Amid the hand wringing of the eventual loss of all third party cookies, is a less understood effect on the user of a website that requires storage of resources for site functionality. For most sights to function properly, they need third parties to enable important functions so the user experience remains in tact. Site builders can and should use these tactics to reward the user for access to their data in a value exchange.
Why would information need to be stored?
Session Management
There are a number of reasons to manage a session. Some of the most popular, are:
- Logins : When a user goes to a site and needs to be identified to use all of the features of the site. This is common with news publications, social media sites, or any place where the user is required to engage via a profile. This is probably the most common use for authentication. Logging in is sort of like getting an ID Card or Driver’s License. They’re necessary for people to move through the world and access all the perks of society.
- Shopping Carts Ever wonder why consumers are asked for so much information when checking out of an online store? The local CVS surely doesn’t obtain an address when someone picks up a bag of dog food in-store So why should the online retailer that sends the same dog food ask — neigh — require, so much information? The dissonance of requiring more info to protect the info sounds like needing an army to keep the peace. Oh wait.
Personalization
Whenever users visit a site, they likely find a way to customize their experience to preference. Anything can be personalized, from the type of content to the theme, colors and file/storage access.
- User Preferences: Engage consumers with customization. Everyone loves the ability to lay out their experience on a website. It’s like putting furniture in a home. In that spirit, personalizing the home screen with content, quick access tabs/links and product suggestions builds relationships and trust with consumers.
- Themes: Offer a custom border, or use a few keywords to curate articles. Themes are a great way to not only build loyalty, but collect data that is readily handed over for the value exchange.
Tracking
Marketers can’t shy away from the big bad “T” word. Ultimately, tracking is no ta bad thing. Brick and mortar locations review the flow of traffic through in-real-life aisles. The internet is no different. The difference is persisting this information for cross-site tracking. When it’s analysis, it’s okay. Analysis allows sites to build models and assign meta characteristics to mundane action. Study allows for improvement and relationship building.
Back to OAuth’s
Hopefully, site devs have been future-proofing for a while now but it is imperative that all of the above functions (and more) be handled with an authorization token as opposed to setting a session cookie that can be exposed.
Using a registrar allows the marketer to also build in layers of privacy to make sure client/visitor data is protected.
- HTTP-Only Cookies
- SameSite Cookies
- Authorization tokens
These can all be used to enable data collection, privacy an ultimately safe sharing given the users’ consent. Not only that, as third party cookies truly degrade, it will be necessary to make sure all the widgets and tools on-site are in working order to make sure the user experience is valued and trust is kept.
