Hash It Out: All About Email Hashing and What it Means For Publishers
The decline of third-party cookies has led to the development of various identity solutions and audience strategies to preserve user addressability. A notable approach among these is email hashing.
But what does this entail?
Keep reading to find answers to the most commonly asked questions from publishers about hashed emails. Don’t forget to scroll to the end to explore Admonetize’s monetization opportunities for this valuable data.
The FAQs of Hashed Emails
What are hashed emails?
Hashed emails are email addresses transformed into a fixed-length string of characters using a cryptographic hash function. This process turns the original email address into a unique identifier, safeguarding the user’s privacy.
Why are they a part of the cookie deprecation discussion?
The move away from cookies is driven by concerns that third-party cookies infringe on user privacy. As third-party cookies are being phased out, companies are increasingly focusing on first-party data—information gathered directly from users. Email addresses are a crucial component of this first-party data.
Email hashing offers a secure way to manage email addresses by converting them into an irreversible, anonymous format. This method enables practical applications like targeting and tracking while improving data privacy and security. Consequently, email hashing has become a valuable technique across various uses.
Can they still track users from site to site?
Yes, hashed emails can be used to recognize users across different sites and devices, much like third-party cookies. For instance, if a user logs in with their email on multiple sites, the hashed version of their email serves as a consistent identifier while keeping the actual email address confidential.
Is this a new thing?
No, it isn’t! Hashing data gained prominence in the late 2000s and early 2010s, largely due to increasing concerns about data security and privacy. A number of significant data breaches exposed the personal information of millions, underscoring the urgent need for strong data protection. By the 2010s, hashing had become a common practice for securing email addresses and other sensitive data.
Is there industry standardization?
Although there is growing industry standardization around the use of hashed emails—driven by the need for privacy compliance, interoperability, and consistency across platforms—there is still progress to be made. Variations persist in how different identity providers handle and process encrypted emails. Initiatives such as UID 2.0 by The Trade Desk provide an open-source framework for using hashed emails as identifiers. UID 2.0 seeks to establish a standardized method for email hashing and user identification that can be broadly adopted throughout the industry.
Why does advertising value hashed emails?
Hashed emails offer advertisers a robust tool for accurately and securely identifying, targeting, and tracking users in a privacy-compliant way. They facilitate improved targeting, data integration, and performance measurement, all while minimizing risks related to data breaches and regulatory issues. As the digital advertising landscape continues to evolve, hashed emails provide a dependable and forward-thinking approach to achieving marketing goals effectively.
What is Admonetize doing to help publishers maximize monetization of email addresses?
Expanding deterministic user IDs offers publishers a significant opportunity to increase ad inventory value, particularly as third-party cookie coverage wanes. Admonetize’s hashed email (HEM) passthrough enables publishers to share a hashed version of users’ emails with vendors, including Prebid User ID modules and bidders.
As publishers refine their first-party data strategies and gather more email addresses, Admonetize facilitates the monetization of this data at premium CPMs through high-quality advertising deals. Publishers can transmit their hashed emails to major identity providers for monetization.
This approach maximizes revenue by tapping into the full spending potential of advertisers and collaborating with trusted partners like LiveRamp and The Trade Desk, which buyers rely on for effective user targeting.
If you're already working with Admonetize, contact your support team to learn more about our hashed email solution.
By implementing hashing techniques, organizations can build user trust, reduce risks, and uphold their commitment to safeguarding sensitive information.