• by April Mullen , Columnist, February 25, 2020

Google recently announced that it will join Apple (Safari) and Mozilla (Firefox) in removing third-party cookies, and plans to phase them out by 2022. While Safari and Firefox block third-party cookies, Google’s dominant market share fundamentally changes online advertising  — and brands, agencies and martech vendors are all scrambling to figure out what this will mean.

If you’re reading this, you’re likely email-focused and might wonder why I’d be writing about the drama for display. Simply put, it’s about the opportunity for email to help fill the void.

What Will the Eradication of Third-Party Cookies Do?
The impact of third-party cookies sunsetting will be massive. Many existing products in ad tech will simply fail to function without this capability. Eliminating vast pools of third-party data means a limited number of platforms where advertising data can join together.

As a result of this change, tech giants will be even more powerful. Google already has live code on nearly every website and app out there, so it will continue to collect data across the internet.

Additionally, all large tech companies, including Google, have a vast amount of first-party data due to their market penetration.

Instead of being panicked by the increased dominance of big tech, we should instead take lessons from them as they leverage their first-party data to enrich their offerings. This is an opportunity for anyone driving  an audience to their website to look at creating better profiles that drive longer term loyalty and engagement.

Enter Increased Dependence on First-Party Data -- Like Email
Fixing the acquisition break that the demise of third-party cookies presents is going to be wholly dependent on first-party data, unless something new is developed that doesn’t exist today.

As email marketers, we have long understood the importance of the long-term strategy of building profiles and putting data to work more effectively for our beloved channel. Email has the ability to be the glue between consumers and brands. Everything from promotions, educational content, retargeting can all be done using your most precious first-party data asset: email.

You are in a position to lead the charge on motivating your company see the benefits of making an incremental investment in email and your company's martech ecosystem. This will create the email and relationship marketing program that you’ve long envisioned, but couldn’t get support for as you lived in the shadow of your ad-focused colleagues sucking up a significant portion of your overall marketing spend.

Email drives a hefty return on investment and can also lead to long term revenue, but only if it receives the attention and investment it deserves. Now is the time to evangelize that retention is the new acquisition, because companies that don’t believe it, will find themselves out in the cold this year.

Would love to hear what you think. Share your thoughts in the comments.