topic Re: How absense of third party cookies will affect Hubspot's Tracking capabilities? in 💬 RevOps Discussions

How absense of third party cookies will affect Hubspot's Tracking capabilities?

Manzar-Mashhood — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 07:10:33 GMT

Hey guys! I've got a question for you.

What's your take on Google's move to phase out third-party cookies, and how do you think it might impact HubSpot tracking? I believe the data we collect on our website (www.glueup.com) using HubSpot forms (or even non-HubSpot forms connected to HubSpot) falls under first-party data, so we are fine there it seems (please confirm it if we are).

But what about HubSpot's attribution capabilities? are those going to be affected?
we use cookie consent banner, so it there any way to creep in hubspot cookies without letting users know?

If this Google decision does have an impact on HubSpot tracking, any ideas on how we can handle it? What strategies are you considering, and are there any alternatives you think might work well? Thanks a bunch! 🙂

Re: How absense of third party cookies will affect Hubspot's Tracking capabilities?

sethnenstiel — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 18:39:44 GMT

Following 🙂

Re: How absense of third party cookies will affect Hubspot's Tracking capabilities?

PamCotton — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 22:59:21 GMT

Hey @Manzar-Mashhood, thank you for reaching out!

The phase-out of third-party cookies is certainly something that has the potential to disrupt how marketers approach the tracking of customer interactions. HubSpot has already published several state-of-the-industry type posts to our blog that we have linked below:

The Death of the Third-Party Cookie: What Marketers Need to Know About Google's 2023 Phase-Out

How Marketers Are Preparing for Google's Third-Party Cookie Phaseout

We also have this helpful video that gives a quick rundown of what is changing and what steps you can take to continue to track behaviors and interactions with your customers:

Google Third-Party Cookie Removal: What Marketers Should Do NOW

I hope this helps, and please let me know if you have any further questions.

Kindly,

Pam

Re: How absense of third party cookies will affect Hubspot's Tracking capabilities?

Shadab_Khan — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 07:38:07 GMT

@Manzar-Mashhood Awesome thoughts! , I Would Raise That as an Idea in the Ideas Forum so the Product team can also notice

Re: How absense of third party cookies will affect Hubspot's Tracking capabilities?

Manzar-Mashhood — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 10:10:00 GMT

Hi Shadab, thanks 🙂

Re: How absense of third party cookies will affect Hubspot's Tracking capabilities?

Manzar-Mashhood — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 10:16:33 GMT

Hey Pam, thanks a bunch for sharing those resources! I've actually gone through all of them and even watched the video - really informative stuff! 😊 However, I still have a bit of a lingering question. The materials were great, but they didn't exactly give a crystal-clear answer on how the ROI attribution for different channels might be affected.

Our Glue Up marketing team had a solid ROI from channels like organic and paid search in 2023, and we're gearing up to invest more in these successful channels. But here's the thing - with the Chrome third-party cookie phase-out wrapping up in 2024, we're worried about how HubSpot will attribute ROI to these channels. We don't want the system to inadvertently give them less credit just because of Google's decision. Obviously, it's not HubSpot's fault, but explaining this to our higher-ups at the end of 2024 could be a bit tricky.

So, if you come across any resources that directly address this concern and offer some clarity, I'd be super grateful if you could share them! Thanks a ton!

Re: How absense of third party cookies will affect Hubspot's Tracking capabilities?

Jnix284 — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 13:27:55 GMT

@Manzar-Mashhood Let's break apart your questions and ease your mind a bit, thanks @Shadab_Khan for sharing!

What's your take on Google's move to phase out third-party cookies, and how do you think it might impact HubSpot tracking?

HubSpot cookies are first-party, they are only tracking user behavior on your own website, your own first-party sources to capture first-party data.

I believe the data we collect on our website (www.glueup.com) using HubSpot forms (or even non-HubSpot forms connected to HubSpot) falls under first-party data, so we are fine there it seems (please confirm it if we are).

You're correct that HubSpot (and non-HubSpot) forms are first-party data.

But what about HubSpot's attribution capabilities? are those going to be affected?

Source reports and attribution isn't tied to third-party cookies, this data comes from the source - the website URL that the user arrives at your site from. So if that's organic SEO, you'll still see that. If it's paid ads, you'll still see that.

You'll still see any UTMs or parameters without any relation to third-party cookies.

The way ads use third-party cookies has nothing to do with attribution, it's how your ads are targeted. Google and Facebook have already changed the way they target ads so they aren't reliant on third-party cookies, how your ads find your potential customers doesn't impact source attribution.

we use cookie consent banner, so it there any way to creep in hubspot cookies without letting users know?

No, HubSpot isn't going to creep any cookies in - they don't try to add their own cookies to your website. As far as your first-party HubSpot cookies, that's exactly what the consent banner is for, to confirm they accept those cookies. If they don't accept, their data won't be tracked.

If this Google decision does have an impact on HubSpot tracking, any ideas on how we can handle it?

There can be a lot of fear when changes like this are made - HubSpot and Google Analytics existed long before third-party cookies for ads. Changes that Google makes doesn't impact first-party cookies - nothing to handle! 🙂

What strategies are you considering, and are there any alternatives you think might work well?

Both Facebook and Google have provided alternatives to third-party cookies for ads, neither of which would negatively impact your HubSpot reporting capabilities. I don't think it's necessary to seek alternatives.

Hope this helps!

Re: How absense of third party cookies will affect Hubspot's Tracking capabilities?

Shadab_Khan — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 13:55:35 GMT

@Jnix284 Wow! You are such legend in MOPS, I am gonna tag you moving forward for complex MOPS stuff!

Re: How absense of third party cookies will affect Hubspot's Tracking capabilities?

Jnix284 — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 16:41:39 GMT

Thanks @Shadab_Khan, happy to help any time!