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SPEAKER_01You're listening to the Affiliate Marketing Podcast brought to you by affiversemedia.com. The chapter and verse of everything you need to know about running a successful affiliate program for your business. This is a podcast for digital and affiliate marketers, publishers, networks, agencies, and matec providers who operate, support, or manage affiliate marketing programs around the globe. If you want to launch, scale, and grow a successful affiliate marketing program, you're in the right place. In this podcast, you'll learn how affiliate and partner marketing is constantly changing, and tune in to industry experts who are getting behind our mic to share tactical insights and practical knowledge to help your affiliate program grow. Here you'll discover what's new and trending in affiliate and performance marketing, how to run your affiliate program successfully and gain industry insights from experts and practitioners from around the globe. The truth is, you simply won't find this information anywhere else. Now here's your award-winning affiliate and performance marketing host, an industry veteran, your affiliate marketing guide and the founder of Affiverse, Leanne Johnston.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the Affiliate Marketing Podcast, where each week we bring you thought-provoking discussions and insights into the world of affiliate marketing. Now, this week is no different. A few weeks ago, I hosted one of our biggest webinars yet, along with sub-expert founder Asaf Dor, and together we presented on the topic of cookie deprecation. It was so well attended that I decided to turn it into a podcast for those of you who tune in to learn from audio only. I really just didn't want this to go to waste. So I've done a Gary V and repurposed all this good content into this week's podcast for your listening pleasure. Ready to learn more about cookies? Let's dive right in at the start, where we talk about what cookie deprecation is, how it has come about, and why as an industry we all need to make measures to be ready for it. So let's begin with giving you the floor now, Isaf, to talk to us a little bit about what is cookie deprecation and why we should really care about it right now.
SPEAKER_00All right. I think we'll take it from the top and just begin with a quick description or the definition of what are cookies. Cookies are basically a way for sites to store content on a user's browser and access that every time they make a request to that site. So let's make a distinction also between first-party cookies and third-party cookies. Cookie deprecation is third-party cookie deprecation. First party cookies are basically the cookies that are stored when you visit a site and when you basically access that specific site. So a classic use case for using a first-party cookie can be login information. Remember me. You have this option to have the site remember your credentials or remember your user. That's classic implementation for a first-party cookie. Third party cookies are basically cookies that are set by sites that are not on your top-level domains and not the site that you accessed. And the third-party cookies have always been basically a backbone for the digital advertising infrastructure. So from the early days up until now. But there are other use cases for third-party cookies. If you think of any type of content that lives on a site that is not necessarily inherent to that site, chats, widgets, maps, all kinds of anti-fraud measures. There are many cases for third-party cookies that are not necessarily just digital advertising. But the main concern that was raised by privacy groups and basically policymakers that were looking at the implementation of third-party cookies in the advertising space has led to this now movement to deprecate third-party cookies in an effort to increase privacy and reduce large-scale tracking of users across the internet. In the advertising case, the notion that a third-party cookie, say we have a banner that's embedded on a site, the fact that it is the same ad server that actually delivers that banner to the same user on different sites, allows the ad server to have a clear path of where the user was, what they were exposed to, and essentially track their activity across the web. That can be very useful if you're interested in optimizing content or ads, but that can eventually also create a profile that can infringe some privacy for the same users. Now, cookie deprecation. The talk about cookie deprecation started about five years ago. So there was already voices that were advocating for it. And the interesting bit is that we're already in the middle of the process. The way for us to approach it is to look at it from like the browser market share. The first to adopt the third-party deprecation was Firefox. Even though it does not have a significant market share, it still is a world-renowned browser. And they have done it as early as 2019. So no third-party cookies allowed at all in Firefox at the moment. The second, and I think one of the more interesting browsers to look at for now is Apple Safari.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00Because uh Apple Safari accounts for 10% of desktop market share and 25% of mobile market share. And it also already does not allow any third-party cookies. Actually, Safari has some additional measures to actually even sabotage first-party cookie tracking, but I don't think that will have a significant impact because for now it's restricted to private browsing sessions. So it's going to be nudge level, it's going to have an edgeable effect. However, the big elephant in the room is Google Chrome and Google Chrome, which dominates the browser market share and has been continuously, I would say, postponing their coalition with the other browsers. And essentially it's been pushed already for several dates. But now we have uh a clear indication that will happen in 2024. So that's about April last time I looked, but it could change, right? There's news from the last publication was October 11th or 300 catchment. But the current plan is to roll out uh a 1% test. So 1% of Chrome users globally will be will be assigned to the no third-party cookie mode. And when they complete tests, essentially they don't disclose what exactly will be the assessment process. They say that by Q3 2024, it will be rolled out to 100% of Chrome users. The impact is is imminent. If until now this was a little bit segmented out to Firefox and Safari, and maybe some people have neglected approaching it because still the majority of impact was not really visible because dominance of the Chrome users, this will soon change. Historically, all almost all tracking was done by using third-party cookies.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And that means that many legacy systems still rely on it to run correct attribution. And unfortunately, I think there was a recent survey by the IAB in the UK that indicated that from the survey results, that 51% of affiliate marketers still use third-party cookies to attract their performance. This will have a significant impact because there will be a deterioration in all statistics, effectively leading to a substance loss of revenue of everyone who is reliant on third-party cookies as their major infrastructure.
SPEAKER_02There's no doubt now that cookie deprecation is going to have a big effect on multiple affiliate channels. Attribution, data collection, SEO, conversion stats, and how we build affiliate relationships. So it's imperative that these conversations are happening within your team and outside of it as well, so that you can put in place plans to minimize the effects when deprecation occurs. Doing due diligence now on your technical infrastructures is going to be key. But for those of you using bespoke solutions or maybe using out-of-the-box SaaS products, you really need to be having these conversations and ensuring that your program tracking will remain accurate when the changeover begins. In this next clip, ASIF goes through more detail on who all the different players are that need to be engaged to make this more clear. Can you talk to us a little bit about from like an advertiser's perspective, a network perspective, and also strategies for affiliates individually? Because we've got a mix of all of those people coming in here and listening to us today. But let's just talk about the things that we all need to be doing.
SPEAKER_00All right. First party data collection, as I said earlier, there are multiple ways to go about it. It really the question is who do you put responsible for collecting this data on your behalf? Will it be the responsibility of the advertiser? Will you put it on your own infrastructure or do you subject it to a third party? There are ways to mitigate some of the issues around that with working with tools like a Google Tag Manager. So the industry is trying to put solutions in place, but still, if you launch a third-party tag in the context of your site, it has security implementations and business intelligence implementations. This, I think, would be a secondary option or basically a fallback scenario and not at a top level, as far as I see it. Server-side tracking, which can also be separated into two methodologies. It can be one is setting up a post-back mechanism, which is one way the tracking platforms and networks now allow you to integrate. And at the top of reliability will be a complete data integration based on an API or a data warehouse. So I think depending on the significance of the channel, on the volume of revenue, how strategic it is for you, I would approach it as an escalating spectrum of solutions, where the best case scenario will be a deep integration and the elementary scenario will be this first-party tag implementation on your site.
SPEAKER_02When you speak to customers that are coming to you to actually get Selexa tracking implemented, are you having those conversations with the clients up front and actually telling them or advising them on which route to choose, whether it's server-side, data warehouse integration or other? Or are you finding that most clients are now already coming to you asking for what it is that they need? Like, what's the kind of general consensus in the public sphere? Like, are you educating still or are you seeing brands actually come to you with requests?
SPEAKER_00This is a it's a common topic that we have, especially with the larger clients. And we basically decide that we are going to structure our solution in a way that's going to be bulletproof. So when we integrate today, unless there is a like a massive restriction, it's going to be at the top end of the technology to basically prepare for any scenario and to also verify the quality of the tracking, like we discussed earlier. So we want to be in a position where we can explain every tracking decision that was made. And we think this is a good foundation for our clients that rely on this channel. It also then allows us to be the source of attribution truth. So it's another another aspect. How will you create this attribution when you work in these multi-channel or multi-departments?
SPEAKER_02Some companies do run paid media on one platform, they run affiliate on another platform, they run PBC and their own direct advertising on another platform. And is it a recommendation now to actually try and see if you can use one platform for everything, or does it not matter?
SPEAKER_00I think that over time, advertiser will gravitate towards a solution that will consolidate these channels for the sake of making attribution decisions. So that will not necessarily just be there for the purposes of tracking, but also to make an educated decision regarding which source has contributed to the conversion or to which a source to allocate the conversion.
SPEAKER_02It's clear that no matter where you are positioned in the affiliate industry, the change is coming and it's going to be coming fast. If you haven't already, now is the time for a tracking audit to take place. Invest in really educating your affiliate teams about where traffic comes from, how sales are attributed in your infrastructure, and how your platforms are configured. The last thing you want to be is vulnerable when deprecation occurs. As an affiliate manager, you should always be fully informed on the technicalities that drive tracking of new sales. And if you're unsure, communicate with your internal and external teams as well. In this next short clip, we turn to the discussion of what affiliate traffic types are, the program segmentation impacts, service agreements, and why GDPR is becoming more important than ever. If you are working with more SEO content-based affiliates and you haven't segmented your affiliate program out, maybe now's the time to do it and to actually work with people that are like email marketing affiliates, paid media affiliates who are gathering first-party data, lead generation affiliates, even. And this is where the conversation of pay and performance is going to become a little bit muddy too, because you might be paying cost per lead in your affiliate program instead of sending that over to the paid media team. And things might change in terms of the way that we handle commercial conversations based on the attribution that happens when cookies deprecate. So it's going to be, from what I'm hearing you tell me, is that a lot might change, not just the fact that your tracking is going to change and your attribution of where the sales come in from what acquisition channel. It's also going to mean restructuring your affiliate program to make sure that you've got the right segmented mix of partners who can continue to bring you volume and that your tracking infrastructure is correct so that you can actually watch across all the channels and understand where that value is coming from.
SPEAKER_00Is that correct? Yeah, that's absolutely correct. The tracking foundation will be the enabler of working with the larger partners of the networks that are geared up towards the change. And of course, the mix that you have in your affiliate program, the more direct, the less media reliant, the less network-reliant affiliate you are. So the more you work with direct partnerships or content partnerships, the better off you'll be. So definitely, I think it's good there will be a shift in investment because performance will not be the big sufferers in performance, and we're the ones that are subject to this large audience or global user tracking that rely on that.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So you're going to need to review your service agreements as you see on the slide. So talk us through the kind of things that you would expect advertisers to be doing now with their service providers or things that clients are doing with you. Talk us through some of those things that you're looking through and getting agreements on.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. So from a GDPR perspective, you need to make sure that your terms that the users agree to and the cookie terms apply also to the tracking of the user activity on the site for purposes of compensating affiliates. I don't see a big challenge there because that will only live in the context of users' activity on your site, which is generally covered by their consent to the analytics on your site. From a technical perspective, we're going back to the same measures that we've discussed now, reviewing your infrastructure and then making sure that at least your big partners are on board with you to make the transition.
SPEAKER_02But I think also checking your service level agreements with your tracking solution or tracking partners or network or whoever it is that's running your affiliate channel because you know you're paying them a fee to actually deliver this program and to keep it accurate. And I am going to bring you up on what is quality tracking right now, which we talk about often, making sure that those service level agreements are still correct and that they are actually going to be able to provide the services that you're paying them for.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. We'll see people struggle throughout this, but standards will emerge once there is a need, right? Now people are still a bit complacent about it because it's been pushed again and again throughout the years. But now Google looks like they mean business and it's just going to drip in 1% two months away, right? And then it should be expedited quite quickly. So yeah, I think this is now the time to approach this.
SPEAKER_02We all know that working together with your partners is key. If you want to face the challenges that are coming, solutions need to be agreed upon and move forward to meet these changes. And as you'll hear in this next segment from our webinar, you could find old channels and ecosystems making a resurgence due to the first-party data that they hold. You might have to revisit past strategies to continue growth during the deprecation phase, which is coming up ahead. Setting clear KPIs and outcomes and collaborating with everybody, both internally and externally. Talk to us a little bit about some of the ways that advertisers need to be doing that and even affiliates as well, because we've got a mix of both on this channel.
SPEAKER_00There needs to be a handshake here between the affiliates and the brands in order for everything to synchronize again. So the solution needs to be agreed upon from both ends. And again, it really depends on the level of commitment and competence both on the advertiser side and the affiliate side. We already have quite an established solution with server-to-server postbacks. This is what Facebook also implemented recently. Facebook, by the way, one of the channels that would have been affected the most from the third-party cookie deprecation, because all of Facebook conversions, until not far ago, were reliant on third-party cookies.
SPEAKER_02Is Facebook gonna make a comeback? Because everybody had left Facebook for dead. But because they have the GDPR opt-in process in place and the GPR ship of party consent, do you think that you'll see a resurgence of Facebook marketers coming in and building groups again in communities?
SPEAKER_00I think to a certain extent, yes, because I can see from my side the a few, how I say smart affiliates that are cashing out on this. And that actually also works very well when a tracking solution is put in place that has access to data from a bit like a business intelligence tool, it allows these campaigns to be much more effective. So it basically allows you to set up conversion points further and deeper down the conversion funnel. By the way, that's true for that's I think another incentive for advertisers to do that. When done correctly, you're able to define in very clear terms what are valuable conversions to you. So not necessarily just as a plain first-time sale or some sort of basic lead creation, you can create these additional controls and measures that can be defined by channel. So this is something that we do for our clients and we see this driving a lot of value. So that's something that the methodology allows, but will drive value even much more than just future-proofing the tracking path. So that's essentially touching the the measuring success in the post-cookie world. That's essentially that. The post-cookie world, when we translate the affiliate channel to have full visibility into the client lifecycle, that opens up opportunities for a different type, a different discussion between the affiliates and the affiliate managers. So having a data-driven discussion regarding performance as well as being able to structure these conversion points.
SPEAKER_02In this last clip from this awesome webinar, you'll hear us summarize the key actions to follow to get ahead and to gear up for cookie deprecation. It's imperative that if you haven't started this process, you do so now. So tune in for this last piece of advice that we share to help you on the way to navigate the future of cookies as we give you some tactical steps to implement and take control of in the months ahead. Let's get you to summarize what people should be doing from today moving forward to get ready for these changes.
SPEAKER_00All right, okay. Be prepared, start having discussions with all the relevant stakeholders. Who are those stakeholders? Tell us. The stakeholders, your tech team, your platform providers, and your large affiliates. So these are your first three targets in that order. Make sure that you are that you have the foundation to work with in your own organization, then approach your platform provider to verify that you are geared up for it, and then approach your relevant affiliates in order to make sure that uh once a transition happens, there are no there are by the way. From Chrome, the recent Chrome already allows you to run with the flag that kills the third-party cookie. So you will be able to test the tracking path. But you can do it already with Safari or Firefox. That'll have the same effect. If your tracking links survive and you see the attribution happen with either of either Safari or Firefox or with Chrome with the third-party cookie deprecation flag, it means you're okay, at least from the platform, from the advertiser platform perspective. When you're talking about considering alternative tracking options, how significant is the affiliate channel for you?
SPEAKER_02In most cases, 10% plus of your budgets are probably being spent in the affiliate channel. So that could be quite significant depending on the size of your business.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Consider this a long-term investment. My advice is not to not to go cheap on this because this will impact the trust level that you get from your partners. This is an industry that relies on trust. And if the tracking doesn't work, then trust is lost. Monitor and test the situation, like as I recommended, run these preliminary tests, maybe communicate that to all of your affiliates to make sure that they are on the right page. At least delegate this responsibility to them as well. And yeah, and I think watch the Google cookie deprecation time. They're now launching a set of uh articles, they're preparing all kinds of scenarios towards it. They allow some people to be excluded from third party deprecation, but not on the advertising industry. Yeah, and reach out. A lot of people in industry are already geared gearing up towards this. There are solutions in place. There are many people that have already structured bulletproof solutions. So go and inquire about them and and then get help.
SPEAKER_02One of the other things that I think you guys should be doing as well from a strategic perspective is having a look at your program segmentation and then to understand the impact that you will currently have if this does switch off and if it does actually impact as part of your acquisition channel. So start having a look at that segmentation exercise. Start looking at your top performing affiliates and how they are capturing data, how they're tracking, how they're driving traffic to you, and what types of traffic they're driving to you? Because you really do need to understand the impact that this might have if the change does go ahead and you're not ready for it. Because you might need to swing your budgets out into different channels. You might need to applicate media or distribute money elsewhere and if if changes like this do come into place. Do publishers need to place affiliate tracking behind privacy policy consent? If rejected, should the tracking still fire or not?
SPEAKER_00That's a very good question. I think as long as the user, because it will happen with first party cookie, or basically with transferring the responsibility to the advertiser site, and because of it being segmented so it means that the network or the publisher tracking will be restricted to the user activity only on that site. I think that I'm not a legal expert, but from the advice that we've been given, it should not have a significant impact because it's covered in the terms and conditions that the users agree to when they basically are redirected to the site. So I think the tracking will still be fired.
SPEAKER_02And that wraps up yet another interesting episode of the Affiliate Marketing Podcast. So tune in next week for more insights and tips on how to grow your affiliate program and build partnerships that bring incremental sales to your business. If you'd like to get access to more free content, masterclasses, and learn with industry experts from around the globe, don't forget to check out our upcoming Amplify Summit. Register today to claim your ticket for this informative live-streamed event, which is taking place on the 19th and 20th of March in 2024. I'll be bringing you so many interesting speakers, topics to really get your teeth sunk into, and will be helping you to amplify your performance in the year ahead. Till next week, it's bye for now. Looking to launch an affiliate program for your business? Need help to grow your affiliate program? Don't worry, we can help. Book a free 15-minute strategy call with our Afiverse agency team to find out how we can help you grow your affiliate program. We offer a range of affiliate program management services from strategy and consulting to technical setups and complex affiliate program migrations. Our award-winning agency team handles everything from affiliate strategy to affiliate partner discovery and recruitment. We'll also help you explore the competitive landscape and deep dive affiliate program audits to help leverage where you can grow faster than your competitors. But don't take our word for it. Take a look at what our clients say. Affiverse, we're helping the world do affiliate marketing better. Don't waste time struggling to get the right results. Visit affiversemedia.com and click on the agency button to kickstart your program growth today.
SPEAKER_01That's a wrap for this week's affiliate marketing podcast. If you're loving what we're putting down, why not head over to Apple iTunes and give us a five-star review? Make sure to subscribe to our podcast and our YouTube channel so you never miss another insightful episode or one of our free webinars ever again. Tune in next week for more digital affiliate marketing insights, trends, tips, and content to keep your affiliate and performance marketing fresh and your partners driving consistent sales.