Sentry.io, a SaaS error and performance monitoring provider, has shared its journey of how it eliminated the use of cookies from its marketing methods. The company’s Vice President of Global Marketing, Elaine Szu, sheds light on the shift, which was driven by concerns about over-reliance on Google for customer acquisition and cookie deprecation impacts on marketing technologies.
Sentry.io’s customer base, predominantly of developers known for their aversion to being tracked, reacted positively to the removal of cookies, enhancing trust in the company’s ethos. Despite this, the move did pose technological and data collection concerns. For instance, it affected partner reviews, video hosting, and several aspects of their website functionality.
Sentry.io’s shift to a cookieless model also brought forth certain unexpected challenges. For instance, Sentry.io discovered that its YouTube-hosted workshops would embed a cookie on their site, leading to a last-minute video migration to Vimeo.
The lack of signals with Google had a significant impact on traffic, but Sentry.io used this as a learning opportunity, shifting to ad engagement retargeting and refocusing on sponsored content and publisher collaborations. Adjustments were also made to search bidding strategies, like employing hashed passbacks and offline signals/APIs, to mitigate loss in audience numbers.
Despite the hurdles, Sentry.io’s VP suggests that companies can effectively adapt to a cookie-less marketing strategy using more creative and thoughtful approaches. She added that the process was akin to reverting to the marketing mindset of the search marketing infancy period.
With the company’s commitment to sharing knowledge for growth, Sentry.io plans to post in-depth blogs about post-cookie life, aiming to help other businesses transition smoothly.
Source: How one tech company is doing marketing without cookies.
