Following Google’s announcement to phase out third-party cookies completely, we outline our plan to protect our customers’ affiliate tracking and earnings.
What are the latest updates?
In line with updates to Safari and Firefox, Google Chrome will restrict website access to third-party cookies by default. It was rolled out to 1% of Chrome users globally (roughly 30 million), in what Google called a key milestone as part of its Privacy Sandbox initiative to phase out third-party cookies for all users in the second half of this year.
What does this mean for affiliate marketing?
Any affiliate link tracking from an advertiser’s program that still relies on third-party cookies will be blocked by these browser updates and no longer able to be tracked. For both publishers and advertisers this results in loss of revenue and ultimately makes the advertiser’s program unfeasible to promote.
This revenue loss can be prevented simply by upgrading the tracking mechanisms from third-party to a robust tracking solution. ShareASale offers a hybrid setup using both our MasterTag technology and server-to-server tracking. And for merchants already utilizing ShareASale tracking on specific ecommerce platforms, we have updated instructions to streamline the upgrade process. These solutions provide the advertiser’s tracking with the right infrastructure to shield them from further browser and other privacy-led updates. More importantly this will ensure publishers do not lose out on commission from sales that aren’t accurately tracked.
We’re here to help
We urge any advertisers who need to upgrade their tracking setup to get in touch with us as soon as possible. We know upgrading your tracking might seem like a daunting task but it’s essential for the success of your campaigns. As such, our teams are equipped and ready to help seamlessly transition your current tracking to our robust, privacy-conscious solution. All impacted advertisers have been contacted by us directly with guidance on how to get support with upgrading their tracking.
Working together to navigate an evolving landscape
We aren’t able to control what new legislation will come into force, or the future updates browsers will need to make to adhere to it. However, we can collectively take action to make sure we’re best positioned to prevent these developments from impacting your revenues. We’re confident our hybrid tracking solution offers our advertisers and publishers the most robust infrastructure to weather any future changes. If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch by emailing ShareASale@ShareASale.com or submitting a ticket via the ShareASale platform.
