In 2025, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of how businesses utilize their data and are demanding greater privacy and control. According to research by McKinsey, 2 in 5 customers don't want websites to collect data about their online behaviour.
In a different study by KPMG, 3 in 10 customers say they won’t share their data with businesses for any reason.
This is thanks to the mounting wave of intrusive advertising, information misuse, and data breaches plaguing the business ecosystem. With data protection agencies tightening their policies and class action lawsuits happening more often, digital marketers have been forced to return to the drawing board.
Here, we'll discuss what this new privacy-themed landscape means for the future of digital marketing and how brands can adapt without losing their advantage.
The Problem With Third-Party Cookies
Imagine you want to book a cab to a restaurant. But before you say anything, the driver mentions a handful of places you’ve enjoyed in the past and even suggests similar places you might want to try out.
Would you feel comfortable joining him in that cab? Probably not. Even if you decided to join the cab, it would be a long ride filled with questions about how the driver knew so much about your movements.
It's a lot more passive and less creepy online, but this is essentially how third-party cookies have functioned for nearly three decades.
They collect data on a user’s activities across multiple websites, build a comprehensive profile of their behaviour, and share this with businesses that then serve them targeted, personalized ads like they already know what the user wants.
While this has generated impressive ROAS for digital marketers over the years, consumers have found it incredibly problematic:
- Due to the high level of personalization in most cookie-powered ads, many internet users consider them intrusive, especially when these ads follow them everywhere. As a result, internet users have adopted ad blockers for "safer" browsing experiences.
- Internet users feel companies aren’t being transparent enough about how they use their data.
- Consumers are worried about the volume of data businesses collect, and they don't trust any company to use their data ethically.
- Third-party cookies can also be hijacked by cybercriminals. When this happens, hackers can track the user's activities across the internet and build a detailed profile, which they can either use for more targeted social engineering attacks or sell to other malicious actors.
The Rise of Privacy-First Marketing: Why You Need to Adapt
Privacy-first marketing is a principle that focuses on integrating user privacy and data protection into every aspect of marketing. It requires digital marketers to prioritize transparency, consent, and ethical use of customer data.
Whether you're collecting personal information through opt-in forms or capturing first-party behavioural data through onsite tracking codes, customers must be fully aware of what data you intend to collect, why you need it, how you'll use it, and how you'll store it as part of your marketing or sales strategy.
The rise of privacy-first marketing has set a new direction for how businesses attract customers and generate long-term revenue. But what's driving this change?
Customers Want More Control
75% of adult consumers say they don’t have control over how companies use their data. More customers are demanding transparency from businesses and are actively taking measures against companies they don’t trust.
For example, DataGrail revealed that requests for data access, deletion, and sales opt-out increased by 274% in 2024. In the same year, nearly 2000 lawsuits related to data privacy were filed in US federal courts against businesses.
Customers are also refusing to deal with companies they don't trust with their data, saying they’ve abandoned brands due to privacy concerns.
On the bright side, businesses that adopt a privacy-first approach have seen a 38% increase in marketing ROI alongside a 43% improvement in customer retention.
With all that, it is clear that privacy has become a deciding factor in how successful businesses acquire and retain customers. If you must stay ahead in 2025 and beyond, your entire marketing approach should be redefined to meet the demands of a privacy-conscious generation.
Regulatory Requirements are Getting Tighter
With more consumers voicing their concerns, governments and data protection authorities have begun to tighten their privacy regulations and enforce stricter compliance measures.
As of March 2025, the CMS Enforcement Tracker reports a total of 2245 fines issued by the GDPR across Europe, amounting to over €5.6 billion since 2018.
In the US, the CCPA imposes a fine of $2,663 per privacy violation and up to $7,988 for intentional offences and violations involving minors' data.
Adapting a privacy-friendly marketing approach is no longer negotiable. It has become a critical necessity for every company's survival.
What This Means for Digital Marketers
Even when Google announced it had suspended its plans to fully deprecate third-party cookies, it didn't change the writing on the wall. Privacy is fast becoming a defining factor in digital marketing, and everything about how we track, target, and engage customers is changing.
But, how does it affect you, the digital marketer?
1. Rethinking User Tracking and Segmentation
Third-party data has always been the driving force behind cross-site tracking, ad personalization, and retargeting. But with its decline, marketers have to find alternative ways to reach the same results while staying compliant with privacy laws.
2. The Privacy Paradox
Customers are clamouring for better data privacy. Yet, they want companies to provide them with personalized experiences.
Navigating this has become a challenge for digital marketers, as they must now strike a balance between respecting user privacy and providing highly tailored, relevant experiences.
3. Keeping up With Evolving Regulations
Privacy laws are always changing. Government and data protection agencies are constantly rolling out new policies in response to technological advancements and emerging security threats.
New amendments, regional variations, and differing enforcement priorities mean that what is compliant today may not be tomorrow.
Now, marketers must stay abreast of the shifting rules while delivering optimal experiences for customers in every jurisdiction where their business operates.
Strategies for Adopting Privacy-First Marketing
It is true that the gradual relegation of third-party cookies and the rising demand for privacy have introduced some difficulties in how we collect data, personalize ads, and track user behaviour.
But switching to privacy-first marketing doesn’t mean you’ll lose your ability to reach the right audience or drive meaningful results. Below, we’ve detailed some important strategies you can incorporate to achieve even better results with privacy-first marketing.
1. Build on Data Sourced Directly From Your Customers
In this case, you should consider leveraging first- and zero-party data. These are fully permissioned, higher-quality, and less prone to regulatory risk.
First-party data refers to behavioural data your company collects directly from customers, web visitors, or social media followers. It is often captured using onsite or in-app tracking codes and includes data like click patterns, page views, purchase history, app login frequency, and email Click-Through Rates (CTR).
Zero-party data, on the other hand, refers to data customers intentionally and voluntarily submit to your business. It is the most reliable form of marketing data because it is explicitly provided by the source (the customer). Such data can be collected through surveys, signup forms, chatbot conversations, and preference centres.
Regardless of what data type you're collecting at any point, the key is to deliver value in exchange. For instance, if you ask customers to share details about their skincare challenges, offer a customized product recommendation or skincare routine in return. You can also use these insights to improve your unified communication solutions by tailoring chatbot responses, optimizing call routing, or analyzing trends to enhance customer interactions across channels.
Use a clear opt-in language and be transparent about how you'll use their data. Complete your setup by connecting your data to a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool or a Customer Data Platform (CDP).
2. Replace Behavioural Targeting with Contextual Advertising
With behavioural targeting, ads are served to website visitors or app users based on their past online activities. But with browsers blocking cookies and users actively avoiding tracking, behavioural signals are drying up.
Contextual targeting enables advertisers to show ads to customers based on the content they're consuming at the moment, rather than their past online activities. Therefore, if a web visitor is reading an article about vegan food, they may see ads for plant-based products.
This is not just privacy-friendly, but also has a high potential to convert, considering its ability to reach readers with the right mindset.
To implement this, work with ad platforms that offer advanced contextual capabilities. The best ones utilize machine learning models that analyze sentiment, semantics, and readability to place your ads in suitable environments.
3. Use a Consent Management Platform (CMP)
With privacy regulations like GDPR, CCPA, and others getting stricter, it’s become more important for businesses to collect explicit, informed user content. A CMP is how you make consent collection more efficient and compliant.
Prioritize CMPs that integrate naturally with your existing ecosystem, whether you’re using WordPress, HubSpot, or a custom-built website.
When designing your consent banner, ensure it includes both the "Accept All" and "Reject All" buttons. Also, include a "Customize Preferences" button to let users choose what they're allowing you to do with their data. For instance, they can opt in to analytics and opt out of promotional emails.
Source: Aura
If your target audiences are spread across the world, geo-target your banners to maintain compliance with the different local laws relevant to your customers’ locations.
Make sure your CMP is automatically logging and storing user content. This keeps you audit-ready from day one.
4. Invest in Channels You Control
One of the best ways to overcome the privacy challenges associated with third-party data is to invest in your own channels—your website, email list, and social communities.
Over time, you'll achieve an ecosystem rich in first- and zero-party data, where engagement is organic, contextual, and productive.
If you sell directly through your website, a smooth and secure checkout experience is key. For WordPress users, it usually means adding a plugin and linking it to Stripe or PayPal.
You can build your email list by creating lead magnets, launching newsletters, hosting webinars, and implementing a referral program for existing customers.
For your website, consider investing in creating SEO content that targets topics your ideal customers are curious about. Building on these channels gives you more control, better ROI, and fewer issues with privacy-related restrictions.
Bonus Tip: A referral program can also help grow your email list while staying privacy-compliant. Tools like ReferralCandy let you reward existing customers for referring friends—no need for tracking pixels or third-party behavioural targeting. It’s a practical way to encourage word-of-mouth using first-party data.
5. Never Pre-Check Boxes on Opt-in Pages
When designing opt-in pages, many digital marketers prefer to keep the checkboxes ticked by default to make the signup process faster for customers. However, in reality, this process isn’t transparent and doesn’t provide customers with an opportunity to actively give their consent.
Regulatory bodies frown at this approach, and it ruins your credibility in the eyes of your customers.
Source: Iubenda
Make sure you use unchecked boxes in all your opt-in pages and explain what they’re checking the box for in easy-to-understand words.
If you need your users to consent to multiple requests (such as newsletters, product updates, or third-party offers), consider using a separate checkbox for each request. This ensures that each user's consent is freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous, as required by major privacy regulations.
Also, test your opt-in form before it goes public to ensure it correctly stores your consent logs in your CRM or CDP.
6. Audit and Reinforce Your Data Repositories
In the first quarter of 2025, cybercriminals attacked company databases an average of 1925 times per week. Companies are getting breached at an alarming rate, and customers are facing higher risks of identity theft and fraud.
It is not safe to always assume your databases are secure. You must regularly audit and reinforce security mechanisms to keep your stored data safe.
- Reassess the kind of data you’re collecting, where you’re storing it, and who has access to it.
- Safely delete data you no longer need. You can set automations to delete or anonymize customer data after a specific timeframe.
- Revisit your third-party applications and remove apps you no longer need.
- If you plan to use a CDP to unify and segment your data, ensure that your chosen platform offers robust security functionalities.
When it comes to the security of your databases, every touchpoint is a potential attack surface. Your role is to ensure there are no weak links, whether it’s outdated software or over-permissioned accounts.
7. Invest in Media Mix Modelling (MMM) for Marketing Attribution
As third-party cookies continue to get relegated due to privacy concerns, individual-level tracking is also becoming less practical for marketing attribution.
To maintain a more privacy-friendly approach, invest in MMM.
Also known as Marketing Mix Modelling, MMM allows you to get a bird's-eye view of how each marketing channel is performing in terms of sales, leads, and other metrics. That way, you'll know where to invest more and where to improve. Especially for a dropshipping business, understanding channel performance holistically is essential to allocate budgets effectively.
To get the best out of MMM, work with data analysts to build econometric models using aggregate campaign and sales data.
Always validate your MMM’s insights by running incrementality tests. In this context, incrementality testing means comparing a group that saw your campaign to a similar group that didn’t. If the group that saw it took more action (like buying or signing up), your campaign likely worked.
8. Keep a Close Eye on Privacy Regulations
Privacy laws are always changing in response to shifts in technology, business processes, and cybersecurity trends.
To stay on the safe side, appoint someone on your team to remain in charge of compliance. This person will keep a close eye on privacy updates within the regions your company operates in.
Another helpful approach is subscribing to legal updates newsletters from organizations like the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and the European Data Protection Board (EDPB).
You can also set up Google Alerts for terms like “data privacy regulation + your target country.” You’ll get alerts every time there’s news about data privacy regulations in the country you’re interested in.
Also, when running global campaigns, make sure your CMP can flexibly serve different versions of your consent banners to users based on their respective locations.
Wrapping Up
The goal of privacy-first marketing isn’t to sacrifice the reach or conversion rates we’re used to, but to build more authentic relationships that stand the test of time and drive better long-term results.
But whether we like it or not, privacy-focused marketing has become the industry standard. And frankly, it is a good thing. It pushes us to level up, get creative, and build real trust with our customers, which pays off with stronger brands and a loyal customer base.
For the latest digital marketing news, check out our blog. To book an appointment, call 866-208-3095 or contact us here.
