Google’s reversal of cookie decision buys marketers time; reality is cookieless strategies should not be abandoned
By now, Google’s reversal on its decision to remove third party cookies has had time to settle into the market and travel marketers in Asia Pacific and elsewhere have also had time to digest what it means for their business.
Jon Owen, CEO for Go City, for one is pleased with the decision. “I think it’s great news that Google is continuing with its decision to resume cookies. This has been a topic of contention for such a long time, around four years, and the reversal of this decision is definitely very welcomed.”
An airline chief commercial officer, based in the Middle East, also told WiT that he’s happy as “it drives higher acquisitions and higher conversions so more dollars in the bank”.
Lina Ang: “Instead of focusing on cookies, travel marketers should focus on investing in new solutions that evolve with changing customer expectations.”
Lina Ang, managing director, International Property Sales for travel marketing platform, Sojern Asia Pacific, who has a wider view of the market, said that it was met with mixed reactions in the region.
“Overall, the travel industry has been working hard to create and deploy campaigns that effectively target potential travellers while still protecting consumer privacy. While we’ve come a long way, there’s still no perfect solution.
“In response to Google’s news, some travel marketers in the APAC region breathed a sigh of relief, not because they’re going back to heavily relying on third-party cookies, but because now there’s no hard-and-fast deadline, which gives us time to discover even better solutions.
“While some travel marketers were relieved, others weren’t surprised at all. The reality is that monetization was down in the cookieless tests, and the shift in control from 3rd parties to Google wasn’t seen as all that great for consumer privacy. Given these results, as well as four years of delays, it’s clear that Google made the right move by shelving its plan.”
The immediate impact of this policy change, said Ang, is that “travel marketers can continue deploying their campaigns without disruption. They can still use third-party cookies, which allows them to target potential travellers, especially early in the decision-making process. That said, Google’s stance could change at any time, so it’s important that travel marketers don’t get too comfortable keeping cookies in the mix”.
Go City’s Owen observed that whilst having identity and tracking signals is important for travel marketers, it’s also not the be-all-and-end-all solution. “We still need to remember that apart from 3rd party cookies, travel brands should first and foremost rely on their own first party data such as geography, user behaviour, context, conversion metrics and so forth. At Go City, we layer both quantitative and qualitative data together for a well-informed holistic view.
“Travel brands should expect the group of users opting for 3rd party cookie tracking to decrease, so whilst it’s not banned, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and increasing education around privacy will encourage users to block 3rd party cookie tracking anyway, so we need to prepare for that.
“The costs for such workarounds mentioned might be a factor, especially for travel startups. I would encourage smaller companies to set aside a bit of budget for workaround solutions. For example, in 2023 Apple introduced options for its users for apps tracking and 66% of their users opted out so there needs to be a cost effective counter measure,” he said.
Ang advised travel marketers to continue to focus on personalised marketing across channels that also prioritises consumer privacy. “Over the past four years, we have made a lot of progress with how we use data, targeting, and more – and it’s been clear for a while that it’s not going back to a cookie-centric adtech world.
“Instead of focusing on cookies, travel marketers should focus on investing in new solutions that evolve with changing customer expectations. First-party and other opt-in data will be critical in the short- and long-term, because it prioritises building relationships with travellers, which is what they want.
“By using that first-party data to build profiles of guests, travel marketers can enable multi-ID strategies that target relevant audiences with relevant ads. When consumers reap the benefits of a more personalised experience, they’ll be more open to sharing their information with brands, which will ultimately help us move away from third-party cookies.”
As for how travel marketers should act long term, she said that travel marketers must continue to prioritise privacy while creating a diverse ad strategy that doesn’t rely on cookies or on any single targeting method for that matter.
“Cookies will continue to degrade over time and the travel industry will see a step-function decline once Google Chrome implements its consumer opt-out flow. However, cookies shouldn’t be marketers’ only focus. Relying on any single targeting method is risky, whether that’s cookies or something else, so adopting multi-faceted tactics will be the key to success. Change happens fast in digital marketing and in the travel industry, so marketers can’t afford to put all their eggs in one targeting basket.
“In addition to pushing forward with existing cookieless and multi-ID strategies, travel marketers must also have a plan to expand their investments in cloud-based martech solutions. The future of travel is in real-time, and it’s impossible to get the rapid insights marketers need about guests using on-premises tools.
“In the travel industry, brands should look at cloud-based property management systems (PMS), point of sale systems (POS), and customer relationships management (CRM) solutions that will allow them to connect all sources of data. This will help marketers paint a complete picture of their guests using all available data, which will enable better, more accurate targeting before, during, and after their stay.”
The bigger concern according to the airline commercial head is, what’s the “next” GDPR or CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act)? “Before we know it as an airline, we will have to consider dozens of country specific regulations. A commercial guy will be smiling; the legal and regulations team definitely will not be.”
Said Ang, “Currently, marketers are trying to find ways to balance privacy and personalisation. We can’t go back to the old way of doing things, but many travel marketers don’t yet have a robust first-party data strategy in place.
“Solidifying a great first-party data strategy will be critical both now and in the future, as well as defining a tool and partner ecosystem. It’s impossible to connect first-party customer data to other online data sources without partner help, so by creating the right partnerships now, marketers can strike the balance of privacy and personalisation to build long standing, loyal guest relationships.”
