The impact of aging data on the effectiveness of internet marketing

The whole internet is built on data. Moreover, data is a vital component of the digital marketing industry which is just one field out of so many that are represented online.

Most owners of websites, blogs, brands, technology and service providers spend a lot of time figuring out how to acquire data, and what to do with it.

The effectiveness of an internet marketing campaign depends on the quality of data obtained and the purpose or aim for which it is used.

Successful internet marketers have always grown through the challenges caused by changes in data

The success of online advertising and digital marketing, especially during periods of financial crisis, has always depended on how precise businesses use data to make high returns on investments from their targeted campaigns—the right audiences.

The measure of each campaign’s success shows up in respective ROIs which are powered by quality data—old or new; old or aging data usually has its downside or limitations in the scheme of internet marketing.

The issue with data that ages—data aging

If we consider the fast pace of the internet, and the go-getting attitude of digital marketers, it won’t be surprising to understand why many people don’t think or talk about aging data—or data aging.

Depending on the type of internet/digital marketing strategy or campaign, data either gains or loses value over time—generally speaking, data ages.

The problem is that most website or blog owners and marketers don’t do their homework: they don’t review or query old data which always has significant positive or negative impacts on businesses or online campaign strategies.

Usually, one of the most discussed uses of data is the one targeted at getting the most out of the changing or unstable behaviors of customers—behavioral targeting.

Although many websites that provide tech services implement or employ cookie lengths (precise durations of time in which cookies stay on people’s computers or phones), they drop cookies at a specific time, and make certain decisions about people’s behaviors when cookies expire.

The issue is that over an extended period of time, cookies don’t give good clues as to whether individuals plan to make a purchases, or whether lack of time affects their decisions to continue moving in a purchase funnel, or move completely out of/away from it.

Are most individuals still on the lookout for t-shirts? Or, after visiting t-shirt stores for a few days, have people lost interest in t-shirts, and suddenly picked up interest in shoes?

If they have picked up interest in shoes, does it mean that they will make any purchase?

On a General note, it will be difficult for a cookie with a short lifespan—say two months, or so—to give clues or provide reasonable answers to questions raised in the previous paragraph, especially when it comes to a business that has been running for a year or so.

The thing is this: there are many behavioral changes that old or aging cookies won’t be able to detect. By building digital advertising campaigns around such aging data, one would likely experience negative results or impacts, rather than positive ones.


Generally, most website owners and internet marketers don’t seem to query aging data, or find a way to use aging data profitably—they don’t seem to take it serious.

The online marketing or digital industry has always had the challenge of making moves without having in-depth understanding about the fluctuating decisions and behaviors of individuals, which can be perceived to an appreciable extent withthe help of cookies.

A lot of questions definitely arise when it comes to how well computers process changes in human decisions and consumer behavior when it comes to digital advertising or online marketing.

If a website or business owner continues serving ads for trousers when most individuals have decided to go for t-shirts, then they would likely not make any good profit from such a campaign.

Most good businesses that are transparent with their numbers—returns on investment (ROI)—know where faults come from whenever cookie data-related campaigns are unsuccessful.

By frequently obtaining new data, and doing away with irrelevant aged data when necessary, website owners and businesses will be able to run much better and efficient internet marketing campaigns that can attract high ROIs.


Leave a Reply


You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo


Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Connecting to %s
