it will be used.

Access to Users’ Identity DataWe’ve all been there: your teenage son borrows your computer without asking and uses it to casually browse his favorite websites. For the next several weeks, you’re bombarded with ads featuring musicians you’ve never heard of and cars you can’t afford. Not only is this irritating for customers, but it’s also a poor use of money and resources on the business’ side.

Traditional retargeting techniques are the equivalent of playing a drawn-out guessing game: the only supposed knowledge you really have about the user stems from what you’re able to piece together from his or her browsing history. Such information hardly paints a holistic picture of the user, and leaves out the most important information: hobbies, interests, likes, dislikes, and relationships.

Giving users the option to identify themselves at the point of site entry using traditional registration or social login gives brands permission-based access to valuable identity data. With social login, brands gain access to users’ birthdays, emails, favorite TV shows, check-ins, activities, and other first-party insights that make it possible to provide the most relevant experiences at optimal points of influence. In addition, while 65% of US consumers delete

4

their cookies, users keep accounts with identity providers like Facebook and PayPal for years and update them on a regular basis, ensuring marketers have only the most recent and relevant user data.

The Way the Cookie Crumbles After businesses receive this user data, it’s crucial that they have a database that can handle the large volumes of data and store it in an accessible way so decision makers can leverage it at any time. We recommend investing in a database solution that’s cloud-based and centralized, as well as a web-based dashboard that allows marketers to effectively harness and take charge of user data.

Cross Channel UnificationeMarketer recently reported that 45% of consumers prefer a combination of online, mobile, and in-store shopping. Unfortunately for marketers still depending on retargeted ads to convert users, cookies do not translate to mobile devices, and with mobile usage surpassing desktop usage, this presents a significant problem (eMarketer). As consumers connect with brands across a wider variety of touch points, marketers are struggling to construct a single view of customer identity across channels.

Giving users the option to register for websites via traditional or social login enables marketers to effectively tie all activities to a single identity, no matter the channel or device. Marketers are then able to construct more complete and accurate user profiles that in turn enable them to create increasingly relevant and seamless omni-channel experiences.

5

What Mobile Means for the Cookie While cookies have traditionally helped marketers provide users with more targeted ads and content via desktop, the rapid adoption of mobile technology is changing the face of data-driven marketing and quickly making cookie retargeting an obsolete strategy. With such a wide variety of mobile device types, operating systems, browsers, and apps, making sense of user activity across channels and devices has become exceptionally difficult. Marketers must shift their focus to establishing concrete, unique customer identities that can be linked across desktop and mobile to construct complete user profiles.

Success Story 93-year-old KLM Royal Dutch Airlines recognized the need to grow with connected consumers by establishing more authentic relationships across a variety of mediums. To address this need, KLM created the airport simulation game, Aviation Empire, where users can sign in using social login to participate. To bridge mobile and physical experiences, Aviation Empire incorporates GPS technology to reward players virtual game points for checking-in to airports in real life. Social elements like a leaderboard displaying the top-ranked gamers and the ability to share game activity across users’ social channels foster a highly interactive, engaging multi-channel experience. With Aviation Empire, KLM can now successfully reach consumers on a more engaging level outside of the actual flying experience.

6

The Way the Cookie Crumbles Employ a database that can aggregate large amounts of both structured (emails, location, etc.) and unstructured (top TV shows, favorite sports, etc.) data from multiple channels. Choose a platform that easily integrates with your existing third-party marketing tools to effectively leverage this data across other channels, like email.

With the growing significance of consumer connectivity, third-party data practices will become increasingly passé. Identity data is the only way for marketers to effectively put a unique face and personality to anonymous site visitors, turning them into known customers. Following these three steps to crumbling the third-party cookie is sure to move you from retargeting to authentic customer relationships that result in ROI.

© 2015 Gigya Incorporated. All rights reserved. | 2513 Charleston Road #200, Mountain View, CA 94043 | T : (650) 353.5592 | www.gigya.com

Gigya, the Gigya logo, and Customer Identity Management Platform are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Gigya Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Gigya does not own any end user data or maintain any other rights to this data, other than utilizing it to make Gigya’s services available to our clients and their end users. Gigya acts as an agent or back-end vendor of its client’s website or mobile application, to which the end user of our client granted permissions (if applicable). Gigya facilitates the collection, transfer and storage of end user data solely on behalf of its clients and at its clients’ direction. For more information, please see Gigya’s Privacy Policy, available at http://www.gigya.com/privacy-policy/. Rev: Gigya_Cookies_White_Paper_041015

The Trusted Platform for Identity-Driven Relationships

About GigyaGigya helps clients build better customer relationships by turning unknown visitors into known, loyal and engaged customers. With Gigya’s technology, businesses increase registrations and identify customers across devices, consolidate data into rich customer profiles, and provide better products and experiences through integrations with leading marketing and service applications. More than 700 of the world’s leading brands rely on Gigya to build identity-driven relationships and to provide scalable, secure Customer Identity Management.

For more resources on 1st vs. 3rd party data, visit Gigya.com. To get started right away, you can speak with a product expert by calling: 650-353-7230.

Sources- http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/191809/study-44of-adults-opt-out-of-targeted-ads-66-d.html- http://www.experian.com/marketing-services/2013-digital-marketer-report.html- http://adage.com/article/news/dawn-relationship-era-marketing/231792/- http://www.cmo.com/content/cmo-com/home/articles/2012/8/17/omnichannel-marketing-your-next-challenge.frame.html- http://www.emarketer.com/Article/US-Time-Spent-on-Mobile-Overtake-Desktop/1010095