A recent survey by Optimizely sheds light on the unpreparedness of UK marketers for the impending shift to a cookieless digital environment. As Google moves towards eliminating third-party cookies in Chrome by early 2024, a significant 63% of UK marketers still lack a definitive strategy for adapting to cookieless personalisation. This finding is based on responses from 100 marketing professionals across the UK.
The survey also reveals that a concerning 54% of these professionals do not have a clear strategy for leveraging first-party data for personalisation. This gap is particularly alarming as the digital marketing landscape is soon to rely heavily on direct user interactions in the absence of third-party cookies.
Currently, 83% of marketers in the UK admit that their personalisation efforts are more assumption-based than rooted in data-driven insights. This highlights the need for a strategic shift towards utilising first- and zero-party data. Fortunately, most marketers feel equipped to manage this transition, with 73% believing that privacy and personalisation can coexist. This reflects a growing recognition within the industry of the importance of balancing customised user experiences with stringent privacy protocols.
However, there’s a notable concern among 74% of marketers regarding the potential obsolescence of their current personalisation technologies. This underscores the demand for more sophisticated and privacy-conscious platforms that rely on first-party data.
Shafqat Islam, CMO at Optimizely, comments on these findings, urging UK marketers to move away from third-party data reliance. He notes that 70% of marketers are currently using multiple technologies for personalisation. Islam highlights the necessity of an integrated platform that amalgamates data from various channels to form comprehensive customer identities and enable personalised experiences based on real-time insights. Such proactive adaptation is essential for UK brands to remain competitive and capable of delivering the digital experiences that consumers expect in a post-cookie digital landscape.