Google has announced that third-party cookies will stay in Chrome for longer. The plan was to phase them out in early 2022. That has now been pushed back to mid-2023. Many marketers are breathing a sigh of relief.
That relief is understandable. Even so, a delay is no reason to sit still. Your data is already becoming less complete, and anyone who starts today will have a head start later. In this article you can read why, and what you can do now.
What exactly Google has postponed
A cookie is a small file that a website places in a visitor’s browser. A first-party cookie is set by the site you are visiting. It remembers, for example, what is in your shopping basket.
A third-party cookie is set by another party, such as an advertising network. This kind of cookie can follow a visitor across multiple websites. It underpins remarketing (advertising again to people who have visited your site) and many forms of ad measurement.
Under Google’s current plan, Chrome will begin phasing out these cookies in mid-2023. The process should be complete by the end of 2023. In the meantime, Google is testing alternatives under the name Privacy Sandbox. These technologies are not finished yet and may still change.
So the question is not whether change is coming, but when and in what form. That is precisely why waiting is not a sensible strategy.
Your data is already shrinking
Chrome is not the only browser. Safari and Firefox have been blocking third-party cookies for some time. Apple has also tightened the rules on tracking in apps. People must now give permission before an app is allowed to track them.
There is something else to consider: more and more visitors decline cookies in the cookie banner. Ad blockers also stop part of your measurement. You are already missing some of your visitors in your figures.
What does that look like in practice?
- Your remarketing lists grow more slowly than you expect.
- Google Ads and Meta record fewer conversions than are actually coming in.
- In Analytics you see more traffic classed as “direct” or “unknown”.
- It is harder to see which channel generated an enquiry.
That last point is the biggest risk. If you no longer know what works, you end up allocating budget on gut feeling. Or you cut channels that are performing well, because they look poor in the figures.
Build up first-party data
First-party data is information that people share with you themselves. Think of an email address given when signing up to a newsletter, an account or a quote request. You collect it yourself, through your own channels. That means you do not depend on a browser or an advertising network.
This data is often of better quality too. Someone who requests a quote is clearly showing interest. A cookie can only suggest it.
There are several ways to build first-party data:
- A newsletter with a clear reason to subscribe, such as tips or offers.
- A download, checklist or webinar in exchange for an email address.
- A customer account that makes ordering faster.
- A quote or contact form that works well on mobile.
- Data from purchases and customer contact, properly recorded in your CRM.
A CRM is the system in which you store customer data and contact moments. Make sure everything that comes in ends up there. And make sure you can link it to your marketing, so you know which campaign brought in which customer.
Do keep an eye on the privacy rules. Ask for consent clearly, explain what you do with the data and do not keep more than you need. Under the GDPR, you are responsible for this yourself.
Measure what happens further down the funnel
Many businesses mainly measure on the website. They count clicks, forms and visits. But what you really want to know happens afterwards: which enquiry became a quote, and which quote became a customer?
If you link enquiries and sales to the campaign they came from, you rely less on cookies. You are then looking at the result in your own records, not just at what a browser passes on.
You can set this up step by step:
- Use UTM parameters. These are labels in a link that show which campaign a visitor came from.
- Store the visitor’s source in your form and CRM, so that it stays attached to the enquiry.
- In Google Ads, save the gclid. This is a unique code that Google adds to the link.
- Send sales back to Google Ads as offline conversions. This teaches the system which clicks actually generate revenue.
It does not work perfectly. But you get a much sharper picture than if you rely on cookies alone.
A practical example
Suppose you run an installation company and advertise with Google Ads and social media. People fill in a form to book an advisory meeting. In your ad account you see a number of conversions each week. But your colleagues in sales notice that more enquiries are coming in than the figures show.
Some visitors decline cookies. Others use Safari. The conversions from those people do not appear in your reporting, or only partly. As a result, some campaigns look as if they are performing worse than they really are.
You make three changes. The form now stores the visitor’s source. The enquiry goes to the CRM with that information. And as soon as a quote is signed, the salesperson marks it in the system.
After a few months you can see more. You know which campaigns bring in enquiries that actually become customers. You also see that some campaigns with many enquiries produce few sales. You can now shift your budget based on results, not on clicks.
The good thing is that this will still work if cookies disappear altogether.
Your plan for the coming months
You do not have to do everything at once. Start small and build up step by step. This is a logical order:
- Map what you currently measure. Which conversions do you record, and where does the data go?
- Check your cookie banner and consent. Is everything working as it should, and are you only measuring what you are allowed to?
- Record the source of enquiries. Make sure the source ends up in your CRM.
- Link sales back to campaigns. Start with your most important channel, such as Google Ads.
- Set up Google Analytics 4 alongside your current setup. This is the newer version of Analytics, which relies less on cookies. That way you start building history now.
- Work on your email list. Think about why someone would sign up and make that offer visible.
After that, schedule a short check every quarter. See whether the links are still working and whether the figures match what you see in practice.
Frequently asked questions
Are third-party cookies really going away?
That is Google’s direction for Chrome, now with a new timeline of around 2023. In Safari and Firefox they are already blocked. The direction is therefore clear, even though the timing may still change.
Will my remarketing still work?
Partly. In Chrome it will keep working for the time being, but in other browsers, and because of cookie refusals, you reach fewer people. Your own email list and data from your CRM can make up for this. You can often use them for advertising too, provided you have consent.
I have a small business. Is first-party data important for me too?
Yes. You do not need a large database. A tidy list of enquiries, customers and where they came from already gives you plenty of insight. For small budgets this is even more valuable, because every euro counts.
Book a free 30-minute introductory call
Would you like to know how your measurement and data are doing? Book a free 30-minute introductory call with Adventio Marketing in Amersfoort. Together we will look at what you currently measure, where your data is incomplete and what you can improve first.
You will not get a sales pitch, but an honest view of your situation and concrete first steps. Get in touch and we will arrange a time that suits you.
