Brand Reliance on Cookies is Ruining the Element of Surprise for Consumers (and Yes, They Resent it)

Forget about "Cookie Doomsday." Even if Google never fully deprecates the third-party cookie in Chrome, retailers still need to ditch those bits of code as soon as they can. The simple fact is that third-party cookies are destroying consumers’ ability to shop the way they want to shop, and the long-term fallout from the resulting consumer frustration could be devastating for retailers.

Many retail brands have decided that they’re going to cling to the third-party cookie as long as they can, even though they know the more sustainable path would be to start identifying and implementing third-party cookie alternatives as soon as possible. It’s easy to fall into this trap given the number of initiatives that demand retail marketers’ attention at any given time. But be aware: Brands that are still relying on third-party cookies are irking many of their customers, and those individuals will vent their frustrations with their wallets.

Why is it so important for retail brands to ditch cookies ASAP rather than waiting for them to be removed from the playing field altogether? Let’s look at a core reason that many marketers aren’t currently considering, as well as short- and long-term solutions to make amends with consumers.

How Cookies Are Ruining the Party

For the most part, we tend to talk about the reasons that our industry needs to ditch third-party cookies from a marketer's perspective: Third-party cookies are already useless in many digital environments. Where they're still relevant, they’re becoming less so. Eventually, they’ll be removed entirely from the digital landscape; thus, the industry needs to identify and implement solutions before that happens. These are all perfectly sound reasons to be urgently seeking alternatives, but still, many retail marketers have decided to hold on to cookies until their last gasp. That’s because they don't recognize the significant harm they’re inflicting on their customers — today.

Think about what third-party cookies do from a consumer perspective: One of their primary jobs is to track a person's actions online so that those individuals can be retargeted with messages based on their browsing and purchase history. We’re all familiar with the ads that pop up to remind us of a past purchase and suggest a complementary next purchase. Or the ones that remind us that we left something specific in our shopping carts. The problem is that the cookies behind these messages aren’t actually tracking us as individuals. Anyone who shares a device or Wi-Fi connection with us is just as likely to see ads based on this activity. When it comes to purchasing gifts and surprises for our loved ones, that’s a huge problem.

Sometimes the inadvertent reveal might not seem like a huge deal: Your significant other might be retargeted with an ad that tips them off to the fact that you bought that new dishwasher utensil caddy you had both been discussing. But think about a more extreme possibility: What about when a person purchases an engagement ring, only to have their soon-to-be fiancé be retargeted with an ad for engagement ring insurance? Can you imagine having one of the biggest moments of your life spoiled by retargeting?

When surprises are spoiled in this manner, consumers know that it’s the brands that are to blame. More than eight out of 10 consumers understand what browsing cookies are, and nearly the same number of consumers would prefer for companies to stop tracking them. It’s understandable. Consumers are fed up with aggressive advertising tactics fueled by cookies, and they’re actively avoiding the brands that use them.

Repairing the Damage, Immediately and for Good

Retail brands still relying on third-party cookies need to act now to avoid further damage to their reputations and additional ruined surprises among their gift-giving customers. While the complete migration away from cookies will take some time and effort, there are immediate steps that can be taken to avoid awkward browsing and purchase reveals. The simplest way is for retail brands to enable pop-ups, particularly in situations where a person is likely to be shopping for a gift, that explain (clearly and simply) how shoppers can temporarily disable cookies to ensure their purchases remain a secret.

However, brands must go further. If marketers aren’t already, it’s time to be identifying and implementing strategies and tactics that enable brands to discard cookies as a tracking tool once and for all. In this regard, marketers need to be considering not just one “replacement” for cookies, but rather a strategic combination of solutions that can fill the gap in consumer understanding left by cookies. This begins by prioritizing the acquisition and organization of first-party data, which is key to improving audience understanding and relevancy. But to truly scale this understanding and activate it across channels, marketers must also be considering opportunities like contextual advertising and digital fingerprinting, neither of which rely on third-party cookies for success.

Marketers have known for years that the time to move beyond third-party cookies has arrived. What many haven’t realized is that they need to do it not just for themselves, but for their customers. Brands need to ensure consumers can protect their browsing and purchase activity in a way that protects the element of surprise — as well as the reputation of the brand that might otherwise ruin the party.

Phil Schraeder is the CEO of GumGum, a contextual-first, global digital advertising platform.