DATA-DRIVEN MARKETING

Third party cookies verdwijnen, wat nu?

Third-party cookies disappear. Do you want to keep seeing which marketing campaigns deliver the best leads? Want to build customer profiles? Personalise ads? Keep improving your website? Read how to switch to first-party data tracking here.

What are third party cookies?

The difference between third party cookies and first party cookies lies in who places the cookie. With third party cookies, a third party - or an organisation that does not have direct contact with the customer - places a tracking code. This allows them to analyse behavioural data and track individuals across different platforms. Often, these third parties are data giants, who share the information with the website operator so it can improve its website or advertisements. But they also often share this information with many different other parties (think Google using the contents of someone's Gmail outbox to predict for advertisers whether you will soon purchase a particular product or service). Or even sell the information (think Facebook).

Maartje B.

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Third party cookies are disappearing

Third party cookies are disappearing as online privacy becomes increasingly important. In 2018, the Algemene Verordening Gegevensbescherming (AVG), the Dutch version of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), came into force. This was the reason why you suddenly saw cookie notifications appearing everywhere. These pop-ups report the use of certain cookies and ask permission to deploy others.

Web browser Firefox adapted their cookie protocol soon after. In 2020, Apple blocked all third-party cookies in Safari and in 2021, Apple ensured that mobile apps must also always ask permission to track you on other apps and websites. Google will block all third-party cookies in Chrome and in Android in autumn 2024.

What do marketers use third-party cookies for? Although third-party cookies are disappearing, they are still widely used by marketers. A survey by the DDMA in 2021 showed that 94% of marketers still deployed third-party cookies for measuring web statistics (mainly Google Analytics cookies). In addition, marketers still used them plenty for measuring marketing performance (86%), retargeting (79%), building customer profiles (65%) and setting up A/B testing or on-site personalisation (60%). Only 2% of marketers surveyed said they do not use third-party cookies.

First-party data

First-party data is data about your website visits that parties process and store themselves and that they can use to improve user experiences. For example, parties do not have to ask permission for first-party cookies that remember which language setting you chose during a surfing session. Also, parties with whom you 'do business' may store your order history or your call history with customer service to better serve you. This type of data needs to be analysed to provide relevant (marketing) insights.

Zero party data

Zero-party data is the explicit data that you yourself share about your identity. Like your date of birth, because then you can get a free tompouce at HEMA. Or data about your energy consumption, so you can see how much gas and electricity you use in your energy supplier's app. Or your interest in certain products, if you create an account somewhere so you can keep a wish list or get personalised advice.

Which cookies are allowed?

What was the situation again? Weren't Google Analytics cookies precisely the only third-party cookies allowed under the AVG / GDPR?

Always allowed are functional cookies. These ensure that a website works properly. For example, the website remembers which items you put in your shopping basket while you continue shopping, in which language you want to use the website or that you are logged in. Or the cookie that remembers whether or not you object to the use of cookies.

Functional cookies are actually almost always first-party cookies. Some websites may involve functional third-party cookies, for example if the website uses plugins to provide the function, such as Woocommerce for e-commerce. Functional third-party cookies are also essential for online payments. The website then sends information to the online payment service, such as Adyen or PayPal, which also sends data back so that the shop can verify your payments.

Third-party cookies and the AVG

Analytical cookies are cookies that allow website owners to improve their websites. This gives them better insight into how the website works. Websites often use third-party cookies to keep track of visitor statistics, for example.

Although in other European countries you have to ask permission for this, the Dutch government states that these analytical cookies have hardly any privacy implications. Therefore, until Google Analytics is banned, you do not have to ask permission for their third-party cookies as long as you have adjusted certain settings in Google Analytics.

Therefore, if the data is anonymised, the website owner is not obliged to place a cookie notice about analytical cookies. However, he must mention the use of analytical cookies in the privacy statement.

Tracking cookies or marketing cookies have required consent since 2018 because they infringe on someone's privacy. For example, they allow Zalando to show you advertisements on Facebook or in a mobile app of the shoes you have just looked at, but not bought.

They also allow AI algorithms to combine data. Among marketers, there is a typical example that is always cited when it comes to artificial intelligence and data capture. Namely of the furious father who received a pregnancy pack from a supermarket, which - even before the daughter herself knew - had concluded from her purchases that she was pregnant.

The problem of Google Analytics cookies

The problem with Google Analytics cookies? If you don't proactively adjust Google Analytics settings (for example, according to the DDMA manual), then tracking is involved.

Also, Google Analytics does not anonymise personal data. By turning on 'Anonymise IP', Google scrambles (hashing) the digits of a person's IP address. But that thus produces pseudonyms and does not make the data anonymous. Thus, Google can still track you across multiple devices. Moreover, it is not clear whether this happens before the data is sent to US servers and Google itself holds the key to trace IP addresses. If you use or even link Google Analytics together with other Google marketing services, the chance of tracking within a large number of websites according to the DDMA is still very high.

The solution: first-party data processing

Fortunately, there is a solution: first-party data processing. As soon as you visit a website, the company in question stores your online behaviour in a profile in a database they manage themselves. This is also known as a customer data platform (CDP). Every time people return to the website via the same device, that information is stored in the same profile. That profile then remains anonymous until people have made themselves known to the company.

Building average profiles

To improve marketing efforts, a company can easily test which anonymous and known visitors match their personas without giving a third party access to that data. For example, Centagon works with OpptyLab. This allows us to assess whether unknown visitors belong to the target group and compare the profiles with the ideal customer. This early prospect data platform with a built-in marketing automation system then enables lead nurturing, retargeting and personalisation. For example, a visitor can be assigned a high lead score by viewing certain pages or performing actions on the website. The better someone meets your ideal customer profile, the higher the lead score and the more interesting it becomes to bind this person to your brand. In this way, data-driven marketing remains possible within the rules of the AVG.

Isn't there a third party then?

But then, isn't any data platform or marketing tool that you don't develop yourself a third party? And isn't a marketing agency by definition a third party? As an agency, Centagon is bound by the strict rules of a processing agreement, which means we are not allowed to simply see the information and certainly not pass it on to another party. The client is the party that determines what should happen to the personal data and how this should be done and therefore the processor. The processor, in this case Centagon, is the external party that carries out the processing for the controller.

Such a client's first-party data resides on a cloud service (AWS), but is fully owned by our clients. Other agencies can also use Opptylab's customer data platform and built-in marketing automation system for their own clients as processors.

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