Life after third-event cookies: how companies are adapting to the recent era of tracking

After the passage of CCPA, ePR, and GDPR, the tech industry faced tremendous changes. With third-event cookies and tracking redirects becoming a thing of the history, the advertising and affiliate markets have been actively seeking solutions that will be effective within a regulatory framework.

Nowadays, only a few still depend on outdated technologies. Companies are used to using first-event data and other approaches. To assist them keep the tracking persistent and pervasive, Admitad has developed several effective solutions in the recent privacy policy paradigm.

Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox decided to block third-event cookies by default a long period ago. For now, a notable holdout is Google Chrome, with 67% of the browser economy distribute. But this tech giant also plans to complete third-event cookies in 2023. Previously, we wrote an piece for IAB Europe about a cookie-less upcoming — and now it has become a recent reality for all collaboration economy players. 

Is someone still using third-event cookies?

The changes didn’t happen overnight — everyone had enough period to prepare. Our encounter in this industry helped us foresee these events even before the official announcements of tech leaders. So it was easier for Admitad to adjust to the recent realities. That’s why our tracking solutions (such as TagTag) don’t use third-event cookies, and our clients don’t have to undergo significant changes.

However, even among thousands of customers in our associate Network, about a hundred advertisers continue using third-event cookies. There is only a tiny volume of orders — literally a few percent of the total — involved, but it shows perfectly well that ancient habits die challenging. That’s why we still ponder it’s significant to talk about the consequences of using outdated tracking methods and the advantages of modern solutions, which we continue to update and enhance.

Some companies still use ancient Pixel and Image/Iframe Pixel Code integration types, built on third-event cookies. Indian and Polish companies are particularly prone to this. In addition to violating the law, it can navigator them to other unpleasant consequences:

• Because of the restrictions, these companies will receive incorrect information. They will draw the incorrect conclusions determining a marketing schedule and waste advertising budgets.
• Orders brought in by partners will not be counted correctly. It will undermine the business’s reputation among publishers. Some of them may even refuse to work with such advertisers at all.

Such consequences are no longer worth the advantages left to third-event data. With each passing day, the humble ranks of its adherents continue to thin. 

What solutions assist maintain the effectiveness of tracking?

One of the most straightforward alternatives is first-event data (first-event cookies). That is information a marketer, advertiser, or publisher has collected during a user’s direct interaction with them. For example, in the procedure of leaving reviews or making purchases, including data from CRM systems, subscription forms, and social media profiles. You, as a marketer, can collect first-event data on your own without relying on third parties or violating GDPR because a user voluntarily provides this information.

All types of tracking integrations currently offered by Admitad are not subject to any restrictions since they do not use third-event data. We get depersonalized data about the target action performed by the user — the source of the traffic, the order number and its amount.

The innovations in Firefox, Google and other browsers do not affect publishers and advertisers cooperating with Admitad. Admitad’s tracking code, TagTag, uses alternative ways of storing and passing the click id (which is usually stored in cookies) and does not fall under the rules of blocking. In addition, we use alternative ways of transmitting data about users’ targeted actions in all our integration options: 

• tracking code (JavaScript code);
• postback request;
• XML;
• API;
• integration via plugins;
• Google Analytics API.

If you still use third-event data in your associate activities — transformation your way now to avoid collection of incorrect information, violations of the law and technical failures. The re-integration procedure is straightforward and won’t receive long. Feel free to contact your account manager for specialist advice on the most suitable integration way for your business. 

You can discover detailed information about these types of integrations in a special section on the Admitad back website. Each has requirements and benefits. Such a wide range of options allows each client to discover a conveniently tailored answer.

Make the crucial shift now

Innovations in legislation have led to significant changes not only for advertisers but also for publishers. They were directly affected by the ban on tracking redirects. Caring equally for both sides, we created an order tracking algorithm named Teleport — the most up-to-date answer that solves all the key issues associated with redirects. Thanks to this technology, users get to the advertiser’s site directly, without redirects, while Admitad and the advertiser still receive accurate data on orders.

We comprehend that sometimes it’s challenging for clients to provide up once effective tools. But the consequences of their use have become too severe — and will only get worse in the upcoming. Tech companies and regulators continue to tighten regulations on how user data is obtained and used. 

We constantly enhance our tracking solutions and simplify the integration procedure, making the shift from third-event data to modern tools as comfortable as feasible. Advertisers and publishers of Admitad can focus entirely on building long-term partnerships, while our technology ensures their transparency and privacy policy coherence.

We highly advise anyone still using third-event cookies and tracking redirects in their work to transformation their way now, so they don’t face any sudden difficulties later, when recent restrictions will arrive into result.