Targeting through cookies is something which has been existing for years now, cookies are little snippets of code that are posted on a site so as to be able to track a user, for example, to later on post a remarketing offer, so as to subtly invite him to finish a purchase or consult once again a catalogue.
Cookies have major drawbacks which are important to be mentioned.
1. Cookies are limited to one browser on a given device
They do not enable the follow-up of a user’s journey – the famous “consumer journey” – where the user leaves from his laptop to his smartphone and then from his smartphone to his tablet. Cookies are inefficient in a world where every user juggles with multiple devices.
2.Cookies have an expiry date
Just like the food in your fridge, cookies don’t last for eternity. Their longevity depends on a number of factors (the lifetime initially determined by the editor, browser and extensions settings, etc.). Generally, it is estimated that 50% of cookies will only be seen once in a window of 30 days! It is therefore particularly risky to rely on cookies for a durable targeting.
3. Cookies and mobile apps
At an era where 86% of mobile device usage is done with native apps, being unable to insert cookies into them is a serious deficit in the range of your targeting.
4. There is no love lost between cookies and mobile browsers.
Even though many users are confined to the browsers of their smartphones, the fact that Apple blocks third-party cookies of sites which have not yet been visited in its Safari browser, causes an important coverage concern, given the market shares of iphone. You will be a little luckier with Chrome and Android OS. This is once again a lack of coherence.
5. User experience adversely affected
All the snippets of code that execute on the fly inevitably affect performance. Consequently, many users disable cookies with the aid of the famous ad blockers. You will be extremely disappointed if you rely solely on cookies.
6. The regulation is not cookie-friendly
You have probably already noticed the warnings which are applied on all sites operating in Europe. Default consent is often required, but this could change eventually, particularly with the obligation for browsers to once and for all refuse the tracking of users with cookies. Relying on cookies therefore means, exposing yourself to the risk of being banned from the digital landscape.
Conclusion: opt for targeting of people
Due to all these reasons, Ividence doesn’t stand in the crumbling niche of the cookie but in the long-lasting one of individualized targeting, which is based on the true identity of the user, with an identifier of universal scope; the e-mail address. This identifier can be reconciled in a completely secure and anonymous way between editor and advertiser through an MD5 hash (encrypted equivalent of the email address).
To make it simple, when a partner editor produces a newsletter, the Ividence tag inserted in each message allows us to retrieve for each recipient the MD5 hash corresponding to his personal email, we then reconcile it with the MD5 hash of users’ emails which the advertiser wants to target, this ensures that the right message is delivered to the right user at the right time.
This can be applied in a remarketing scheme as much as in a classic commercial prospection perspective (first contact). The advertiser either has a specific target database, or relies on a third-party database, also encrypted in hash MD5, which we reconcile to cross-check between target and recipients. This technique will work regardless of the device on which the recipient opens his email (desktop, laptop, smartphone, tablet), regardless of the email client (native, web, …).
We told you there was a solution! Target people (people-centric) and not cookies, it’s much more efficient!