The role of the DMP in the cookie-less future and how DMPs will be used to manage, contextualize, and analyze first-party data.
As the digital advertising industry prepares for a cookie-less future, many marketers are wondering how they can continue to leverage data to deliver relevant and personalized experiences to their audiences. One of the key tools that can help them in this transition is the data management platform (DMP).
A DMP is a software platform that collects, organizes, and activates data from various sources, such as websites, apps, CRM systems, social media, and third-party providers. A DMP enables marketers to create segments of audiences based on their behaviors, interests, preferences, and demographics, and to use these segments to target them with tailored messages across different channels and devices.
However, with the impending demise of third-party cookies, which are the main source of data for many DMPs, the role and functionality of the DMP will have to evolve. Instead of relying on third-party data, which is often inaccurate, incomplete, and non-compliant with privacy regulations, marketers will have to shift their focus to first-party data, which is the data that they collect directly from their own customers and prospects.
First-party data is more valuable than third-party data because it is more accurate, relevant, and consent-based. It reflects the actual behaviors and preferences of the customers, rather than inferred or modeled attributes. It also enables marketers to build trust and loyalty with their customers by respecting their privacy and providing them with more control over their data.
However, first-party data also comes with its own challenges. It is often siloed across different platforms and systems, making it difficult to access and unify. It also requires more processing and analysis to extract meaningful insights and actions. This is where the DMP can play a crucial role in the cookie-less future.
A DMP can help marketers to manage, contextualize, and analyze their first-party data in several ways:
- A DMP can help marketers to collect and integrate their first-party data from various sources, such as websites, apps, CRM systems, email campaigns, surveys, and offline transactions. By using a common identifier, such as an email address or a customer ID, a DMP can create a unified view of each customer across different touchpoints and devices.
- A DMP can help marketers to enrich and contextualize their first-party data with additional information, such as location, device type, weather, time of day, content consumption, and purchase intent. This can help marketers to understand the context and motivations of each customer and to deliver more relevant and timely messages.
- A DMP can help marketers to analyze and segment their first-party data based on various criteria, such as recency, frequency, value, loyalty, engagement, conversion rate, churn risk, and lifetime value. This can help marketers to identify their most valuable customers and prospects and to tailor their strategies accordingly.
- A DMP can help marketers to activate their first-party data across different channels and platforms, such as display ads, social media ads, video ads, email campaigns, push notifications, SMS messages, chatbots, voice assistants, and web personalization. By using a DMP’s integration capabilities with various demand-side platforms (DSPs), ad networks, ad exchanges,