Everyone in marketing knows the story. We all spent months preparing for it. In January 2020, Google announced that Chrome would no longer support third party cookies. Later, they announced that 100% of Chrome users would be affected by the end of 2024.
Essentially meaning that cookies were on their way out for Chrome users. Gone!
When a tech giant like Google makes such a drastic change, others are surely to follow suit. And what a change it is! It affects many aspects of marketing: ad targeting, tracking, reporting, loss of data. The list goes on.
Fortunately, Google reversed this decision, shocking everyone. In July 2024, the company announced they no longer planned to phase out third party cookies from Chrome. Once the shock wore off, marketers breathed a sigh of relief heard ‘round the world.
But What If?
It isn’t hard to imagine a change of heart here. After all, this entire story thus far is predicated upon a reversed decision. Cookies are here to stay, at least for the moment. But Google’s recent flirtation with the concept of a cookieless world gave online marketers a reality check.
This could really happen. It almost did!
So, while our sighs of relief are welcomed, we should remain vigilant and mindful of just how much we rely on cookies. We spent months planning for this change. Plus, Google admits that cookies are still changing but haven’t announced how just yet.
Let’s analyze that planning further in an effort to remain ready should the cookies one day crumble.
Cookies impact the following aspects of a legal digital marketing campaign:
Ad targeting – various ad platforms rely on cookies to track and remarket to website visitors who view key pages or take key actions on your website. Some platforms, such as Meta, allow advertisers to take these audiences and target demographically similar individuals. Needless to say, losing this capability would affect ad campaigns at large.
Users would experience a less targeted ad experience, resulting in fewer relevant ads, increased costs for advertisers, and less revenue generated.
Tracking – cookies allow advertisers to track user activity across their website(s) and gain better data as to where users are in the marketing funnel. This data also helps identify strengths and weaknesses in your website, leading to further on-site optimizations and an overall better user experience.
Also from an ads perspective, we need to be able to track what actions users perform on our site once they get there. What happens once they click or view an ad? Are they falling off the website quickly? Are they viewing high-intent pages? Most importantly, are they converting? And if so, what actions led them to do so?
Cookies do all of that.
What Actions (If Any) Should Law Firms Take to Prepare for a Cookieless World? Should We Take Them Anyway?
Preparation for a cookieless world birthed innovation. Advertisers searched for ways to still effectively target high-intent prospects and track as much data as possible. However, it was a wake-up call for many marketers that these were things we should probably be doing anyway.
Cookies are here to stay at least for now. But that may not always be the case. Thankfully, our team at Consultwebs was already implementing many of these strategies–not in case cookies suddenly vanished, but because it broadens our targeting options and increases data accountability. This is one situation where our team’s best practices kept us prepared for the unthinkable.
Here are some strategies that advertisers would suddenly rely on should cookies become less certain:
- Integrate long-form video into social media strategies and retargeting based on percentage of videos viewed.
- UTM tag all links instead of relying exclusively on pixels for data tracking. This one seems like a no-brainer, but Google’s plan to eliminate cookies uncovered that many marketers weren’t doing this age-old practice. Just tag it, folks!
- Concentrate more on your law firm’s first-party data sources, such as curated contact (email) lists. These are a powerful way to retarget on ads platforms and reach new, similar potential clients by using “look-a-like” features.
- On platforms like Facebook, rely on engagement data as another way to supplement more intentional targeting audiences.
Don’t Get Comfortable Because Cookies Are Sticking Around. Stay Innovative!
As marketers, we must always seek new ways to stand out from our competitors. Just because Google flipped on their decision to eliminate cookies from Chrome should not stifle creativity or innovation. So, what should we do?
Implement those great ideas you had when you thought cookies were on their way out. And constantly seek new ways to target, track and stay ahead of your competitors. Innovators stick around. Comfy marketers tend to remain comfy until it’s too late. If you want to discuss innovative marketing for your law firm, reach out to us today!
