In 2022, the advertising ecosystem is inundated with identity solutions that include numerous tech vendors’ ID graphs and tools, data clean rooms and first-party data matching via walled gardens such as Google and Facebook. Marketing teams are testing many of these tactics while considering that there might not be an end-all-be-all identity solution that provides an unobstructed view of the first-party data they are using. 

Blaine Britten, senior vice president of data strategy at Stirista, a data-driven marketing cloud provider, said there’s an argument against using multiple vendor IDs or walled garden solutions as it can lead to unnecessary hurdles for advertisers. 

“Targeting solutions owned by technology vendors capture the spirit of what the industry is trying to achieve — a unified ID that marketers can build a solution around — but they can create complexities for publishers and advertisers,” said Britten. “Each vendor is vying for their solution to become the standard, and the approach requires multiple middlemen handling data and inevitable attrition due to increased ID sync complexity across channels. Publishers and brands simply want to match their user data where they find overlap, and there’s an opportunity to streamline the process through owning their data and having clear mechanisms for using it.”

Amid the complexities of testing new identity solutions, marketers are approaching a straightforward strategy of matching their first-party customer relationship management (CRM) data with hashed or encrypted email data to segment audiences and discover new targeted ad opportunities effectively. 

Putting email data into action in the digital targeting landscape

First-party, opt-in email data is a critical resource for marketers in reaching their most relevant audiences. Even if users eventually decide to opt out of receiving future campaigns, marketers are still required to retain the data in their system to honor opt-outs if the individual has multiple emails or other points of contact. 

“The advantage marketers have with using their email data in a universally-accepted encrypted form is that they can honor account updates and changes at the user level rather than just the individual PII variable,” said Britten. “Marketers collect explicit opt-ins from people who receive value exchange for that information. If they know who is and is not their current customer base, they can update more quickly, adding new insights or removing people from campaigns without having to send visitor information through multiple parties.”

Still, a key tactic (and challenge) for marketers is finding new and creative ways to incentivize people to share their emails or opt back into communications. Establishing trust among users — i.e., if they share their emails, brands will use them responsibly, and their email data won’t be resold — is also critical in …read more

Source:: Digiday

Author: Aaron