Website cookies affect users’ Internet experience. After all, they allow companies to adjust the functioning of their online stores, corporate pages and blogs. Therefore, they represent a tool linked to gaining competitive advantage.
On the other hand, however, cookies cannot be used in violation of legislation, going beyond what is necessary and, for example, collecting private information. Given this, the big question is: when to use them in the enterprise domain?
This is a central question for businesses that are experiencing digital transformation. Want to know more details about the subject? Continue reading!
As files sent by the server or page provider to the user’s Internet browser, website cookies work from codes whose attributes act as instructions capable of accurately identifying the data and linking it to the visitor. Thus, whenever he enters that same address, there will be a return that will enable the optimization of the user experience, since they serve to:
- record and remember usage preferences;
- track activities carried out on the page;
- analyze the profile and behaviors of visitors;
- reuse and suggest filling information;
- ensure the correct configuration and accessibility of the website;
- prevent cyberattacks and other risks to security;
- obtain relevant statistics and metrics about navigation or strategies;
- personalize offers and recommendations;
- minimize the repetition of advertisements and other situations that alienate the audience.
The time they remain in operation on the user’s computer, their purposes and who the owners are is information that can be used to classify website cookies. Next, understand better!
Linked to the time they are active, these are website cookies that are only valid while the session is open. Closing your browser, abandoning the site, or a long period of inactivity may terminate them.
Basically, these options are less comprehensive, since the files are deleted from memory at the end of the page visit and do not send new information with each entry. On the other hand, they increase the user privacy.
Still in relation to “lifetime”, these types of cookies, unlike the previous option, are those that have a long validity, remaining on the hard drive until a stipulated date or until the moment they are deleted. Therefore, they increase the results of the companies that use them, but they interfere in the privacy, as they collect information over a long period.
Essential to the functioning of the page, these navigation cookies cannot be refused. After all, access and usability are some operations that depend on them for the website to function correctly.
They are used to measure performance, both in relation to the functionality of the page and in terms of the efficiency of the content and other elements of the website. In this way, they allow technical and strategic improvements, based on management of this data.
Completely anonymous, they only generate statistics, especially on:
- errors;
- stops;
- slowness;
- returns;
- clicks;
- navigation.
All cookies on the website linked to recording preferences, settings and information fall into this category. In other words, they remember what you chose or answered previously, avoiding the need to fill in or select something again.
Probably the best known, these cookies aim to target advertisements or offers based on visitors’ previous behavior, including:
- items viewed or purchased before;
- research carried out;
- elements that caught the user’s attention.
Targeting Cookies
The buttons that take the user from the website to social networks, such as “like” and “share”, also use cookies. In this case, they come from the companies that provide these media and seek to collect information about the path each visitor took to reach their domain.
As the name suggests, this type of website cookies refers to classification by property. In other words, cookies are related to the options in which configurations, definitions and data collection are made by the organization that owns the domain or by specialized companies hired by it for this purpose.
Website cookies classified as “third party” are those developed or distributed by others that display their content on the page visited, but not by the domain owners. The vast majority are linked to advertisements.
The use of website cookies by companies is quite common. See its main applications below!
Accessibility and security
Language, font size, light or dark mode, layout, and other accessibility settings are automatically applied by the page via website cookies when a user returns to it. This way, your experience is optimized.
Likewise, these technologies are used by providers and servers to identify inappropriate requests. The measure generates security, as it helps prevent risk situations, including attempted access or massive attacks to take down the website.
Authentication and completion
As said, from filling in a field on a form or a login password to the unfinished cart that becomes available are examples of actions linked to cookies. In these cases, use is aimed at:
- make flows more agile, reducing the friction that keeps the audience away;
- attract a larger audience by personalizing some processes;
- increase sales, eliminating part of the bureaucracy involved.
Commercial and marketing
From a commercial point of view, businesses use website cookies to indicate products and/or services according to what the user searches for, according to the time they spend in a certain area of the page, according to their demographic profile, etc. This way, the chances of purchase increase.
On the other hand, this prevents the same ad from being shown repeatedly to a single person, eroding the brand’s image. Furthermore, cookies enable marketing and sales strategies to be evaluated, collecting data on their results.
In this case, a store may discover that a banner is not very attractive either if it is ignored in the navigation or if it does not receive a high number of clicks. Another related situation involves content-based advertising. Recommending articles or videos also uses the information obtained in this way to be optimized.
When is it necessary to implement them in the company domain?
As seen, there are website cookies that are essential for the proper functioning of pages and online stores. Others, in turn, offer great advantages when adopted. Therefore, it can be said that it is necessary to implement them as the company’s digital strategy gains importance.
The virtual environment is an environment that is progressively expanding today, capable of promoting business development and reaching new audiences. Therefore, as optimizing the user experience becomes more vital to these good results, the usefulness of these technologies increases.
With the digital transformation Fast forward, website cookies are already used by most businesses to improve the online user experience, while generating competitive advantages for these companies. Now that you have mastered the subject, it becomes easier to use these technologies for better results.
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