The retail and e-commerce sector faces new challenges around data and marketing, accentuated by the latest privacy and cookie policy changes. These challenges have presented impediments to the online growth potential of retail and e-commerce brands.
Additionally, the probability of future policy revisions raises concerns over the acquisition of consumer data for business expansion and marketing objectives. To succeed, it is imperative to have the tools and knowledge to adapt to these changes.
The impact of privacy policy changes on retail and e-commerce marketing can be understood by examining their psychological effects on consumers. Research has shown that consumers are more likely to engage with brands that value their privacy, and they are more willing to share their data when brands are transparent about how they use this data.
The challenge for retail and e-commerce brands is to strike a balance between privacy and the need to gather customer data to personalise marketing.
One solution is to use advanced data analytics tools to process large volumes of data while maintaining privacy. These tools, powered by machine learning, can help retailers and e-commerce businesses identify patterns and trends in customer behaviour, allowing them to create more targeted marketing campaigns.
However, not all businesses can access, let alone afford to build custom AI & ML tools in-house. Moreover, the efficacy of these tools depends on the ability to use them correctly, which requires expertise and experience in data analysis.
Other areas that require careful considerations include:
Will You Have Access to All the Vital Data You Need?
As Universal Analytics is set to phase out by July 2023, it is crucial for retail and ecommerce businesses to secure historical website visitor data. Failure to do so means losing valuable customer behaviour information, resulting in guesswork to determine buying patterns.
Marketing and analytics specialists must also retain the ability to continue building audiences to avoid loss of access to vital customer segments.
Have You Implemented Alternative Tracking?
As the reliability of traditional third-party cookie tracking falls, e-commerce businesses need to implement alternative tracking strategies to supplement the impending loss of marketing data.
By allowing direct communication between your business systems and ad platforms, you can bypass the issue of blocked third-party cookies and still track important customer events, such as add-to-carts and sales, while remaining compliant with new tracking restrictions.
How Are You Maintaining Critical Data Levels?
Most retail performance marketing campaigns are optimised for purchases. The percentage of visitors that convert to a sale is typically small. When this is compounded by the loss of purchase tracking data, advertisers could be left with audience sizes that are too small.
Retailers will need to find ways to maintain audience data to a certain level to make it statistically significant for the algorithms to work with.
Can You Supplement Audience Loss?
As the ownership of social media audiences lies with the platforms rather than the retailers, it is essential to have a plan in place to supplement audience loss. The constantly changing landscape of privacy and data handling regulations can pose challenges to reaching and engaging with audiences.
Retailers can leverage sophisticated data intelligence techniques to identify and engage with new audiences, refine marketing campaigns and re-engage with current followers, even when audience numbers fluctuate.
Does Your Team Have the Knowledge & Capabilities Required in 2024?
Providing training and upskilling opportunities for marketing teams can have a profound impact on the efficacy of marketing campaigns. By leveraging your customer data effectively, marketing and PR efforts can achieve better results, offering more value and assistance to customers at critical times.
Knowing which skills are must-haves for now and identifying where your team needs to be upskilled to succeed in the coming year is just as important as having the right tools and technology available.
Have you considered how your marketing processes and performance metrics stack up against your competitors? Are you utilising advanced marketing techniques and data to refine your campaigns?
Our checklist can help you identify areas where your business may need support and offer guidance to navigate these changes.
Click the button below to download the essential checklist for your performance marketing success:
