As of 4th January 2024, Chrome has officially started restricting third-party cookies by default for 1% of Chrome browsers. Once a gateway to personalisation, cookies collected behavioral data that enabled targeted ads and allowed marketers to serve up personalised experiences. However, when Google announced the change in 2020 citing ‘greater privacy for users’, it posed a substantial challenge to marketers relying on third-party data as part of their marketing strategy.
The change necessitated a shift towards collecting first-party data instead, but according to a Deloitte report, commissioned by Google, despite strong support for recent privacy changes, privacy is yet to become as much of a focus for sell-side players in APAC as it is in Europe or the Americas. The top three reasons holding organisations back from investing were the future state of privacy being too uncertain (30%), believing that there is no need to do anything further until the timing of platform changes is made clear, (25%) and businesses thinking they cannot compete with large digital platforms on audience matching, (25%).
Another strong belief was that the first-party data would never be good enough, (23%). And to some extent, this is true, as the problem remains that data is only valuable when marketers are activating it and deriving insights from it – in real time. Chances are, most brands are already collecting lots of first-party data, from transactions to downloads, emails, and website analytics. But with all that, as well as any new initiatives to collect more data, such as surveys and loyalty or reward programmes, how can they avoid this data going straight to the graveyard?
It starts with equipping tech ecosystems for real-time data agility
Effectively tapping into the power of first-party data starts with creating a unified customer view. It requires access to tech ecosystems that are built for data agility and real-time behavioural insights that marketers can easily act on. Data agility enables a brand’s data to move at the speed of its business, giving marketers the ability to collect, analyse, and disseminate information quickly and efficiently to meet goals at scale. For the best results, a tech ecosystem should encompass all channels and allow for meaningful personalisation that will ultimately build loyalty and drive conversions.
Additionally, first-party data strategies and supporting technology need to be compliant with GDPR and ever-evolving privacy laws on a global scale. By having the right data management solution in place, marketers can compliantly extract information from end to end and quickly incorporate it into their personalised, dynamic messaging strategy.
Generative AI tools also pose exciting opportunities for markers, with the potential to revolutionise customer engagement campaigns by providing creative and personalised experiences. These tools can power customer-centric interactions between consumers and brands by speeding up the delivery of campaigns and empowering teams with ideas and content to cut through the noise. They can help create versions of campaigns across multiple channels for more targeted and personalised reach, ensuring brands don’t miss out on opportunities to connect with their audience in the right way and driving value across every touchpoint.
To save the most time and drive the most efficiency, marketers should look for built-in AI capabilities among their existing tech stack, leveraging the real-time data already at their disposal and taking it to the next level.
But what does real-time really mean?
When chasing the North Star of having unified customer profiles, they must be made up of real-time data. True real-time data that’s accessible and up-to-date at any given moment—not when the system syncs, once a day, or every couple of hours. It’s not the same thing. And although the difference might seem slight, it can have an incredible impact on marketing efforts. Being able to reach people in the right way, at the right time, on the right channel with a relevant message, cannot truly be achieved with data that isn’t of the moment.
An example of a brand that recognises the value of true real-time data is Picklebet, an Australian sport and esports betting site that paired Braze with their proprietary betting engine to build a solution that enabled the team to personalise and test offers to individual users based on their preferences across a mix of channels. As business needs evolved, it became obvious that they needed a platform that could support the real-time and cross-channel experiences that customers have come to expect. By leveraging Braze’s real-time capabilities, Picklebet increased sessions per user by 116%, increased retention by 13% and saw a 550% improvement in CAC payback.
Final Thoughts
As the privacy landscape continues to evolve, first-party data and data consent will become even more important. This makes having an agile, unified and real-time data platform the best way to stay up-to-date and relevant. Without this, brands risk slowing business growth and missing out on all-important customer engagement opportunities that drive revenue. Investing time, effort and resources into this area will drive flexibility and more profitable customer engagement strategies that are effective both online and off.
What’s Next?
- Conduct an inventory – Identify all the first-party data available in the organisation and check how it is analysed and used.
- Integrate AI – Determine which of your current tools are capable of integrating with AI or have AI capabilities.
- Mobilise teams – Teams can be brought out of silos and start working together on exchanging information to see the benefits and uses of current first-party data.
- Discover new sources – Pinpoint gaps in your data and analysis processes and systems and prioritise the gaps you need to fill. Decide on how you can acquire this new data.
- Unify real-time data – Unify your data for a holistic view of each customer with a platform that can help you reach these customers as and when you need to. Check for real-time ability and make sure that data is actionable at any given moment.
- Connect and engage – Use your data to create effective campaigns. Connect and engage with customers, test and experiment for continued optimisation and enhancement of your first-party data and its effectiveness.
This article is written by Shahid Nizami, VP, Sales, APAC at Braze
The insight is published as part of MARKETECH APAC’s thought leadership series under What’s NEXT 2023-2024. What’s NEXT 2023-2024 is a multi-platform industry initiative which features marketing and industry leaders in APAC sharing their marketing insights and predictions for the upcoming year.
