Payment Data in a Cookieless World

Soon the end of cookies! By 2023, Google will end the use of third-party cookies; it's called the "Privacy Sandbox" project. This evolution of users' data tracking on the Web - where privacy is being much debated - will dramatically change the way brands conduct effective marketing and advertising campaigns. Here's why it is a good thing for brands.

Third-party cookies have so far made it possible to track shoppers' visits online, and thus to learn about their interest in a product or service category. The use of this information allows advertisers and brands to target audiences that are relevant to their business.

The anticipated disappearance of third-party cookies obviously reduce these targeting capabilities and impact the performance of their campaigns, since they will reach shoppers of all profiles, instead of their affinity targets. This definite loss of ROI is a cause for concern for advertisers.

Payment data, the next step

This is where the cream of the crop of data comes into play: payment data, the native omnichannel asset of brands, as a means of authenticating a shopper, while maintaining a safe ecosystem respecting the latter.

"From the first payment of a shopper who has linked his or her card to the programme, we have access to his or her payment data, which we turn into shopping insights for the brands," explains Benoît Mouret, our Head of Product.

Really, that simple? Let us explain.

Payment data allows shoppers' purchases to be tracked, without the need for an expensive point of sale software. For a retailer, it is simply a matter of linking a shopper's identity to a means of payment, then gaining access to very detailed shopper knowledge and a 360° view of his purchasing behaviour. Finally rewarding them automatically thanks to automatic recognition at the time of payment, online or in shop, and not just in their shops. Let's just say cookies are already forgotten.

"By analysing payment data, we determine a segmentation based on the 'share of wallet', with an 'out-of-brand' vision, offering a global and precise view of purchasing behaviour", Benoît Mouret continues. This guarantees brands effective and personalised activation campaigns that have a significant impact on their churn. 

From tracking users' browsing history to tangible data

A little background to sharpen our thinking. The advertising and the retail markets, both online and offline, go down a long way with Facebook, Google and adservers, and have evolved a lot. Just like the understanding that brands have had of their shoppers over the last 20 years, thanks to cookies in particular.

• At first, thanks to tracking on the sites we visited, we were what we bought;
• Then the cursor moved to what we were looking for, then what we were reading;

• Then the cookies created profiles based on browsing, and pixels created points of interest.
• Finally, via Facebook or Google's authentication, or through "likes" plugins under products and articles, tracking of shoppers was total but not necessarily relevant. (Also, tracking outside their platforms by the GAFAs has always raised ethical issues. The end of cookies will put an end to these methods to return to more traditional privacy principles.)
• You also have geolocation, where we are is what we buy. "Again, quite imprecise", says Benoît.
• Finally, introducing the next and ultimate stage of identification, thanks to the payment data, the first-party data that is not owned by a third party, in a world without cookies: what you buy is what you buy. 

"We can now accurately tell if and what a shopper has purchased. Payment data offers a clear view of omnichannel. Retailers can now get better ROI on marketing campaigns compared to their lavish expenses on Facebook and Google platforms" concludes Benoit Mouret. On the road to the end of brands' dependence on Gafa?

Curious to know more about payment data? Contact us now!