The AdTech industry is buzzing with discussions about cookie deprecation and effective strategies to tackle it. One of the commonly suggested solutions is the utilization of clean rooms alongside responsibly sourced first-party data.
Above all else, the industry recognizes the importance of respecting consumer data and complying with all privacy laws. Additionally, the industry acknowledges the need for a change in our historical practices. This shift benefits everyone involved, as consumer data is more secure than ever. Tremendous investments have been made to ensure the utmost security of consumer information.
Clean rooms are one of the tools that enable companies to use data securely, ensuring the content that you see is as relevant as possible.
Two ways the AdTech industry is addressing cookie deprecation
The days of sending data directly to partners for usage or for using only third-party data for marketing efforts are gone. Now, the emphasis is on responsibly collecting first-party data and using clean rooms to enrich first-party data to enhance marketing efforts.
First-party data
The industry is starting to lean into first-party data gained through transparent means. This valuable information provides organizations with deeper insights into their customers, allowing for more personalized and effective interactions. By embracing the power of first-party data, either on its own or enriched via partner collaboration, you can cultivate stronger relationships, build trust, and deliver tailored experiences that resonate with your customers on a deeper level.
Clean rooms
Many data lakes and warehouses offer this service, ensuring their clients can not only store their data with them but can connect it with other partners in a secure environment and extract more information through the combined data sets versus their data on its own.
Brands and their partners recognize that they need to work together, and a clean room provides a secure environment to share their first-party data without exposing their sensitive data to their partner.
So, while we’re losing third-party cookies, brands and partners can still get value from first-party data by using a clean room to generate audience insights, segmentation strategies, personalized experiences and offers, media plans, and measurement and attribution.
Three ways data clean rooms can improve
Data clean rooms are a great way to facilitate data collaboration while ensuring sensitive data is not exposed.
Data clean rooms are not yet easy to use nor are they inexpensive. They require investment, both financially and resource allocation-wise, and you are not guaranteed to yield great match results. Let’s dive into three areas for data clean room improvement.
High cost
According to the IAB’s State of Data 2023, nearly two-thirds of data clean room users spent at least $200K on the technology in 2022. In addition, one-third of data clean room users expect the price of data clean rooms to rise in 2023. The high cost of this solution can make it inaccessible to smaller companies in the advertising space.
Resource intensive
Nearly half of the companies using data clean rooms have a team of six or more dedicated to the technology, according to the IAB’s State of Data 2023, while nearly a third of companies using data clean rooms have 11 or more employees focused on the technology. Data clean rooms are not turnkey solutions.
Inefficient matching
Even if companies are using clean rooms does not mean that they are automatically going to achieve great success. Identity fragmentation, data hygiene, and differing identifiers can suppress client match rates in clean rooms, leading to significant investment and a lackluster output.
How to get the most return on your clean room investment
The finish line for data collaboration in clean rooms is not just having a relationship with a clean room. Instead, you should incorporate an identity resolution solution in your clean room. By adding an identity solution to your clean room, you can:
- Resolve and match all your identity data, regardless of the identity data that you or your partner have, giving you a larger data foundation to analyze.
- Generate more valuable insights and information, leading to a better experience for your customers.
- Join data sets to create smarter activation and targeting strategies and produce more holistic measurement.
Experian can help you get started with identity resolution and data clean rooms
If you are investing in data clean rooms, that means you are committed to the best in data practices. Experian recommends going the extra step and that you also invest in finding an identity resolution solution. By doing this, you can see better match rates.
Experian offers this capability and has existing relationships with three clean room partners, Amazon Web Services, InfoSum, and Snowflake. In addition to collaborating in clean rooms, we offer collaboration in two other secure environments.
Contact us today to discuss how we enable identity resolution in clean rooms or to chat about our other collaboration capabilities.
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The popularity of flash sale websites with limited time & inventory offerings have grown exponentially over the two years. Online shoppers’ love for the thrill of snagging designer clothing, home décor, travel and even wine have caused visits to the category to increase 368% in July 2011 as compared to the same month two years ago and 109% one year ago. So far in 2011, Nordstrom acquired HauteLook, Amazon entered the fray with MyHabit and recently Saks Fifth Avenue announced the launch of a dedicated flash sale website after offering sale events per week on Saks’ main website. In July 2011, Zulily.com, a website offering sales targeted for women and babies/kids, captured the highest market share of visits at 16%, followed by Ideeli and LivingSocial Escapes. Amazon’s MyHabit ranked 11th, out of the 87 websites in the custom category after only 2 months in operation. Several of the major players over the past six months, the total visits to Ideeli increased 42%, Gilt.com up 14% and Nordstrom’s Hautelook up 8% for July 2011 as compared to February 2011. Total visits for MyHabit jumped 128% for July 2011 as compared to May 2011 when the website launched. The audience for Flash Sales continues to be attractive, and willing to shop – over-indexing against the online population for household incomes over $100k and creditworthy VantageScores of A and B.
The annual back-to-school season is in high gear and Moms are preparing lists and sizing up their children’s clothing and school-related merchandise needs. It’s an important time of year for retailers, as apparel, shoes, electronics, furniture, computers, backpacks and school supplies will account for the bulk of consumer spending during the back-to-school shopping season. Many marketers have historically grouped the back-to-school audience into one collective segment of households with school-age children. This leaves money on the table because there are better ways to target Moms with kids when developing a back-to-school promotional strategy. Just like the inventory of new clothes and notebooks that retailers have neatly arranged on store shelves, families with school-age children come in an assortment of sizes, shapes and colors. What is the most effective way to segment the back to school audience? This begs the question “” Marketers can always turn to basic data elements for segmentation. These include age and gender of children, number of children in the household, parent’s age, household income, and the full spectrum of school classifications (preschool, elementary school, middle school, junior high school, high school, etc.). Though a more powerful approach would be to utilize a segmentation methodology that recognizes the lifestyle and behavioral differences among households that are most likely to contain school-age kids. Here are three snapshots of family-oriented, children-centric market segments that are highly likely to be responsive to a wide variety of back to school promotional offers. All three segments have been selected from Experian’s Mosaic lifestyle segmentation solution. Babies and Bliss Description: Babies and Bliss represent the premier lifestyle for large families in America. With a majority of households containing at least five people, this segment is a haven for large broods living in new suburban subdivisions. Parents in this segment tend to be in their 30s and 40s. There is a wide range of kids in these households, from preschoolers up to those in high school. There is also money in this segment, reflecting the high educations and low six-figure incomes that come from dual earners employed in professional and technical occupations. Some key traits of Babies and Bliss households include upscale tastes, large families, well-educated, conservative views, financially-savvy, convenience, and power shopping. Implications: Given their large families, it's not surprising that Moms from Babies and Bliss households are value-conscious shoppers who seek appealing deals for quality merchandise. They carry coupons, like to comparison shop when buying expensive items and head to the clearance rack first whenever they buy clothes, which tend to be conservative in style. In the mall, these Moms follow their children's lead but also remain very open to consider generic store brands rather than high-priced name brands. They like to shop (it's practically a sport) and are happy to open their wallets at department stores, specialty shops, catalogs and online sites. They especially pride themselves in being very Internet-literate. With their jobs, kids and errands, they appreciate the convenience of shopping online and are receptive to email ads, sponsored Websites and Web page links. Families Matter Most Description: A fast-growing segment, Families Matter Most consists of young, middle-class families in suburban locations leading active, family-focused lives. Nine out of ten households have kids (nearly two-thirds have multiple kids). These young, middle-class families have settled into a landscape of recently built subdivisions. Many adult household members are urban exiles who've sought a suburban setting with room for kids to grow. They are proud of their new homes, schools and shopping centers, where they can find everything they need just a short drive away. Families Matter Most distinguish themselves by having adopted attitudes and routines to help them effectively juggle the responsibilities of work and child-rearing. Some key traits of Families Matter Most households include sprawling families, family values, casual perspectives, price-sensitivity, credit revolvers, conformists and risk avoidance. Implications: Families Matter Most are casual in their attitude except when it comes to their children. They take their role as parents very seriously, which they describe in conservative terms. They avoid risks and feel little need to make a statement with their possessions. As shoppers, Moms from Families Matter Most households are price-sensitive consumers who look for discount stores that offer durable and comfortable fashion. They are worried about spending money impulsively and try to be informed consumers. Most are happy to wear last year's fashions and they tend to zero in on a few stores that carry the affordable brands they prefer. With their growing families they shop most often at discount and mid-market national chains including Target, Walmart, Kohl's, Toys R Us and Old Navy. Cul de Sac Diversity Description: Cul de Sac Diversity consists of ethnically diverse, middle-aged couples with school-aged children. This segment has an above-average concentration of Hispanic and Asian household members. Nearly one-third of Cul de Sac Diversity adult members are foreign-born. They are three times more likely to be bilingual compared to U.S. adults overall. These upper-middle-class households are well on their way to achieving the American dream. They believe in home and family, but also recognize the need to work to get ahead. They look at their work as a career, not a paycheck, and are willing to give up family time in exchange for the opportunity to advance in their careers. Some key traits of Cul de Sac Diversity households include ethnically diverse, bilingual, mainstream mindset, community-minded, tolerant and career-focused. Implications: Moms from Cul de Sac Diversity households like to shop with friends and family members in order to get everyone's opinions on potential purchases. As consumers, they often seek status and recognition through their possessions. They are attracted to designer labels and sometimes spend more on clothes than they can truly afford. They like going to mainstream retailers to shop for their children including Kohl's and Macy's as well as sporting goods chains such as Dick's Sporting Goods and Sports Authority. They are only moderately receptive to online advertising. Deploying a back to school marketing strategy that treats all households with school-age children as one undifferentiated market is like creating a basic lesson plan and applying it to all grade levels of a one-room schoolhouse. Instead, marketers are encouraged to study their target audience more closely. With key insights in hand, they will have acquired the necessary prerequisites for graduating to a strategy that acknowledges the shopping characteristics and needs of a diverse and potentially lucrative audience of back-to-school Moms and their children.
Segmentation Layering For many marketers, segmentation is like breathing – it comes naturally and is a part of everything they do. To better connect with your target audience, use a good segmentation system with multiple layers that provides a breakdown of essential information while tying in lifestyle and transactional data. Consider marketing to parents. The most basic information includes demographics such as age, income, presence of children, etc. Add to that lifestyle information – the family has two working parents who rely heavily on the Internet for research and purchase convenience. The transactional data can really set apart where a parent falls on the parenting lifecycle. For example, is the parent still purchasing diapers and feeding supplies for their infant or bedding, towels and a coffee maker that might indicate their “baby” is headed to college? Both parents may look similar when comparing demographic and lifestyle information but the transactional data differentiates their needs. According to Experian Marketing Services: Parents use the Internet far more than the average American Moms are 34% more likely to buy products online and 33% more likely to participate in a blog than the average adult. "Marketers are targeting more carefully based on both the parents' life stage and consumer behavior,” says Jan Jindra, senior product market manager at Experian Marketing Services. “Younger parents, and those of smaller children, have different information needs than parents of older or college-age children. It's not only the life stage they're in, but the lifestyle," Jindra says. Read the full article and check out the latest in marketing to parents in DMNews: http://www.dmnews.com/household-brands-observe-parents-needs-in-defining-segmentation-tactics/article/205902/.