The Impact of Safari’s New Cookie Policy on E-commerce: Maintain Cookies Without Expiry

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, staying ahead of technological changes is crucial. Recently, Apple has made significant updates to its Safari browser, which now limits client-side cookies to a lifespan of just seven days. This change is part of Apple’s ongoing effort to enhance user privacy by reducing cross-site tracking capabilities. While this is a win for consumer privacy, it poses significant challenges for marketers, especially those in the e-commerce sector who rely heavily on tracking and attributing customer activities on their websites.

The Implications for Marketers and E-commerce

The new cookie policy means that traditional methods of tracking user behavior and attributing conversions over extended periods are severely restricted. Here’s a closer look at the specific impacts:

1. Shortened Attribution Windows: Previously, marketers could track user interactions over several months, which is crucial for understanding long sales cycles. With the new seven-day limit, this window is drastically shortened, making it difficult to attribute sales to specific marketing campaigns accurately.
2. Loss of Retargeting Capabilities: Retargeting campaigns, which depend on identifying users who visited the site but did not convert, are now less effective. If a potential customer visits an e-commerce site but doesn’t make a purchase within a week, the cookie that identified them expires, and they can no longer be retargeted effectively.
3. Reduced Customer Insights: Long-term customer behavior data is invaluable for creating personalized marketing strategies. With only seven days of data, the depth of insights that can be gleaned is significantly diminished, leading to less personalized and less effective marketing efforts.

Real-world Examples of the Problem

Consider an online furniture store that typically has a longer sales cycle. Customers often take weeks or even months to make a purchasing decision after their initial visit. With Safari’s new cookie policy, if a customer visits the site, leaves to consider their options, and returns after a week, the store will have lost the ability to connect their behavior across those visits. This makes it challenging to understand the customer journey and optimize marketing strategies accordingly.

Similarly, an online fashion retailer that relies on seasonal promotions and retargeting to drive sales will find their strategies less effective. If a user visits the site during a sale, browses products, and leaves without purchasing, the retailer has a limited time to retarget this user. After seven days, the cookie expires, and the connection is lost.

Herogi’s Solution: Innovative Server-Side Tracking

To address these challenges, Herogi offers a cutting-edge solution through its Customer Data Platform (CDP). Herogi employs server-side tracking, which allows marketers to track customer activities for up to three years, far beyond the seven-day limit imposed by Safari.

How Herogi Works:

• Backend Cookie Generation: Herogi generates cookies on the application backend. From the browser’s perspective, these are first-party cookies, as they are set directly by the website the user is visiting. This method complies with Safari’s privacy policies while extending the lifespan of the cookies.
• Extended Tracking: With Herogi, cookies can last up to three years, enabling marketers to maintain long-term visibility into customer behavior. This extended tracking period is crucial for accurate attribution, effective retargeting, and comprehensive customer insights.
• Seamless Integration: Herogi’s solution is available out-of-the-box for WooCommerce customers, making it easy to implement for many e-commerce businesses. Additionally, it can be extended to custom e-commerce solutions, ensuring that businesses of all sizes and structures can benefit from improved tracking capabilities.

Benefits for Marketers

1. Accurate Attribution: By extending the lifespan of cookies, Herogi allows marketers to track customer journeys accurately, even if they span several months. This leads to better understanding and optimization of marketing campaigns.
2. Enhanced Retargeting: With longer-lasting cookies, retargeting efforts become more effective, as marketers can reconnect with potential customers who visited the site weeks or months ago.
3. Deeper Insights: Access to long-term customer data provides richer insights into behavior patterns, preferences, and purchase triggers, enabling more personalized and effective marketing strategies.
4. Compliance with Privacy Standards: Herogi’s server-side tracking approach adheres to privacy standards while still providing the tracking capabilities that marketers need.

Conclusion

Safari’s recent updates to cookie policies reflect a broader trend towards greater user privacy. While these changes present challenges for marketers, solutions like Herogi’s server-side tracking offer a way to adapt and thrive. By extending the lifespan of cookies and providing robust tracking capabilities, Herogi empowers e-commerce businesses to maintain accurate attribution, effective retargeting, and deep customer insights. In an era where understanding and engaging customers is more critical than ever, Herogi’s innovative approach ensures that marketers can continue to achieve their goals without compromising on privacy standards.