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- Apple's latest operating system will come with several fundamental privacy changes, which is terrible news for marketers using the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) for cross-channel tracking.
- California has now put its Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) into full effect, and it joins the previously enacted European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). After this move, US federal privacy legislation cannot be too far behind.
What is clear is that these moves will give consumers extra control over the data they choose to share with apps and websites. It also means that there will be critical changes in tracking, targeting, and much more for online marketers.
This combination of legal regulations and upcoming platform restrictions will see a fundamental change in how marketers can identify consumers and market products and services to their prospects.
What Is An IDFA?
An Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) defines a random device identifier that Apple assigns to every user's device. Online marketers use the identifier to track user data and use its information to offer customized advertising. An IDFA identifies and tracks user behavior without revealing their personal information to advertisers.
When an advertiser receives the data, they can use it to discover information about a user, including the in-app events they trigger. The IDFA could also identify each time a user interacts with an online ad campaign as long as the channel they use provides such tracking. When this occurs, IDFA will identify when a specific user clicks an advert for attribution and payment purposes.
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What Is First-Party Data And How It Helps Advertisers Regain Control Over Their Campaigns
Online marketers need to get proactive to deal with new developments and ensure that the brands they represent will win in 2021: this means immediately prioritizing a first-party data strategy. But what is first-party data, and how does it tip the balance back in favor of marketers? In the earlier days of online advertising, brands concentrated on contextual, content-based ads instead of behavioral advertising. For instance, if you wanted to connect with sports fans, you would book advertising space on a sports website.
However, with behavioral advertising, marketers could profile customers on the web by extrapolating their interests from an extensive range of offline and online data sources. With this model, instead of just presenting ads for sports equipment on sports websites and apps, they could follow users who browse sports content on social sites and sports websites and show relevant ads on, say, news websites.
Due to the new browser cookie tracking updates and enactment of privacy laws globally, the digital advertising structure is set to change. Now, marketers will need to place a greater emphasis on first-party information — Data that marketers collect directly from their prospects and from customers who have purchased goods or services, as well as people who opt-in for marketing communications.
Due to the implied consent and the intentional relationship, marketing through first-party data tends to be more authoritative and accurate, has higher conversion rates, and offers better insights into customer needs and behaviors. For these reasons, first-party data must be the top priority for businesses looking to nurture customer relationships.
Further Reading:
How CRMs And CDPs Drive Your First-Party Data Campaigns
With Apple's new privacy updates, what can a first-party data-driven campaign do for your brand's online marketing? If you have been in business for a while, you probably have a good amount of your clients' first-party data available. Customer Relationship Management (CRM), point-of-sale, and Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) are great ways to collect the information. When your marketing team can identify and engage your users from the first point of interaction, you have a better chance of converting. However, scalability and performance are crucial factors for you to consider when selecting a CDP or CRM vendor.
There are specific crucial questions you should ask to ensure that the platform you choose meets your needs:
1. How Does Your CDP or CRM Resolve Your Customer Identities?
A CDP's primary purpose is to offer you a single control point for all you know about your customers. The solution should then be capable of linking a range of disparate data sources in real-time to individual user profiles in a process called identity resolution.
2. Can My CDP Consume Data From Both Offline And Online Sources?
Unfortunately, many legacy CDPs can only ingest data from digital sources. As a result, they cannot help your business to construct a holistic view of your customer. However, modern CDPs can accept data provided from online sources as well.
3. How Easy Is It To Update And Maintain Customer Profiles?
The hallmark of a great CDP or CRM system is its ability to keep customer records up to date. When you find yourself considering a customer relationship platform that cannot support real-time updates, you need to search for a new, trusted vendor.
Further Reading:
4. How Soon Can I Get Clean And Updated Customer Data On Request?
Many CDP and CRM platforms help advertisers and marketers establish and maintain customer records, but a few platforms offer the profiles in real-time. If your onboarding process takes hours to ingest first-party data, then you might cause your customers to suffer delays.
Using CDP and CRM PlatForms To Spur Business Growth And Boost Customer Acquisition
Collecting the first-party data you need, including social media handles, purchase histories, and contact details, is the first step, but they are nothing if you cannot convert.
With the customer intelligence built into the latest CRM solutions, your marketers can integrate all their online and offline first-party data to reach out to customers and engage them at each stage of their decision journey.
With Apple placing restrictions on tracking your customers' online behavior, the offline data in your CRM or CDP databases could become the most significant source of targeting information due to the personalization it offers and the integration with previous purchase history.
Do not let Apple's new iOS 14 changes disrupt your marketing campaigns. Transcend Digital is a leading IT solutions company that has experience guiding digital-forward businesses in implementing and using enterprise CRM/CDP solutions.
Talk to us today, and let us show you how our Hubspot and Salesforce solutions can help you make the most of your first-party data.
By Chris Clifford
Chief Strategy Officer. Chris founded his first technology startup at the age of 17 out of his dorm room and has gone on to co-found, advise and angel invest in a number of technology and CPG companies.