5 Ways Ad Tracking Will Evolve in a Post-Cookie World
Hello good people. Are you curious about the future of ad tracking? Well, if you’re into online advertising, you need to understand that there have been a lot of changes to what is allowable, and to succeed, you’ll need to adapt, as Bob Dylan sang, “The times they are a’changing’.”
But first, a quick history lesson: Online advertising has long been a source of concern for users and privacy advocates. Today, online advertisers track your web behaviors to serve you targeted ads, and cookies are a significant part of their concerns.
Cookies are tiny pieces of code that website’s place on your computer when you visit them. While they don’t contain data about your identity, they do store information about the pages you’ve seen on the site.
However, because these cookies uniquely identify your browser, they can be used to track your movements around the internet, which has been the primary reason online advertisers have used them.
For example, if you visit a site that sells mattresses, an advertiser might place cookies on your computer that will allow them to retarget ads for mattresses across the web once you’ve left the mattress site.
In this way, even if you never purchase from the mattress site, the advertiser will still be able to know a great deal about your browsing habits.
Cookies have come under fire in recent years for several reasons: first, because they track our browsing activity indiscriminately, and second, many people need help understanding how they work or consent to having them installed on their devices.
As you probably know, ad tracking has been a crucial component of digital advertising for decades, with cookies playing a significant role in tracking users’ online behaviors.
And if you don’t know about the importance of ad tracking, well, I have a ton of ad tracking resources for you to check out but trust me, tracking is crucial to be successful with your digital ads.
However, with third-party cookies being phased out by most browsers, the advertising industry is undergoing rapid evolution.
As a result, the future of ad tracking is changing, and marketers need to adapt their strategies accordingly. Here are five ways ad tracking will evolve in a post-cookie world.
Ad-tracking methods are being challenged and reevaluated as we move towards a more privacy-focused digital landscape.
Using cookies and third-party tracking is becoming less effective, and alternative solutions such as first-party tracking and contextual advertising are gaining popularity.
Additionally, the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning allows for more personalized and targeted ad experiences.
Overall, the future of ad tracking will likely involve a balance between effective targeting and respecting consumer privacy.
Understanding where we’ve been and why we got here is one thing, but identifying where we’re going is crucial in finding opportunities to be successful.
Here are 5 ways you can prepare for the future of ad tracking and guarantee your ads will continue to be successful.
1. Privacy-Compliant Identifier Solutions Will Emerge
As cookies are dropped, the advertising industry will explore new privacy-compliant identifier solutions that enable personalized advertising.
These identifiers will be based on more transparent and consumer-friendly consent models, enabling users to choose which data to share. As a result, companies that adopt these new identifier solutions will be better equipped to deliver personalized advertising while respecting users’ privacy.
Several privacy-preserving technologies can be used to track users without compromising their privacy. These technologies include differential privacy, federated learning, and encrypted advertising.
The benefit is that you can make more personalized ad campaigns for your audience, further boosting your ROI.
2. First-Party Data Will Be Essential
With third-party cookies no longer available, first-party data will be the primary source of tracking user behavior. As a result, first-party data gathered directly from a company’s website or internal systems will become increasingly important in a post-cookie world.
To succeed, you’ll need to shift your focus to ensure they effectively collect and leverage their first-party data. And this shift will lead to the development of robust first-party data sets through tactics like email capture and social media engagement.
3. Contextual Advertising Will See a Resurgence
In a post-cookie world, the future of ad tracking will pivot to contextual advertising that will experience a comeback.
Rather than relying on data from third-party cookies or identifying individual users, contextual advertising uses information from the content consumed to show relevant ads.
This means audiences will receive more relevant and less intrusive ads, leading to higher engagement rates. In addition, this type of targeting does not require tracking users across websites and apps, so it is less likely to be affected by changes to the cookie policy.
Additionally, contextual targeting can also be utilized – delivering ads based on the keyword(s) embedded within a webpage – as well as geolocation data to assess users’ physical locations when interacting with various web pages.
By analyzing the content of a webpage, advertisers can target their ads to users based on the relevance of the content to their product or service. This will offer a new way to reach audiences based on shared interests and topics rather than just demographics or behavior.
4. AI And Machine Learning Will Power Ad Targeting
Have you heard of ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, or other AI tools? If you haven’t, you probably shouldn’t be in digital advertising, but AI is and does is algorithms capable of learning and developing outcomes based on prompts. Think Siri and Alexa, but only way more powerful.
With vast data available, AI and machine learning will become essential tools in ad targeting, and these algorithms will analyze patterns and make predictions.
This information allows companies to target content better and offer more relevant personalization experiences. This kind of hyper-customization means that each customer is engaged more effectively, leading to better ROI, increased sales growth, and improved overall brand recognition.
Advanced AI platforms are transforming digital marketing and giving businesses a chance to engage with their customers meaningfully.
For example, Google Ads has embraced this evolution in privacy-focused automation with solutions that use machine learning and user-provided first-party data as its foundation to provide highly targeted opportunities.
5. Marketers Will Leverage Multiple Data Sources
Finally, marketers must rely on multiple data sources to track behavior and deliver personalized advertising.
This approach will include data from first-party sources, privacy-compliant identifier solutions, and machine learning. However, one thing that it will not do is make your life as a marketer easier. In fact, you’ll need to rely on tracking tools to collect and gather more points of contact to be able to optimize your ads better.
By leveraging multiple data sources, marketers can establish deeper customer insights and provide more personalized experiences.
Of course, as the traditional advertising model becomes more difficult to sustain, new models will emerge. These models may be more personalized, more contextual, and more privacy-preserving.
Advertisers may look into using first-party data like email addresses or phone numbers in order to track specific individuals’ preferences or behaviors online.
They will likely rely on alternative identifiers like device IDs and IP addresses to track user behavior across the web. While these methods may not be as user-friendly or as widespread as cookies, they can still provide valuable data to guide ad targeting and optimization.
These changes will impact advertisers, but understanding the future of ad tracking and learning about different ways to track ads now will give you a head start. And the best way to track ads I know of is with Hyros.
Hyros provides more personalized and targeted tracking, and better messaging for your targets, improving the accuracy and relevance of your ad content.
Advertisers that embrace these changes will benefit from more efficient ad targeting and improved customer engagement. If you’re ready to enhance your ad tracking, book your free call with Hyros today.