Adobe Study: Brands That Rely Too Heavily on Third-Party Cookies are Leaving Money on The Table Today, Risking Long-Term Business Harm
Three years after Google announced that third-party cookies would be deprecated – a timeline that subsequently shifted multiple times – we are still not living in a cookieless world. And while it’s reasonable for brands to continue to use third-party cookies as part of their marketing efforts, many are over investing in the strategy leaving money on the table today and hurting their chances of gaining competitive advantages in the future.
To quantify the current state of cookie dependence and the business consequences of inaction, Adobe surveyed 407 full-time marketing and consumer experience leaders in the UK. The overall sentiment is clear: Many marketers are not taking the necessary steps to evolve their data strategies, despite serious near- and long-term impacts on their businesses.
Key insights from UK marketing and customer experience leaders include:
- Most brands still rely heavily on third-party cookies. Across the UK, 70% of marketing and CX leaders still rely heavily on third-party cookies. Though deprecation is on the horizon, 41% of leaders are spending at least half of their marketing budgets on cookie-based activations – and 59% actually plan to increase spending on cookie-dependent activations this year.
- Companies are leaving significant money on the table. 84% of leaders at cookie-dependent companies say that at least 30% of their total potential market is in environments where third-party cookies don’t work, such as social media platforms and on Apple devices, and 44% say that 50% or more of their potential market is in cookieless environments. Beyond the immediate consequences of being unable to reach 30-50% of potential customers, the impacts of this mistake will only compound with every passing quarter as the cookieless frontier continues to expand.
- The end of third-party cookies will hurt businesses that are unprepared. An overdependence on third-party cookies is about to backfire on brands – nearly three-quarters (71%) of leaders expect the end of third-party cookies will hurt their businesses, in some cases profoundly: 10% said it will “devastate” their businesses, 21% anticipate significant harm, and 39% predict a moderate negative impact.
- Many heavy third-party cookie users believe they don’t have a choice. 43% of cookie-using leaders say they view cookies as a “necessary evil,” even though many realize that continued overreliance is a losing strategy for the long-term. Whilst over a third (37%) say they can’t get the resources to evolve their strategies.
- Ambiguity over cookie deprecation is causing confusion, and in some cases, inaction. Many companies are now on the path to abandoning cookies: 58% of UK leaders said they are either accelerating their readiness for a cookieless future or keeping it a high priority. The remaining 42% – nearly half of leaders – are not. Some say they are not changing out of a perceived lack of urgency. Others plan to change but are delaying cookieless preparations.
- Customer data platforms (CDPs) are helping brands prepare for a cookieless future, and a cookieless now. As the world transitions from third-party cookies to more comprehensive strategies grounded in first-party data, companies that aren’t using CDPs – applications that combine first-party attribute, behavioral, preference, and even consent-based data from partners, to create actionable customer profiles – are at a competitive disadvantage. Of companies without CDPs, 40% said they struggle to deliver personalized experiences across channels. Investing in a durable data strategy is the only way for companies to get a more complete view of their consumers, and create lasting connections built on value and trust.
- CDPs are delivering real ROI today. 96% of leaders whose companies use CDPs report positive results: 48% say they have already gained more direct relationships with customers, 41% note a rise in customer loyalty, and 29% increased the number and value of completed transactions. CDPs also improve internal workflows: 37% said CDPs enabled better and faster work across marketing and IT, and 28% are realizing more efficient production of ROI.
Commenting on the findings, Jamie Brighton, Director of Product Marketing for EMEA at Adobe: “While marketers’ continued reliance on cookies isn’t surprising, public sentiment and the regulatory environment have shifted – consumers have become more conscious about companies’ aggregation of data, and trust has become the glue that binds customers to brands. Slowly but surely, companies are learning that they must collect data and deliver experiences in ways that build trusted, reciprocal relationships, and give consumers ultimate control over their data, including how their data is being used. The trend is clear: Brands are moving to platforms that are not reliant on third-party cookies, and those that ignore this trend are leaving money on the table today and putting their businesses in jeopardy in the longer term.”
Methodology
Adobe commissioned independent research company, Advanis who surveyed 2,667 full-time marketing and customer experience leaders across eight countries – the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and India. 1,208 of these are European brands and 407 are UK brands. Survey was conducted between November 8th and 22nd, 2022.