As we look to the prospect of 2022 and beyond, we see the consumer experience reshaped by the promise of a whole new world that is the Metaverse. But what impact will creating a world of digital-based consumer experience have on the data privacy laws and strategies we follow today? How can marketing teams prepare for the impending changes on the horizon, and what strategies can they engage in now that will help future-proof their methods for years to come?
It’s All About the Data
Long gone are the days of evaluating campaign data once the campaign has concluded. Endemic marketing teams are more aware than ever that implementing a real time data strategy is crucial when it comes to A/B testing, campaign optimization, and the overall success of marketing initiatives. It is critical that brands have instant access to real–time data for their consumers, target audiences, and marketing initiatives in order to achieve success in today’s digital–first marketplace.
Ensuring holistic views of data in real-time is a necessity for all modern facets of business. While marketing teams rely heavily on data to inform their strategies and help pivot initiatives to ensure success, so do wider teams across an organization as well as the organization itself to ensure growth at scale.
Zero-Party CDPs for the Win
When news broke that the reign of the third-party cookie was coming to an end, the majority of marketers’ initial response was to panic. However, the sunsetting of the third-party cookie doesn’t have to be a detriment to success. Instead, marketers should see it as an opportunity for brands and marketing teams to collect, aggregate, and leverage their consumer data within their own in-house CDPs, and on their customer’s terms.
While it may seem daunting, the path forward is through zero-party data collection and housing of said data in company owned CDPs. This path will enrich marketing strategies and consumer engagement tenfold. The basic principle is to simply request data directly from consumers and receive their explicit permission to not only have it but to use it. Hot on the heels of the last goodbye from the third-party cookie are substantial changes in data privacy laws and policies that will enable the modern consumer to have full rights to their digital data property, allowing them to control when and where it can be used and who can use it.
At first glance, this may seem like a limitation, but in reality it’s a blessing. A highly engaged customer requesting communications and information from your brand is far more valuable to the bottom line than a hundred potential customers with no engagement history. While there is always the need to gain and retain more customers, no matter what business you are in, building relationships and establishing loyalty with customers in a way that they allow — and even ask — your brand to market to them will result in higher ROI and maximized lifetime value. Zero-party and in-house data collection methodologies are changing the route to modern marketing success.
Time for a Goal Reset
The best way to do this is to fully understand the wants and needs of your consumer and where they spend the majority of their time in the digital world. Once the audience is understood, the best place to reach them has been identified, and the type of content that engages them is known, it is time to determine what you can do to help them. Yes, help them.
More than ever, marketers need to hinge on engaging consumers with helpful information, and helping customers achieve success. Modern consumers do not want to be inundated with troves of information that they cannot relate to. They want to come across information and products that are useful to them when and where they need them the most.
This means marketing teams need to set their sights on getting educational and helpful content in front of their target consumers in a way that resonates with them. Brands that are able to pivot their strategies to meet this need will set themselves up for success when the day comes for these new policies to take effect. Fortunately, savvy brands can future-proof their success through the sustained loyalty of modern consumers no matter what changes lie ahead for data privacy practices.