In 2023, third-party cookies are going away, whether hotel marketers like it or not.
NB: This is an article from Sojern
This is a fundamental shift away from a 30-year-old technique that marketers have relied on to track potential travelers across sites. In our last article, we discussed the cookie, how a cookieless world will impact marketing strategies, and why first-party data and people-based marketing strategies are so important for future success.
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Capturing first-party data is critical to a cookieless strategy, but marketers can’t just collect that data, they must properly activate it.
Here’s a breakdown of first-party data, why you need it, and how you can activate it to create personalised experiences, increase brand loyalty and capture direct bookings.
Future success starts with data collection
Collecting the right data is key to building a full-funnel advertising plan and creating deeper connections with guests. Unlike third-party cookies, first-party data isn’t anonymous, which makes it an incredibly powerful tool for understanding traveler behavior and creating campaigns that deliver the right message at the right time.
Hashed emails, first-party cookie IDs and historical booking data are all types of first-party data that work in tandem to paint a complete picture of the traveler and their journey. Let’s do a deeper dive into each and highlight ways to use this data to create successfully cookieless campaigns.
Connecting online and offline with hashed emails
In an anonymous world, cookies are essential. But today, a significant portion of a consumer’s time is spent in a logged-in environment.
They log in using their email addresses, which act as their digital passport to make online purchases, such as making hotel bookings. While cookies can be helpful in a logged-in environment, other ID approaches, including hashed emails, are more accurate and aligned with consumers’ desire for consent and control. The key is finding ways to connect with users in those authenticated places.
A hashed email uses an algorithm to convert an email into a unique, unrecognizable jumble of characters in order to identify and target travelers online. For example, after hashing “Dave@Sojern.com,” the algorithm would change it to an unrecognizable string of characters such as “d7984b9599199b83cc213f19cb2906d2.”
Hashing an email turns a unique email into a pseudonymized string of characters that enables hoteliers to continue targeting effectively without third-party cookies. They also respect client privacy without sacrificing accuracy.
