How To Manage Cookie Consent

Google is only one voice in the conversation

Even if Chrome claims 66% of the browser market, Google’s opinion is not the only one. Other browsers (Safari, Firefox, Edge and the rest) are making their own decisions about privacy controls. We also can’t forget the consumers who are keen to exercise that control. Or the digital marketers spending £200+ billion annually ($250+ billion, although some sources estimate 3x that much) on ads. Or the regulators issuing eye-watering fines for privacy violations. Or the software vendors selling solutions for consent management, data analysis, ad targeting, cookieless identification, user privacy control and so many other things. 

All these players have skin in the game. Which means cookie consent management is changing, regardless of what Google does or doesn’t do.

Here’s how to build a cookie consent strategy for a privacy-centric, post-post-cookie world.

What’s changing in online privacy?

Regulators are ramping up infractions

Privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA have tightened the screws on data collection. We’re particularly seeing GDPR come into force. Among the 500+ violations in 2023 was a hefty £1 billion (€1.2 billion) fine for Meta. This shattered the previous record (£630 million / €746 million for Amazon in 2021) and showed that the grace period for implementing GDPR-compliant data management practices is over.

Consumers are exercising their rights

People are becoming more aware of their digital footprint and demanding more control. According to the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), consumers care about their privacy more than ever.

• • 68% are “somewhat” or “very” concerned about their online privacy
  • 57% view AI data collection and processing as a threat to privacy
  • 33% would lose trust in an organisation that uses their data to offer products or services from another business

People are also getting better at DIY privacy protection. Whether they’re spending 30 seconds toggling consent preferences, paying for VPNs, or installing tracker-blocking browser extensions, they’re getting harder to track. And yet, 64% of consumers – nearly two-thirds – said a clear privacy policy increases their trust in a company. Food for thought.

Cookie tracking is more complex and confusing

Google’s about-face on phasing out third-party cookies in Chrome is just one twist in a long story. Safari’s default setting since 2017 is to not use third-party cookies. Brave doesn’t let third-party cookies link visitors across sites. Firefox offers something similar, blocking cookies from cross-site trackers. Users of Chromium-based browsers like Chrome and Edge are increasingly using extensions to do the same. 

All these data privacy initiatives are causing third-party cookie “signal loss”. Advertisers who don’t find new tracking and targeting solutions soon will end up behind their competitors.

The new first-party data gold rush

As third-party cookies face an uncertain future, first-party data is becoming increasingly valuable. This is data collected directly from customers, like email addresses, purchase history and website behaviour. It’s more reliable, accurate and compliant with privacy regulations. It’s also (usually) given with the user’s consent.

Building a strong first-party data strategy is crucial in the new privacy landscape.

Why a strong cookie consent management strategy is important

Identifying and tracking website visitors has several benefits:

• • Understand your audience(s) better
  • Build more accurate audience segments
  • Offer better user experiences 
  • Improve advertising ROI

However, the fastest way to lose these benefits is with shady consent practices. Try to short-cut data collection or pass on data to other businesses without users’ consent, and you’ll either lose trust or violate privacy regulations – or both. On the other hand, a well-structured cookie consent strategy opens the door to these and several other benefits.

• • Collect valuable first-party data
  • Improve user experiences
  • Build trust with your audience
  • Comply with evolving regulations
  • Optimise multi-channel data collection

In essence, a robust cookie consent strategy isn’t about checking a compliance box. It’s also not about hoarding visitor data. It’s an investment in your long-term CXM strategy. 

How to manage cookie consent: Best practices in 2024

Clarify your goals and rethink KPIs

Every CXM project should start with clearly defined goals. That includes building a cookie consent strategy. These should align with business objectives like revenue growth, market share, increased profits, etc. That way, you can demonstrate how marketing contributes to the big picture. 

Goals for your cookie consent management project might be:

• • Ensure all cookie-based tracking is compliant with regulations in X months
  • Increase first-party data collection by X%
  • Obtain consent from X% of website visitors

These are just examples. The point is to distil business objectives into measurable KPIs so you know whether you’re on track. Ascertain where you are against these goals to establish your starting point. (side note: quantity vs quality in cookie consent).

Moving away from third-party cookies inevitably means a decrease in data volume. That’s not necessarily a problem. Prioritise meaningful engagement over vanity metrics and you’ll increase the value of each customer relationship. You’ll also gain deeper insights that help with probabilistic identification and targeting.

Understand where you are right now

Evaluate your current data and tracking setup to understand what information you collect and how it’s used. 

This inventory will help you identify unnecessary data collection, spot compliance issues and refine your strategy.

• • Identify all cookies used on your website, including first, third-party and functional
  • Determine how much of the collected data is actually used
  • Assess whether your current practices align with GDPR, CCPA and other relevant privacy frameworks
  • Investigate how user-friendly your current cookie consent system is

Implement a CMP

Consent management platforms (CMPs) generate banners and pop-ups that ask visitors to accept or reject cookies. They’re critical for managing user consent and ensuring compliance with privacy regulations. Essentially, using one makes consent collection easier for you, and gives users more transparency and control. But they can also be annoying for users.

Choose a CMP that is:

• • Compliant with all privacy regulations
  • Transparent and easy to use
  • Compatible with your web analytics platform

In our experience, OneTrust is the leader in the CMP space, especially for big brands. We’ve implemented OneTrust cookie consent to simplify rule building for enterprise-sized clients.  

Our tip? Don’t make users scroll through hundreds of tracking toggles. Make tracking transparent and they’ll be more likely to trust your brand.

Prioritise first-party data

To be clear, when we talk about cookie consent, we’re talking about strategies prioritising zero and first-party data. Third-party cookies are problematic for many reasons. 

• • Most users don’t understand what they’re agreeing to or where they’re being tracked.
  • Data received from a third party can be outdated, inaccurate or obtained without consent.
  • Cookies you place on visitors’ devices might contravene privacy regulations if they’re not blocked by a browser or extension.
  • Finally, people don’t like being lumped into broad categories. They want personalised experiences. Bulk third-party tracking is lazy marketing, and lazy marketing doesn’t help a brand’s reputation.

That doesn’t mean turning off the tap on third-party tracking immediately but making sure your strategy includes increasing first-party data. Get in touch to chat first-party data strategies.

Monitor, measure and adapt

Online privacy is evolving fast. You’ll want to keep a close eye on cookie consent results to ensure you’re proactively addressing privacy concerns and building customer trust.

• • Keep up to date with privacy regulations, even if you use a CMP
  • Track industry trends and best practices to stay ahead of the curve
  • Regularly assess your strategy and identify opportunities to improve
  • Experiment with techniques to collect relevant first-party data

Always go back to the goals and business objectives. If there’s something you can do to improve the user experience, streamline data collection or strengthen compliance, it’s worth a try.

What does the future of online privacy look like?

We’ve focused on cookie consent management here for a couple of reasons:

• • Cookies are still the main tracking method for most brands 
  • We’re keen to help businesses bridge the gap between third-party cookies and more valuable first-party data

But there’s a lot more to the privacy conversation. 

For example, we’re helping clients implement server-side user tracking. The idea is to track visitors with unique IDs instead of relying on device-based (client-side) cookies. What’s exciting here is the potential for probabilistic ID matching, contextual experiences and detailed identity graphs. Whether server-side is right for your business depends on a lot of factors, so feel free to get in touch if you’re curious.

We also haven’t touched on encryption, decentralised data models, customer data platforms (CDPs) or the role of AI in cookie consent. These are all big topics that deserve their own deep dives. But if you’re eager to stay ahead of your competitors, we’d be happy to share what we know about these emerging trends in online privacy.