Is your mobile device eavesdropping on you? Is your phone listening to your conversations and sending them to a server? What if it is? You should be worried, right?
Last year a lot of people reported spotting unusual activity on their mobile devices when they were talking to someone about a particular product, after which, they started getting ads about the same product. Is it a strange coincidence, or is your phone listening to your conversations?
In today's digital landscape, numerous organisations gather diverse data about their online activities for advertising and analytics purposes. Platforms like Facebook, Google Android, and various online stores are among those that collect your information to personalise your app store experience and deliver targeted ads. While they claim only to collect anonymous data such as age and gender, it's a well-known fact that certain voice assistants record conversations to enhance their algorithms. (Resources: skillupwards, wearebrain) This raises the question: do they need to record your conversations, or are they utilising this feature to gain a more intrusive understanding of your life? Consequently, there is concern regarding the potential use of collected information in unexpected ways. Your phone might listen to your conversations mainly for 3 reasons:
1. To tackle verbal demands in the case of voice assistant;
2. To collect data about yourself if you granted certain permissions by accepting first-party and third-party cookies; and
3. To deliver a personalised customer experience.
The first reason for serving verbal commands seems very understandable, and most people feel comfortable about it. But what about gathering data from cookies to deliver advertising campaigns? Is it legal to do so?
Cookies are automated data storage that is used to track your preferences and habits when surfing the web and help build a profile of you. This process is usually performed by first–party and third-party cookies.
First-party cookies include cookies that are set by the website being visited (in other words, by the domain of the page), and they are commonly used in conjunction with third-party cookies.
Third-party cookies are used by a website to gather information about the site interaction and pass it on to a third party. This could be an ad network, analytics company, or social network. More than 80 % of web traffic contains third-party cookies. Third-party cookies also gather data based on your web browsing. This may include your search queries, favourite websites, and search history. All of which is aimed at providing you with a more personalised service that better matches your needs.
End-user experience: to comply with GDPR, websites must obtain explicit consent before collecting any personal data, including through cookies, particularly third-party cookies used for advertising and tracking purposes. While users have the right to control which cookies are enabled, allowing cookies often provides a more tailored experience. Cookies help websites remember users' preferences, streamline browsing, and deliver personalised content. However, GDPR ensures that users are fully informed and in control of how their data is used, enforcing transparency and accountability for all organisations operating in the EU.
For organisations: the shift towards a "cookieless" future, driven by the phase-out of third-party cookies, marks a significant change for the digital advertising industry. Yet first-party cookies will remain vital for website functionality, data collection, and user personalisation. Importantly, GDPR does not prohibit the use of cookies entirely, but it sets strict guidelines to ensure they are used responsibly. Cookies are permissible under GDPR as long as they adhere to the principles of consent, transparency, and data minimisation (Resource: 7 key principles of the GDPR). Businesses must inform users about what data is being collected, and how it will be used, and offer them an option to opt-out. The end of third-party cookies signals a shift towards more privacy-focused marketing, and companies will need to rely more heavily on first-party data and consent-driven strategies to deliver personalised experiences while complying with regulations.
Speaking from a marketer's perspective, the essence of personalisation lies in tailoring ads to meet the specific needs of users. This is ultimately the current trend and businesses must align their technology to serve clients in a personalised manner. Without relying on artificial intelligence-based technology, achieving this level of personalisation would be highly improbable.
Self–learning algorithms help to gather information about each user, checking cross–devices history, preferences, recent activities, and behaviour on social channels, and group this type of information to target an individual with ads that only they would be interested in.
What does this mean for business and future trends in marketing?
· Marketing automation tools based on artificial intelligence will soon be a must to survive in the market;
· Visitors would expect to see only the products which are specific to them if they previously had an interaction with the website/brand/company online and offline; and
· Engagement rate would be the most important ranking factor.
Google Analytics 4 has already changed its direction, abandoning the idea of calculating the bounce rate and moving towards relying only on the engagement rate. The engagement rate would be counted only for the website sessions which last more than 10 sec.
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