Personal data protection is a major issue in the digital world. This challenge gives rise to various laws and regulations that are changing the way we browse the Internet: after the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018, a new reform is about to change how our data is managed on the web: the removal of cookies on Google Chrome.
Trustt explains how this will impact the way browsers will use our personal information.
What Is a Cookie?
A cookie is a small text file (.txt) placed on your computer by the server hosting the site you are visiting. These files then collect data about you, such as your username, age, location, and browsing habits. Once analyzed by a Search Engine company, the cookie allows businesses and advertisers to refine their targeting: which sites you visit, what your interests are, what you plan to buy soon…
You have probably been surprised by an online advertisement that appeared on your screen after you visited the site in question (this retargeting strategy), or that of another brand offering similar products: it’s thanks to your cookies that advertisers have been able to identify the products that interest you!
Generally, cookies have a rather bad reputation among internet users. Many of them say they are wary of the use of their personal data by brands and the lack of visibility of information about them circulating on the Internet.
However, rest assured: cookies do not have access to your computer and the files it contains. In reality, the cookie is interested in the traces
you leave, that is, the sites you visit and the products likely to interest you to deliver value to you by offering potentially interesting offers. In short, the cookie improves your Internet journey by personalizing the ads you can see.
Moreover, you are free to accept cookies or not when arriving on a website: it’s the famous “allow cookies” pop-up that we encounter almost systematically when arriving on a landing page.
Cookies are therefore not as malicious as we think! On the contrary, they aim to expose you to advertising content that may interest you.
At the height of the digital age, user data has become a key resource for companies as it allows them to implement a relevant marketing targeting strategy. Cookies allow brands to learn more about their prospects, to deliver the most suitable offer possible and to maximize their conversions. In parallel with the exploitation of the cookies they collect, brands use solutions such as Trustt to gather data on consumption habits and insights from their prospects via product testing. Cookies are therefore “reinforcements” to the data collection solutions already employed by brands.
What Is the Difference Between a Standard Cookie and a Third-Party Cookie?
There are different types of cookies that serve different functions.
For example, not all cookies have the same lifespan: some of them will disappear as soon as you close your browser: these are session cookies. They do not retain your preferences, choices, or information after the end of your session. If you are not logged into an e-commerce site and you place products in your cart, there’s a good chance your cart will not be saved after closing your browser.
These cookies are opposed to permanent cookies that record the information you have provided for a determined number of sessions. These cookies normally cannot store your data for more than 6 months. An example of this is saved passwords to facilitate user access to their various accounts.
Finally, there are third-party cookies (or third-party cookies) which are not used by the site you are currently visiting, but by third-party advertising services or advertisers. The retargeting example mentioned earlier involves third-party cookies: on site B, you see an ad for a third-party site, site A, which you visited earlier. Site A placed a cookie on your computer during your first visit and encourages you to return to it while you have continued browsing to site B.
Why Google Decided to Remove Cookies from Google Chrome
If you have understood what a cookie is, you have grasped the considerable impact that the removal of cookies planned by Google by the end of 2022 will have. While brands are tending to become increasingly digital, especially during a health crisis, the global browser decides to end the most powerful targeting tool on the web.
The main reason that pushed the search engine to make such a decision? The desire to transition towards more secure browsing. Google will thus align with competing search engines that are already applying a policy of restricting the use of internet users’ data. Indeed, Safari and Firefox have been using anti-cookie filters for several years.
What Can Third-Party Cookies Be Replaced With?
This initiative to remove third-party cookies follows the Privacy Sandbox project launched by Google at the end of summer 2019. The goal of this operation was to combat the web giant’s bad reputation regarding the use of internet users’ personal data. Let’s remember that Google was fined 100 million euros by CNIL in December 2020 for placing advertising cookies without authorization…
Google then imagined an alternative to third-party cookies, more respectful of the user’s privacy. While almost all of Google’s revenue relies on targeted advertising, the search engine has tested a system replacing third-party cookies: Privacy Sandbox does not analyze individual users’ data and habits but by groups of users with similar interests. This system “opposes that of third-party cookies which analyzes private information in isolation (such as the” IP address in some cases) but we see that the results in terms of conversions are practically similar.
Since this success, Google tends to move away from the conventional use of cookies to satisfy internet users concerned about respecting their privacy and not to be left behind by the competition. However, the web giant must proceed in stages: removing cookies in one go would jeopardize advertisers whose retrieval and exploitation of visitor data are integral parts of the marketing targeting strategy.
Currently, it’s the group targeting strategy (called FLoC, for Federated Learning of Cohorts) that is most likely to replace third-party cookies and should be tested during 2021 by Google.
While this turn in user data tracking seems to be good news for respecting internet users’ privacy, it’s not the same for everyone: advertisers might be forced to resort to new measures to ensure precise and refined targeting, such as using additional Google services and thus becoming dependent on the search engine.
The other solution available to brands remains resorting to a reorientation of the data marketing strategy. This new measure taken by Google indeed implies placing the optimization of data collection as the number one priority. Specialized software like Trustt accompanies brands in their product tests to allow them to know their target perfectly. Its habits, consumption patterns, preferences, motivations, barriers… Leave nothing to chance and offer the perfect offer thanks to data!
