Rumors and noises have abounded for years, but like a mid-summer cacophony of cicadas, the decibel on legislation of online advertising is ratcheting higher. And the voices are not making music to the ears of ROI marketers. As BusinessWeek reported last Thursday, pending legislation may threaten to turn the lights out on targeted ads using third party cookies.
Now, I can understand that some are not fans conceptually of banner ads that serve based on sites they have visited. But relevant advertising works and helps monetize content that we engage with, making publishers less reliant on the fractions of cents they can earn from the bottom feeders who sell screen savers and instant message emoticons.
But, even if you support a ban on targeted ads that serve from third party cookies, you should still be concerned about references to blanket regulations to ban third party cookies.
Third party cookies are used in many non-obtrusive forms of online tracking and reporting that communicate needed performance metrics to businesses without recording personally identifiable information or serving as a re-marketing tool to web users through ad networks. For example, the conversion tracking pixel used by Google AdWords sets a third party cookie, as do those from affiliate marketing channels like Commission Junction and many of the ROI based services and tools advertisers rely on today.
The economy is in shaky enough territory already. Blindfolding businesses from viewing the results of their marketing investments is no way to improve matters. It’s a recipe for disaster.
Yes, there are web analytics platforms and tracking techniques that rely more heavily on first party cookies, but these have their limitations. For example, tracking revenue and conversions with 1st party cookies from shopping carts hosted on partner domains can be quite complicated or even impossible for some. Companies affected by such regulation would have no choice but to heavily invest in website redesigns and revamp tracking procedures for marketing programs across the enterprise. Even agile businesses that can make the change with relative ease would lose their comparable benchmarks to prior periods because all tracking methods vary in reported numbers.
This summer, let’s hope congress opts to focus on matters that will actually help American business recover. A ban on third party cookies is quite the opposite of helpful. Tracking of ROI online is a fundamental underpinning of the internet economy, and Washington should refrain from shaking it.
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Great topic, Mike. Frankly, I’m surprised that this hasn’t been a more buzz-worthy topic of discussion, considering just how wide-reaching a ban on third-party cookies could be.
Hopefully, it won’t come to pass.