Episode 51 – Can Loyalty Programs Remain Viable In A Cookie-less Era

Welcome Loyal listeners in today’s episode of the loyalty minute we’re going to be talking about how loyalty programs can remain viable in a cookie-less era?

A KPMG study from November 2019 found Australia, Italy and Canada have the highest rates of loyalty program adoption, with more than half the population making purchases that earn rewards at least several times a week. The U.S. isn’t far behind, however, with 42% of consumers doing so.

Loyalty programs existed long before personalization and one-to-one marketing bubbled up as buzzwords, but the emergence of fresh digital channels and evolving privacy regulations suggest that many loyalty programs will have to rethink their data capture methods.

Following enforcement of the European Union’s General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) last year and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in January, advertising kingpin Google rattled the industry when it announced it would block third-party cookies on its Chrome browser within the next two years.

While the move may disrupt the infrastructure around marketers’ ad targeting and data collection that support loyalty programs, it reflects a broader trend toward consumer privacy.

Brands from Sephora to Red Lobster are revisiting their rewards strategies amid tighter ad-targeting restrictions and greater demands for data privacy.

Tagged as: First Party Data, Customer Data.