Are You Ready for a Cookie-less World?

With Chrome (Google) looking to catch up to the other major browsers by
phasing out third-party cookies by next year, it is important that businesses understand the impact of this change and what they can do to combat it.

The removal of Cookies from most browsers means that data will no longer be collected about customers’ online activity. As a result, advertisers are being forced to pivot and find alternative ways to obtain, store and maintain their first-party data.

Without putting a cohesive first-party data strategy in place well before the changes are implemented, businesses will be forced to return to the days of blind scattergun advertising to the masses. They will have little to no view of where their customers are coming from and which campaigns are driving the best results.

By adapting early, however, and establishing best-practice data management processes and technology, businesses can continue to have a clear understanding of who is engaging with their dealership and which ads are leading to the most vehicle sales.

Data is coming at you from every angle. Over the last 10-15 years the number of ways a customer can engage with a dealership has grown exponentially. Previously it was just walk-ins, phone calls, and leads through classified sites. Now customers are finding and engaging with you utilising a multitude of methods: on your website; through manufacturer sites; on social media and search engines; in digital ads; on classified websites; and on other third-party websites. They are also engaging you using an array of tools: web forms; vehicle stock locators; via chat and SMS; through social platforms; using trade-in and finance tools, over the phone; or just by walking in.

With every touch point and transaction comes an opportunity to collect information about the client. The issue is, however, that many dealerships are not managing this well. A significant number are not tracking and measuring their leads and attributing them to their original source, and many are having to log into multiple dashboards to view and report on the different customer transactions. Lead and Dealership Management Systems are also failing to be populated effectively with usable data, with many entries coming through as duplicates or incomplete, and relying heavily on manual entry.

As a result of these inefficiencies, dealers do not have clear visibility across the business as to which marketing channels are performing and delivering the best return on investment. This leaves them flying blind when planning out their marketing strategies and advertising budgets.

What’s the solution?

Our recommendation to dealers is that they find a marketing and/or technology partner capable of providing a single-view tool that integrates with a full array of industry platforms. By feeding data from all lead and campaign channels into a single dashboard and then integrating this with your Lead/Dealership Management System, your customer data and performance will be consolidated and viewable in one place. This will not only become your main source of collection and maintenance of your all-important first-party customer data, it will also provide you with clear visibility of the performance of your business. In turn, enabling you to make more educated budgeting decisions in the future.

The cookie-less world is coming and will take some getting used to, however by adapting early, implementing new processes, and taking ownership of your own customer data, you will be far better prepared to weather the storm than many others in the industry.

If you have any questions, contact the team at AdTorque Edge.