Let's Talk about Privacy

The online world can be a scary place, and more and more companies are cracking down on privacy protections for users. However, with those rollouts of changes happening, it ultimately will affect the marketers, advertisers, and web developers on the other side. So, what exactly is happening and how might it affect you?

Apple Privacy:

This past summer Apple announced the rollout of IOS 15, which specifically focuses on the privacy of Apple users. Apple developers have always thought to have the consumers and their privacy at the forefront of their job and want them to help users take more control of their data and make informed decisions about who they share it with. That is where IOS 15 comes to play specifically within Apple Mail and its privacy features. Here’s what we know so far:

• All Apple Mail users will be allowed to be able to mask IP addresses and block third parties from tracking email opens or other IP data.
• Subscription members of Apple’s iCloud+ will have additional features including:
  • A VPN-like Private Relay feature, which prevents sites from tracking Safari users who opt-in and allows users to see which websites they're sending information to.
  • A “Hide my email” feature enables users to give sites a fake email address, sending any informational emails from the brand to a fake address.

With users wanting privacy and personalization, marketers can focus on these things to navigate through the Apple changes:

• Stay up to date on new updates, news, and IOS rollouts from Apple
• Adjust open-rate goals
• Identify other KPIs such as click-through rates, unsubscribe rates, and traffic through URLs

3^rd Party Cookie Phase Out:

You may have heard the news that Google is phasing out the 3^rd Party Cookie on Chrome, but do you know what that means? The 3^rd party cookie is a non-domain created way for web browsers to track visitors and advertise related content to site visitors, for example, those creepy ads that follow you around from site to site, that normally has something you previously were just searching for. Google has decided to phase out the 3^rd party cookie because Chrome users want to feel more comfortable knowing that their private and personal information is not going to be used or shared.

How will this affect marketers?

With the phase-out of the 3^rd party cookie, Google has decided to create a new way to segment users through the Privacy Sandbox. Users will now be placed in groups or cohorts of similarities and common interests, ultimately hiding individual users in hopes to increase privacy. HubSpot found that, “41% of marketers believe their biggest challenge will be their inability to track the right data.” This may be an added challenge for marketers but with this all being so new it’s hard to be certain of the full impact.

Need help navigating these changes? Let's talk.