The Great Cookie Crumble - Revisiting First-Party Data Strategies for Multifamily Marketing

A couple of years ago, there was a lot of discussion in the digital marketing world regarding eliminating third-party cookies provided by your favorite web browsers such as Chrome, Brave, Safari, etc. These third-party cookies allow ad networks utilizing pixel tags placed on your website to have more data on your site's unique visitors, so they could create profiles on each user it contained in its database through identifiable information such as IP addresses.

The third-party data collected is helpful for advertisers, as we can be more targeted in who we want to advertise to based on segmented lists of users who fall into specific categories. The problem is that there could be a lot of privacy abuse, as data on specific individuals can be sold and shared easily.

First-Party Data Strategies

With the ever-growing demand for privacy, the trend is to find strategies to move away from the dependence on third-party data, as it is becoming less and less available. In fact, Google Chrome officially announced it will remove its cookie tracking sometime in the second half of 2024.

This has led digital marketers to develop their own databases of first-party data to utilize them for audience targeting through advertising platforms and other direct marketing channels such as email campaigns. To develop and manage first-party data, some of our client partners are utilizing server-side tracking through a Customer Data Platform (CDP). Within a CDP, customer profiles are established through information prospects, and residents are provided through direct marketing channels (such as your website and leasing portals), combined with additional user data that can be tracked about those same individuals on your website, such as their originating referral source.

Although some multifamily-specific Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) tools might be able to help create segmented audience lists, typically, their main function is to help you manage your communication, tour scheduling, and follow-ups with current prospects and residents. That is why shopping for a specific Customer Data Platform (CDP) tool might be best. Performance AI, developed by the folks at HyLy, is an example of a multifamily CDP.

Take Control of Your Customer Data

At Dyverse, we recommend this CDP strategy for our client partners to be as prepared as possible for upcoming changes to third-party data tracking changes. It's still too early to know precisely how limiting these changes will be. Still, in any case, it's essential to take steps to control as much as possible by collecting and managing your own first-party customer database that can be used for advertising and other prospect and resident communications.

Stay tuned. We will publish a follow-up article on how your first-party lists can be utilized within Google Ads and other digital advertising campaigns. In the meantime, feel free to reach out .