As we head into the thick of 2023, the collection of rich, high-quality data has never been more important. Knowing your audience deeply is a key part of any marketing strategy - It allows you to personalise your tactics, gain and maintain consumer trust and loyalty and convert static users into engaged, or better, paying customers.
Data capture has changed significantly over the last few years, with more pressure being placed on brands and organisations to increase their data privacy measures - pressure from governments, competitors, and most importantly, your consumers. With this pressure, companies like Google and Apple have cracked down on third-party data collection, with both companies increasing privacy controls, and limiting the tracking capabilities of digital advertising.
While this sounds intimidating or even flat-out scary, as brands have come to terms with these changes, it seems the advantages of these changes are beginning to outweigh the negatives.
According to Hubspot, 32% of marketers agree that the changes to data capture have had a positive impact on their marketing strategy, with 58% saying it’s had a neutral impact. That leaves only 10% that feel it’s impacted their brand negatively.
On that topic, let’s explore 3 reasons why zero and first-party data capture can help you beat the death of the third-party cookie. Consider this your 2023 playbook for data capture!
Budgets are on the up
As discussed above, there is increasing pressure from governments and consumers to heighten data privacy measures. According to recent studies, 85% of consumers are concerned that the data they share online may not be secure. That’s over three-quarters of your audience who feel distrustful of the ways brands collect data.
But with this pressure comes an increase in marketing budgets to accommodate for these stricter data regulations. According to Hubspot, 71% of marketers say that their budgets have shot up for this exact purpose going into the new year.
An important part of this budget increase is ensuring that you allocate accordingly in order to protect the data of your customers through other methods of data capture. More on this later.
More trust means better data
Despite the challenges of a future without third-party cookies, Google’s impending phasing out of said cookies has benefits for building trust with your consumers, too.
Almost half of all consumers express distrust in companies that use third-party data-gathering methods. This statistic poses an excellent opportunity for brands to change how they gather data and communicate their data capture methods with their audience.
Showing your consumers that you take their data privacy concerns seriously enough to change the way you’re capturing data from them in the first place shows that your brand is transparent, which in turn increases levels of trust in your brand.
Zero & first-party data are just plain better
We’ve talked a lot about zero and first-party data and its place in this new cookie-less world over the past 6 months, and it’s for a reason.
For a quick refresher, zero-party data is information that your consumers willingly and purposefully share with your brand or organisation. This is usually imparted for the purpose of improving their experience as a customer. First-party data is very similar, except is data collected by your brand via your own channels, therefore making it owned data.
Not only do zero and first-party data give you the advantage of owning your own data assets, but it also provides far richer, far more accurate information about your target consumers. Not to mention, it’s far more cost-effective than the data capture methods we’re all used to.
These methods of data collection can also be easily and effectively built into far more immersive content that will both engage your audience and allow you to know them better simultaneously. For example, data capture can be built into gamified content, delivering your audience a more branded experience.
So to conclude, there is perhaps far less to fear about the death of the cookie than you once thought. With new methods come new and improved ways to connect with your audience in a meaningful way, while also building your knowledge of them in a way that is in line with their heightened desire for data privacy!
If you want to learn more about how Komo can help you connect, capture and reward your audience through immersive, gamified experiences, reach out to us below and we’ll personally introduce you to our incredible platform that can help you achieve just that.
