In the digital marketing world, the term "identity" refers to the ability to recognize an individual user online. This is important to site owners because when advertisers know something about your visitors, they are more likely to bid and at higher CPMs. Along with improved ad targeting, higher advertiser spending, and increased site earnings, this can also result in more relevant ad content for your site visitors.
Previously, site visitors were mainly identified through third-party cookies, which advertisers relied on to ensure they were reaching the right audience. However, with third-party cookies removed in Safari and likely to be removed soon in Chrome, it’s becoming increasingly important for both site owners and advertisers to use alternative solutions to identify site visitors and effectively target them with relevant ads.
Identifying visitors through first-party cookies based on hashed email addresses (email addresses they've previously provided) is one of the leading ways this is now achieved. However, there are limitations. For example, if a visitor is identified by email address on your site in Safari, the first-party cookie that provides that information will only last seven days. If this visitor returns to your site after seven days, the first-party cookie would no longer exist, and the visitor would not be recognized.
At Raptive, we're continually testing new identity solutions to ensure you get the best results. Our latest solution involves integrating with Cloudflare, a popular content delivery network (CDN) used by many Raptive creators. You can now seamlessly integrate your Cloudflare account with your Raptive dashboard to set a new, first-party cookie on your site.
Why is this important? There are two key benefits:
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Email IDs in Safari will now last for 400 days instead of seven days
- With the Cloudflare cookie, email identification will now last for 400 days rather than seven days, providing significantly more time for increased earning potential.
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Improved ability to target visitors who don’t provide their email addresses
- This cookie also helps Raptive use Cloudflare functionality to increase your site's earnings with additional third-party cookie replacement solutions, such as Raptive's identity graph.
In short, the sooner your Cloudflare cookie is placed, the sooner you'll increase the lifespan of your first-party email identities and the more money your site will make over time.
To get started, head over to the Cloudflare Credentials section of your Raptive dashboard!