Welton Hong on 
Written by Welton Hong, Ring Ring Marketing
As Google phases out third-party cookies by the end of 2025, funeral home owners must prepare for a major shift in how they attract, track and retain potential client families.
For years, third-party cookies allowed businesses to follow users across websites, serve personalized ads and gather valuable behavioral data. Now, with that capability vanishing, death-care professionals need to double down on first-party data and relationship-driven marketing.
Before we explore how funeral homes can stay competitive, maintain market share and grow in a cookie-less future, why are third-party cookies disappearing in the first place?
Google’s decision to remove third-party cookies from Chrome — the most widely used browser — follows growing concerns over online privacy and consumer data protection. Without these cookies, advertisers and businesses lose visibility into user behavior across the web, making it harder to target ads and measure performance.
For industries like deathcare, where brand loyalty can be unpredictable, this poses a challenge.
It will also hurt the ability of funeral homes to engage in remarketing (or retargeting) — a core strategy to re-engage past website visitors with online ads.
Third-party cookies enable funeral homes the ability to conduct campaigns like, “Show this ad to people who visited my site but didn’t fill out the contact form.” They can be incredibly useful.
Without third-party cookies, funeral homes won’t be able to follow potential customers across the web in the same way. Moreover, platforms like Google Ads and Facebook will lose visibility into user behavior outside of their own ecosystems.
Remarketing Will Shift
Google, Facebook, Amazon and other major platforms will still support remarketing within their own ecosystems — because they collect massive amounts of first-party data directly from users.
To continue to engage in remarketing, however. companies will need to upload customer lists or collect emails/phone numbers via their website and sync them to ad platforms for “Customer Match” campaigns.
The implication is the ability to remarket will depend on how well you’ve built your first-party data strategy (like collecting email addresses and phone numbers).
If you’re behind in collecting this data, get to work!
In the meantime, there are some alternatives to traditional remarketing, such as:
- Contextual advertising: Target ads based on the content a user is currently viewing (e.g., placing ads for preplanning services on estate planning blogs).
- Cohort-based targeting: Google’s Privacy Sandbox proposes showing ads to groups of users with similar interests (not individuals).
- Remarketing via email: Instead of chasing people with display ads, send follow-up emails after they engage with your site.
- On-site personalization: Use first-party cookies (which will still work) to customize content or offers during future visits to your own site.
One thing to keep in mind is that once the changes on third-party cookies are implemented, you will no longer be able to follow a family around the web after they read an obituary or visit your preplanning page — unless they give you their contact info.
As a result, collecting email addresses, building community newsletters and offering valuable downloadable content will be essential for nurturing those leads.
Investing in local SEO, Google Business Profile optimization, and community sponsorships will also become more important as paid visibility becomes harder to target precisely.
How to Gather First-Party Data
As alluded to above, you can leverage your website, online forms, surveys, preplanning tools and email interactions to secure more first-party data.
Some specific strategies may include:
- Preplanning forms: Offer downloadable guides or “Preplanning Checklists” in exchange for an email address.
- Sympathy store sign-ups: Collect emails from those sending flowers or gifts for follow-up messaging.
- Event registration: Host grief support events, estate planning seminars, or veteran tribute services and collect attendee contact information.
- Obituary alerts: Let users sign up for obituary updates or service notifications by email or text.
This data is not only privacy-compliant — it’s also more reliable and actionable because it comes directly from the members of your community.
Email Marketing: More Important Than Ever
Once you’ve gathered first-party data, email becomes one of your most valuable retention and engagement tools.
Tactics for effective email marketing:
- Nurture preplanners: Use drip campaigns to guide families through the benefits of preplanning with soft, informative messaging.
- Grief support series: Offer post-service grief resources, which can strengthen your brand’s role as a long-term partner in healing.
- Holiday reminders: Send personalized messages around key remembrance dates (Mother’s Day, Christmas, Veterans Day).
- Community newsletter: Keep your funeral home top of mind with updates on staff, services, events and community involvement.
Segmenting your audience based on their journey — preplanners, past client families and sympathy shoppers — lets you tailor content that feels personal and relevant.
Getting Back to Basics
With limited access to third-party data, it’s time to lean into retention.
The families you’ve served already trust you. Continue building that relationship by offering aftercare services, encouraging family members and friends to leave condolences via online memorials and building your reputation as a community resource, not just a service provider.
This is an ideal time to revamp your website and analytics because without third-party cookies, you need to get better at capturing visitor data. Action steps may include:
- Install first-party tracking tools like Google Analytics 4, which uses event-based tracking and can integrate with your CRM.
- Ensure your site has clear calls to action: “Download Our Planning Guide,” “Sign Up for Obituary Alerts,” etc.
- Use tools like chatbots or contact forms that encourage engagement and data collection.
Don’t Ignore Paid Ads — Just Adjust Targeting
While retargeting through cookies may fade, paid ads can still work — especially through contextual advertising (targeting based on content, not user behavior) and location-based marketing.
Platforms like Google Ads and Meta still allow some targeting based on demographics and interests. The key is syncing your ad strategy with your owned data – the email addresses and phone numbers you collect on your own.
The Bottom Line
Bottom of Form
The death of third-party cookies signals a new era — one where trust, transparency and direct relationships matter most. For funeral homes, this is an opportunity to strengthen community ties, deliver more personalized care and use technology to deepen — not just automate — the human connection.
The funeral homes that win in a cookie-less world will be those that invest in collecting first-party data.
It’s no longer about following strangers across the internet. It’s about building direct relationships with the people who matter most.
Welton Hong is the founder & CEO of Ring Ring Marketing, which has helped over 600 small businesses grow their revenue through online marketing strategies. He is also the author of “Making Your Phone Ring with Internet Marketing for Funeral Homes.” Visit ringringmarketing.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X.