Cookies are here to stay, but adtech isn’t going back
Since Google's initial announcement in 2020 about plans to phase out cookies, the adtech industry has found itself in a state of uncertainty. This, coupled with privacy regulations and changing consumer behaviors, has fundamentally altered the adtech landscape.
In anticipation of cookie deprecation, adtech companies have wisely shifted towards more comprehensive methods of audience segmentation. Location data has emerged as a key player in this transition. It effectively connects the dots between online and offline worlds, offering the adtech industry a viable cookieless solution for audience segmentation and enhanced attribution.
Despite Google's recent decision against the deprecation of third-party cookies, the adtech industry will not revert to previous practices. Instead, it will increasingly adopt location data targeting strategies, enhancing campaign performance and maximizing return on investment.
Breaking Free from the Cookie Crutch
As the advertising industry began to explore alternatives to cookies, it became evident that cookies were not the ultimate solution. While they provided essential demographic and psychographic data, they fell short of capturing the full narrative.
The fundamental problem with cookies lies in their inability to grasp the complex nature of consumer decision-making. Solely depending on interests for segmentation and targeting fails to recognize that behaviors are a much more precise indicator of actual intent.
Take, for example, location intelligence. It can discern between someone whose demographics suggest an interest in luxury cars and another who demonstrates intent to purchase by visiting car showrooms. Similarly, it can distinguish between an individual who occasionally views a retailer online and one who frequently visits the physical store. These instances underscore how geospatial data offers vital insights into the nuanced behaviors of consumers in the real world. Moreover, the context of these visits, such as the length of stay at a location and the visit frequency, is incredibly telling.
Location data empowers adtech companies to segment consumers based on brand affinity, lifestyle, preferences, and household income, grounding targeting in the physical world for outcomes that are both more precise and reliable. This depth of insight surpasses the basic demographic and psychographic information that cookies could provide.
Privacy-Friendly and Effective Attribution
Leveraging location data significantly enhances audience segmentation and provides a mindful approach to tracking the transition from online engagements to offline conversions. By employing location data for attribution, the adtech industry can accurately assess how many individuals visit a physical location after interacting with an online advertisement. This technique is a pivotal component of customer journey mapping, offering a holistic view of an advertisement's effectiveness by demonstrating its tangible impact in the real world. Utilizing such attribution techniques fosters ongoing success by identifying the demographic and behavioral profiles of those who convert. These insights further refine advertising strategies, boosting the return on advertising spend.
However, not all location data is equal. With nearly 45 percent of location data shown to be flawed, it’s necessary to find a partner with a stringent methodology for quality control. It’s crucial to understand the details about each signal's origin and accuracy in order to provide a higher level of confidence in offline attribution.
These methods of attribution give precedence to user privacy, relying on anonymized and privacy-enhanced data to safeguard individual identities. Moreover, users retain the ability to opt out of location tracking, thus preserving their control over their personal data.
Partnering with a location data provider that is dedicated to upholding user privacy not only elevates campaign performance but also enhances engagement without incurring additional costs. This is achieved by targeting high-value prospects and minimizing advertising waste. When implemented by experts, targeting based on location intelligence results in cost-effective advertising strategies that deliver substantial returns, seamlessly combining efficiency with effectiveness.
The Unacast Difference
In an era where privacy concerns intersect with consumer expectations, the adtech industry cannot afford the risks associated with unreliable location data. It's a universally acknowledged truth that superior data drives superior outcomes. Enhanced audience segmentation leads to more clear and accurate attribution, fostering more effective campaign optimization—a cycle all adtech could benefit from.
At Unacast, our innovative algorithms assign "forensic flags" to each processed location signal. These identifiers signal potentially flawed or suspicious data and offer details about the signal's origin and accuracy. This approach ensures our location data is not only privacy-conscious and meticulously cleansed but also enriched with layers of filtering that provide invaluable insights into informational and quality indicators.
Unacast’s expertise lies in distinguishing and enhancing valuable data, eliminating what's unreliable, and infusing the remaining data with new, actionable insights. Our commitment to the highest standards of data processing is unwavering. With our forensic flags, we significantly elevate our location data, ensuring it's not just reliable but also highly relevant and usable.
Farewell to cookies, and welcome to a new era of sophisticated audience targeting and offline attribution with Unacast's advanced data processing capabilities and commitment to privacy.
Ready to evolve beyond cookies? Book a meeting now.
