How Conversational AI Is Enabling Brands Move beyond Third-party Cookies

By focusing on a dialogue with consumers through more robust, conversational AI, brands can deliver the best customer experience possible while also respecting consumer privacy.

With increasing regulation and industry shifts by big tech companies, brands of all sizes need to reevaluate their data practices. Christian Ward, chief data officer, Yext, discusses how breakthroughs in conversational AI and natural language processing enable a consent-based dialogue between brands and consumers that provides a personalized customer experience at scale. 

We stand at a decisive moment for brands as they look to the future of consumer data strategies. With disparate state-by-state legislation, numerous proposals for a national regulatory framework in the US, and differing international laws, including the GDPR, the data governance guidelines for brands to follow are inconsistent – and potentially costly should they run afoul of the rules.

Tech giants have slowly but surely decoupled themselves from some of the more shady practices that have ruled online targeting for years. Apple’s iOS 14.5 update severely hampered Meta’s tracking abilities, and Google’s proposed phase-out of third-party cookies by 2024 will render those identifiers all but useless across Chrome browsers, bringing Chrome in line with other browsers like Safari that have already moved beyond cookies.

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