Carsales enhances digital ID solution and cuts unwanted IDs by 20 per cent, delivering lower CDP costs

By Andrew Birmingham | 8 Dec 2023 | Carsales enhances digital ID solution and cuts unwanted IDs by 20 per cent, delivering lower CDP costs | Mi3 (mi-3.com.au)

As it scales its digital media business, which is already generating north of $55m, Carsales is enhancing the quality of its audience database — and reducing costs — with an enhanced identity solution from Adfixus. The move better prepares the marketplace for likely changes to the Privacy Act.

The other key advantage is we cut the unwanted traffic, which really cuts down those unwanted IDs that are being generated.

— Stephen Kyefulumya, GM media, product and technology, Carsales

Carsales has reduced the number of unwanted identities in its CDP by 20 per cent, helping drive down costs, after implementing the latest iteration of Adfixus’s first-party identity solution.

The primary objective of the upgrade was to prepare for expected changes to cookie consent requirements and streamline data collection procedures. The reduction of IDs created from unwanted traffic well surpassed expectations, according to Carsales.

"It really is a progression, and it's about making sure that we can create identities that are based around consent," Stephen Kyefulumya, GM media, product and technology tells Mi3.

He describes the solution provider Adfixus as a first mover in that area. "The implementation was based around putting a script in the header. This solution actually sits behind the cookie drops. There's a cookie form and once you interact with that, the cookie drops," Kyefulumya explains.

"If you consider that the form is going to expand further and it's going to become more useful in terms of information it gives you as an organisation, we're further preparing ourselves for the world where that interaction with the user and informing them of policies and especially changes is going to be important."

Further identification of sophisticated unwanted traffic and blocking it from flowing downstream into the martech stack was another welcome addition for Kyefulumya.

“What we saw using the AdFixus platform and our cookie form is that traffic from a number of sources generated a large volume of IDs," he continues. "This latest release of the AdFixus Platform reduced the number of unwanted [ghost] profiles by an additional 20 per cent, greatly enhancing the quality of Carsales’ audiences.

"That not only leads to good strategy, good data collection and good governance, but the CDP players also charge by the number of profiles."

The enhanced digital ID solution provides Carsales with other key improvements, including streamlined monitoring and maintenance. The upgrade has removed the need for additional scripts in front of the website, simplifying monitoring and maintenance processes for both Carsales and its clients.

And of course, preparation for privacy-first data collection: With Identity generation now happening after the consumer has closed down a cookie banner, Carsales is buttressed against evolving privacy legislation when the trigger action may instead involve active consent.

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