Know your cookies
Those that use third-party cookies and rely on the cross-selling of users’ behavioural data will be hit the hardest, and will have to rethink their strategy.
Everyone else can breathe a light sigh of relief, as first-party cookies are here to stay. To quickly clarify: first-party cookies are what allow you to track visitor data that is directly affiliated with your domain.
A first party cookie is a code that gets generated and stored on your website visitor's computer by default when they visit your site. This is the cookie responsible for remembering passwords, preferences and other basic visitor data.
This means you can still gather a wealth of data allowing you to see what a user did while visiting your website, analyse frequency and patterns around when and why they visit your website, and then construct a tailored marketing strategy around that.
What you won’t be able to see in a couple of years time is data related to your visitor's behaviour on other websites that aren't affiliated with your domain.
Marketing and natural selection
Just because you don’t use third-party cookies doesn’t absolve you from reflecting upon your current game plan.
While personalisation itself will not die, it will have to evolve. And in true Darwinian fashion, its weaker characteristics will have to be left behind in order for the worthy ones to survive.
AI and machine learning will likely continue to lead the way in terms of results. For everyone else, personalisation may become more of a tool for retention, and for closing the gap when customers are a stone's throw from the end of their purchase journey.
What marketers really need to reflect on is firstly whether or not they have the baseline resources required to do it in an impactful way – one that is worth the pounds put in.
