Are UK businesses ready for the cookieless future?

Written by Amandine Servain, VP Global Demand Generation, Cheetah Digital

As browsers, such as Google, cement their plans to comprehensively curtail third-party cookie tracking, and consumers get more proactive about protecting their online privacy, marketers must shift to a first-party and zero-party data strategy to power their advertising and marketing initiatives. They must gain permission from their customers or risk being labelled as “creepy”.

Speaking with Paula Thomas on her weekly podcast “Let’s Talk Loyalty”, Cheetah Digital’s VP of Content and Data Tim Glomb recently broke down key takeaways from the report, delving into consumer attitudes towards data, personalisation, privacy, messaging, and brand loyalty in the UK.

Say goodbye to lazy cookie-based tactics

A new report from Cheetah Digital’s revealed more than half of UK consumers (64%) believe cookie tracking is creepy.

“There is a better way and that’s permission-based marketing. It isn’t rocket science. In fact, it should be common sense,” Tim says.

The report, ‘2022 Digital Consumer Trends Index: Consumer Attitudes and Trends in Personalisation, Privacy, Messaging, Advertising and Brand Loyalty,’ produced in partnership with eConsultancy, further revealed incognito browsing shot up 50% this year compared to last.

“It’s like a revolt of sorts,” Tim points out. “For years, marketers got fat on cookie technology. We embraced technology that made us lazy marketers, putting the creative to the side and focusing solely on sales goals. And consumers are over it. They’re done. They don’t care about your marketing plan.”

Paula says it’s a fine line between what’s okay to use and what’s just downright unacceptable.

“I was recently speaking with a friend about a cold sore she had. And immediately, I started getting ads for herpes creams on my mobile phone. It was distressing,” she shares.

According to Tim, things like that happen all too often. “But the data continues to show that, year over year, people are getting increasingly frustrated with those types of tactics,” he says. “Marketers need to take note and leave those tactics to the real spies of the world. They need to get on with building better relationships.”

The ROI of personalisation

The way to engage with consumers is through real-time, hyper-personalised experiences, the report further revealed, indicating that consumers across the UK are ready for a new era of ‘relationship marketing.’

It turns out, greater personalisation yields return-on-investment (ROI) and long-term consumer excitement. But it’s important to get it right. “If you can personalise at scale, you’re not really doing what consumers expect,” Tim says. “Our report shows a 110% lift in people wanting to be treated as an individual, which really cements Cheetah Digital’s strategy and investment into personalisation engines.”

The data value exchange

This year’s report also highlighted that consumers want to feel like they’re part of a community. In the value exchange economy, UK consumers are rewarding brands that make personalisation a priority with more than half (54%) saying they will trade personal and preference data to feel part of a brand’s community.

“For a brand, that means creating a forum for customers to engage and get to know each other,” Tim says. “Brands can create value in more ways than points alone. Upgrades are great, but they’re not enough if you aren’t providing a sense of community and recognising individual actions too.”

Paula agrees, adding the importance of innovative loyalty. “With more of that, the whole industry will flourish,” she says. “Consumers will increase their levels of engagement once they have an opportunity to connect with a brand.”

Tim says Cheetah Digital prizes itself on having a robust, customised and emotional loyalty solution. “We don’t sell a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s bespoke; each brand is completely unique. We get excited when brands ask us to come up with something different that goes beyond points, rewards and transactions,” he says.

Email continues to reign supreme

As the third-party cookie continues to crumble, one of the biggest revelations for marketers has been the sheer fact that relationship marketing doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Contests and sweepstakes, for example, are cost-effective methods of engagement.

However, to get the most bang for their buck, Tim says embracing technology is a must. “When brands start using technology to continue the conversation and listen meaningfully to consumers, their loyalty and product offerings become far more aligned with their audience. Technology enables marketers to give the right offer to the right person at the right time,” he says.

Email also remains an incredibly effective tool for marketers to harness. When it comes to driving sales, the report found that email beats paid social and display advertising by up to 128% in the UK.

“Email remains the number one driver,” Tim says. “It beats out banner ads, social posts and other channels for driving commerce. And it’s been around forever. Email is a staple, and it’s something every brand needs to have for a robust strategy.”

One of the reasons email remains effective year after year is its personalisation capabilities. “You can personalise email beyond just a first name in a database,” Tim points out. “Now, we can inject keywords into subject lines to influence the open rate.”

Relationship marketing in a cookieless era

The experts agree 2022 is the year of relationship marketing. “Relationship marketing needs a kick in the pants this year,” Tim says. “It’s time for us to get back to the way we communicate as humans and build relationships. We need to start doing that with our audiences at scale.”

It’s also worth noting that it’s ok to learn, to be humble and admit that you don’t have everything sorted. The secret? Nobody has everything sorted.

“Don’t be alarmed if you don’t have your strategy completely mapped out,” Tim says. “Seek out resources, download our report, head to Cheetah Digital or other platforms like ours that have resources, and do your homework so you can make the best decisions for your brand.”

The takeaway? Keep the consumer at the heart of your efforts, build a relationship with them, and you will win. Your brand will win.

About Cheetah Digital

Cheetah Digital is a cross-channel customer engagement solution provider for the modern marketer. The Cheetah Digital Customer Engagement Suite enables marketers to create personalised experiences, cross-channel messaging, and loyalty strategies, underpinned by an engagement data platform that can scale to meet the changing demands of today’s consumer. Many of the world’s best brands, including Starbucks, Hilton, Neiman Marcus, Levi’s, and Williams-Sonoma trust Cheetah Digital to help them drive revenue, build lasting customer relationships, and deliver a unique value exchange throughout the customer lifecycle. To learn more, visit www.cheetahdigital.com.