Weekly Digital Breakdown – 1.17.20
Weekly Digital Breakdown
Jan 17 2020
Google’s Cookies will Crumble in 2022
This week, Google announced plans to discontinue the use of third-party cookies in Chrome completely by 2022. The change will be far reaching for advertisers and how they promote their businesses as they have relied on cookies for ad targeting for years.
The change comes just after the launch of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which has been one of the strictest privacy regulations to date. Many other states are also working on similar plans, some with even more stringent guidelines on the collection and user of consumer’s personal data accessed online.
“This is our strategy to re-architect the standards of the web, to make it privacy-preserving by default,” Justin Schuh, Google’s director for Chrome engineering, told me. “There’s been a lot of focus around third-party cookies, and that certainly is one of the tracking mechanisms, but that’s just a tracking mechanism and we’re calling it out because it’s the one that people are paying attention to.”
Google plans to make the adjustment in phases with plans to limit cross-site tracking with its new SameSite rules this February. The rule will require an HTTPS connection to access cookies labeled for third-party use, forcing cookies to be explicitly labeled if intended to be used by parties other than the site itself.
The eventual removal of third-party cookies will be replaced with Google’s Privacy Sandbox, which would still permit advertisers to still show somewhat personalized ads without requiring extensive information from users to do so. Google plans to use the Sandbox to experiment and solve ways to continue to allow brands to reach consumers with new techniques that are effective. Aside from focusing on continuing to show relevant messaging without intrusive tracking, they will also focus on tracking conversion metrics with the changes, particularly conversions.
The change will definitely greatly impact the digital advertising world in a big way. However, Google is not the first major tech company to enact these strict changes. Mozilla’s Firefox moved to block all third-party cookies by default for all users in late 2019. According to the company, this is just the beginning of their plans to create more user privacy online. Apple’s Safari has also updated their cookie tracking policy, decreasing the tracking window significantly. As a whole, ad tech is working to change the space while continuing to be effective.
Convenience Continues to Drives Consumer Behavior
Convenience is continuing to shape the retail industry for shoppers and brands. According to a recent study, a breakdown of how habits are shifting is leading brands advertising efforts.
The main focus is a streamlined experience both in-store and online via mobile and smart devices. When it comes to shopping at retail locations, customers are looking for mobile technology being utilized in-store. This includes a faster shopping experience including expedited checkout. According to the study, nearly half (45%) of shoppers prefer sales associates to assist them with mobile checkout throughout the store, making those long checkout lines a thing of the past.
Accessibility is also a priority when it comes to shopping at home too. As more households purchase smart speakers, over 118 million in the US, consumers are becoming more comfortable utilizing the devices for voice-enabled shopping. With the help of AI, the speakers are able to learn user patterns and behavior, which enable them to create a quicker and less cumbersome shopping experience. Over half (51%) of U.S. consumers say they are “very comfortable” shopping with voice-enabled assistants in the home and high adoption rates are expected to continue.
One somewhat surprising finding is a shift in wanting a more personalized shopping experience. As more data privacy regulations are coming into place, consumers are becoming more aware of how their personal information is being used by companies to market to them.This is creating hesitation to embrace new technology such as facial recognition to better customize their product selections.
Consumer habits will continue to drive the market. As technology evolves and privacy continues to be a priority, brands may have to rethink their strategy to drive engagement.
https://www.mobilemarketer.com/news/in-store-mobile-tech-draws-repeat-shoppers-study-finds/570277/
Chipotle Wants To Help You Keep Your Resolutions
Chipotle continues to find success with it’s free food and delivery promotions as it once again leverages Twitter to reach customers. In its latest campaign, the company is running a month-long promotion of its Lifestyle Bowls, which has continued to gain momentum since it’s introduction to the market. This time, Chipotle is focusing its efforts on January 19th, better known as “Quitter’s Day” when all those well intentioned New Year’s fitness goals get abandoned.
The company is posting codes via Twitter to redeem a free Lifestyle Bowl and will also deliver the bowls for free throughout the month. By providing the healthy choice, Chipotle hopes to help customers hang on to those goals a little longer while also driving increased interest in the Lifestyle Bowls.
The latest Twitter promotion follows other social media successes leveraged by the company to promote its menu and delivery options. The company has promoted free delivery codes around other events such as its “Free Delivery Interception” during the college football championship season and it’s “Freeting” campaign during the NBA finals last spring.
