Last-minute checklist as Chrome switches off third-party cookies.
Sreelesh Pillai
Co-founder ZEPIC
September 19, 2024
It’s happening right now - the cookies last rites. Chrome's version 115 to be released this July will have all the capabilities of the Privacy Sandbox, which is its replacement of third-party cookies. We've got until January 2024 when the cookies begin to go away so here's a checklist as your organisation prepares over the next few months.
1. Create the list of third-party cookies your website depends on today.
Here’s a free cookie checker you could use: https://www.cookieyes.com/cookie-checker/ Paste in a few webpage URLs from each domain you own and note down all the cookies that are third-party. For example, we have seen a number of Linkedin cookies in B2B companies and advertising-based cookies in B2C companies (one of them had over 50 third-party cookies that will be impacted!)
2. Note down the teams who will be impacted and open dialogue on their plans to make good.
It will be good to encourage bigger thinking and use the opportunity to do better than the status quo. E.g. if you had a cookie to retarget ads across multiple devices, explore if you can now collect details directly from customers about their devices owned to provide them better digital experiences. Encourage teams to bring up a list of must-haves and nice-to-haves as they work to replace the cookies’ function.
3. Connect with your tool vendors and discuss what’s changing.
Whether it's advertising, marketing automation or reporting and analytics, many of these tools would be using cookies. Email your vendor account managers to get the whole list of cookies impacted and their plans to make good. Conversations here will also give you good ideas as you build your strategy forward.
4. Strengthen website visitor consent and customer data consent.
Do you transparently share what data is being collected and tracked, and provide options to opt-out? Not just for web cookies but for personally identifiable customer data too. Now is a good time to audit and keep up to date all policy and systems around privacy and consent.
5. How detailed is your customer database today?
What do you know about your prospects and customers, their preferences, interests etc? As you move away from cookies to identities, now is a great time to think through details you’d need to be able to offer a great customer experience across the customer journey.
6. Refresh and strengthen your first-party data strategy. If you haven’t yet, implement a Customer Data platform that goes beyond cookies to connect the dots across customer touchpoints.
Brainstorm as a group what else the company can do to collect relevant customer data at various stages of the customer lifecycle. Think solutions that involve customers deeper like quizzes, competitions and awards apart from the usual registration forms and discounts.
7. Dig into the Privacy Sandbox and its APIs, remember it’s all live this July!
8. Embrace a partnership mindset across the digital ecosystem.
Everyone is affected by the cookie phase-out. There will also be businesses who need to pivot because of their huge dependence on cookies. An example that comes to mind is Criteo who now provide a 'first-party media network' where advertisers can safely bring their first-party data and look for similar audience over their platform- a smart evolution from the retargeting player they once were. Now is the time to connect with your network, learn how they’re dealing with things, brainstorm and offer support where possible. There are some huge retailers who own huge media networks - your competitor could have their own media network to then become your best acquisition channel!
9. Set up Data clean rooms where you can partner with media houses and other first-party data holders to safely enrich audience data for better results.
10. Double down on contextual advertising and identity-based targeting. The good old days of great, helpful content are back!
Checklists are a drag especially for this author who runs on one daily but hope we helped by stopping at ten items on this one :) We're taking a break from our series of posts on third-party cookies too.
And who baked the first ever cookies at ZEPIC? Today we had BK walking in with a surprise bag of amazing cookies! #gratefulFriyay!
Desperate times call for desperate Google/Chat GPT searches, right? "Best Shopify apps for sales." "How to increase online sales fast." "AI tools for ecommerce growth."
Been there. Done that. Installed way too many apps. But here's what nobody tells you while you're doom-scrolling through Shopify app reviews at 2 AM—that magical online sales-boosting app you're searching for? It doesn't exist. Because if it did, Jeff Bezos would've bought (or built!) it yesterday, and we (fellow eCommerce store owners) would all be retired in Bali by now. Growing a Shopify store and increasing online sales isn’t easy—we get it. While everyone’s out chasing the next “revolutionary” tool/trend (looking at you, DeepSeek), the real revenue drivers are probably hiding in plain sight—right there inside your customer data. After working with Shopify stores like yours (shoutout to Cybele, who recovered almost 25% of their abandoned carts with WhatsApp automation), we’ve cracked the code on what actually moves the needle. Ready to stop app-hopping and start actually growing your sales by using what you already have? Here are four fixes that will get you there!
The Painful Truth: You're probably losing about 70% of your potential sales to cart abandonment. That's not just a statistic—it's real money walking out of your digital door. And looking for yet another Shopify app for abandoned cart recovery isn't going to fix it if you're not getting the fundamentals right.
The Quick Fix: Everyone knows you need multi-channel recovery that hits the sweet spot between "Hey, did you forget something?" and "PLEASE COME BACK!" But here's the reality—most recovery apps are a one-trick pony. They either do email OR WhatsApp, not both. And don't even get us started on personalizing offers based on cart value—that usually means toggling between three different dashboards while praying your apps talk to each other.
Enter ZEPIC: This is where we come in. With ZEPIC's automated Flows, you can: Launch WhatsApp recovery messages (with 95% open rates!) Set up perfectly timed email sequences (or vice versa) Create personalized recovery offers not just on cart value but based on your customer’s behavior/preferences Track and optimize everything from one dashboard
Fix #2: Reactivate past customers today
The Painful Truth: You're probably losing about 70% of your potential sales to cart abandonment. That's not just a statistic—it's real money walking out of your digital door. And looking for yet another Shopify app for abandoned cart recovery isn't going to fix it if you're not getting the fundamentals right.
The Quick Fix: Everyone knows you need multi-channel recovery that hits the sweet spot between "Hey, did you forget something?" and "PLEASE COME BACK!" But here's the reality—most recovery apps are a one-trick pony. They either do email OR WhatsApp, not both. And don't even get us started on personalizing offers based on cart value—that usually means toggling between three different dashboards while praying your apps talk to each other.
Enter ZEPIC: This is where we come in. With ZEPIC's automated Flows, you can: Launch WhatsApp recovery messages (with 95% open rates!) Set up perfectly timed email sequences (or vice versa) Create personalized recovery offers not just on cart value but based on your customer’s behavior/preferences Track and optimize everything from one dashboard
Offering light at the end of the tunnel is Google’s Privacy Sandbox which seeks to ‘create a thriving web ecosystem that is respectful of users and private by default’. Like the name suggests, your Chrome browser will take the role of a ‘privacy sandbox’ that holds all your data (visits, interests, actions etc) disclosing these to other websites and platforms only with your explicit permission. If not yet, we recommend testing your websites, audience relevance and advertising attribution with Chrome’s trial of the Privacy Sandbox.
Top 3 impacts of the third-party cookie phase-out
Who’s impacted
How
What next
Digital advertising and acquisition teams
Lack of cookie data results in drastic fall in website traffic and conversion rate
Review all cookie-based audience acquisition. Sign up for Chrome’s trial of the Privacy Sandbox
Digital Customer Experience
Customers are not served relevant, personalised experiences: on the web, over social channels and communication media
Multiply efforts to collect first-party customer data. Implement a Customer Data Platform
Security, Privacy and Compliance teams
Increased scrutiny from regulators and questions from customers about data storage and usage
Review current cookie and communication consent management, ensure to align with latest privacy regulations
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