Leverage server-side tracking to bridge the gap between ads relevancy and privacy

by Hazem Alsadi – Platforms Consultant @ Annalect

Standing out in the cluttered media landscape requires marketers to deliver the most engaging and relevant marketing messages to core audiences. As the deadline for phasing out third-party cookies are bordering on (late 2024), brands will be under pressure to find a success formula to replace their dependency on third party tracking technologies and prepare for a privacy proof solution as privacy regulations are expanding beyond the EU region.  

Bridging the gap between ads relevancy and consumers privacy requires robust technology that aligns with the evolving specs of the advertising and media industry. Given current market developments, there is a desire to be less dependent on browser tracking and find a solution that that can maintain information flow about website users. Conversion API is a robust server-side technology that allows brands to track their website users without fully depending on browser tools such as pixels or any other equivalent cookie-based solutions. It allows brands to send events directly from their server to a third-party advertising platform such as Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, Pinterest and many others.  

Given the latest tracking preventions, relying on browser tracking leads to inadequate view of customer journeys. The missing data points caused by cookie-based tracking will affect user attribution. In other words, how would you attribute users to the right campaign that drives conversion when third party cookies are erased /blocked due to tracking restrictions? Conversion API is designed to be less vulnerable to browser crashes and connectivity problems because it may be able to send back server signals which were not possible to process using pixels.  

This strong built solution allows brands to set up a direct connection outside of the users’ web browser and control the quality and quantity of the information sent to advertising platforms. Hence, brands can empower their privacy shield by specifying what type of data to share and with whom. For example, when Conversion API collects user data with each server event, the sensitive user data (email, phone number, first name, last name etc.) will be hashed before being passed to third party platforms. The hashed user data can be used for analysis and targeting purposes while safeguarding the users identity.  

Why should brands consider leveraging Conversion API in their digital strategy? 

• Privacy at its core to empower data control.  

Conversion API was built with privacy in mind. It gives you granular control over the data you share with different advertising vendors, quantity & quality wise, as well as the ability to append valuable product / customer insights with each conversion event on your website.  

• Stronger optimizations

Being bullet proof against browser restrictions and connectivity problems, Conversion API delivers data that helps advertisers to better inform the optimization and delivery of marketing campaigns. We helped Renault Group to drive reach and conversion via Conversion API. It was one of the success stories that was published on Meta’s website.  

•  Robust targeting

Enriching server-side events with first party data allows advertisers to populate & create accurate and relevant custom audiences / lookalikes. Alternatively, advertisers can re-engage with existing customers and get a deeper insight into behavioral data and repurpose it in planning campaigns. Being a Meta Partner, Annalect took the responsibility to help Ewings LLC to enrich server-side events with impactful user/event data and boost its EMQ (Event Match Quality) score by up to 42%. Ewings is now fully prepared to laser target audience with high ad relevancy and accurately attribute user actions to future campaigns while maintaining user privacy.  

• Improved measurement 

The quality data you have in-house allows you to better understand the results that your campaigns are driving across all digital channels. In other words, Conversion API reveals a more sophisticated form of measurements such as conversion lift and ads incrementality. Conversion API is a huge opportunity for brands that want to migrate towards server-side data strategies.  

 
Final words 

This technology is still evolving, and we are waiting for it to reach its full potential. Starting from our belief in first party data and privacy centric technologies, we are very keen to be one of the early adopters of technological solutions that helps our clients / partners to reach their campaign objectives by working hand in hand to share the knowledge and drive the change. To realize our vision, we have partnered with Meta earlier this year as well as with prominent CDP’s (Customer Data Platforms) like Tealium. We currently help our clients and partners to get the best out of their CAPI tracking / integrations. We do that by delivering advanced consultation to optimize performance, technical set up and troubleshooting services. Our objective is to future proof our clients ROI and prepare them for a cookieless future. 
 
Do you have a CAPI project in mind? Reach out to us via [email protected] for a free consultation session to see how we can help you with your project. See you at the top!