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How to track users for analytics in a privacy-first, cookie-less future

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Re: How to track users for analytics in a privacy-first, cookie-less future

#31

Post by culturedsystems »

bouzouk wrote: post #22

We do it a bit differently (French company). Since the only cookie that is endangered is the « third party cookie », it is very much ok to store anonymous session information in a first party cookie for all anonymous visitors. So we store page views and utm there, and capture this data in the datawarehouse when (and only when) there is a conversion. This is also working with returning visitors (who most likely kept t…

Note that you still need to get consent for the cookie in this case, as the cookie is being used for something which isn't strictly necessary to provide the service.

Re: How to track users for analytics in a privacy-first, cookie-less future

#32

Post by xyzzy_plugh »

culturedsystems wrote: post #31
bouzouk wrote: post #22

We do it a bit differently (French company). Since the only cookie that is endangered is the « third party cookie », it is very much ok to store anonymous session information in a first party cookie for all anonymous visitors. So we store page views and utm there, and capture this data in the datawarehouse when (and only when) there is a conversion. This is also working with returning visitors (who most likely kept t…

Note that you still need to get consent for the cookie in this case, as the cookie is being used for something which isn't strictly necessary to provide the service.

If the cookie is never used until a later date e.g. conversion, when the user clicks through an agreement, do you still need consent?

Edit: I honestly have no idea, I haven't read the regulations and I'm curious if any experts know. Seems sleazy regardless!

Re: How to track users for analytics in a privacy-first, cookie-less future

#33

Post by OzCrimson »

mattjstar wrote: post #3
oncethere wrote: post #2

Is it hard in practice to figure out who the anonymous ids are? I'm used to just having Segment identify calls.

Good question, the idea in the post is once you know who the user is you make sure they load a page with a unique identifier on it that you can use to identify them. As an example, think of a Shopify check out flow. Every user has a unique checkout url. Once they purchase you can use that checkout ID in your warehouse to join with the page view that had the anonymous Id on it. So you’ll have a page view with the anon…

Matt, I'm curious to know why?

If a person has jumped through hoops to say they don't want to be tracked, why look for ways to still do it?

It's like putting up curtains to keep people from looking in my window, but then you realize you can still see inside if you crouch down really low and look through the 1/8" space between the bottom of the curtain and the window sill.

This puts me in a difficult position of supporting legislation that might be overly harsh like the Do Not Call list back in the 1990s. It pretty much killed off telemarketing for a while. Sad, but the public got fed up with an entire industry that showed it had no regard for the public.

I've got friends who are in marketing and ad-tech and I care about them, their business and success. But when I want to withdraw my consent to be tracked, I want that same level of care and respect.

Re: How to track users for analytics in a privacy-first, cookie-less future

#34

Post by ahmedelsama »

OzCrimson wrote: post #33
mattjstar wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question, the idea in the post is once you know who the user is you make sure they load a page with a unique identifier on it that you can use to identify them. As an example, think of a Shopify check out flow. Every user has a unique checkout url. Once they purchase you can use that checkout ID in your warehouse to join with the page view that had the anonymous Id on it. So you’ll have a page view with the anon…

Matt, I'm curious to know why? If a person has jumped through hoops to say they don't want to be tracked, why look for ways to still do it? It's like putting up curtains to keep people from looking in my window, but then you realize you can still see inside if you crouch down really low and look through the 1/8" space between the bottom of the curtain and the window sill. This puts me in a difficult position of suppo…

This is really great. I think it is about what and how one is being tracked. I think people are trying to stop companies from tracking them everywhere but if I am interacting with a single company, I know they are tracking some things. Foe example, if I buy off of an e-Comm website then they should have tracked my order so I can go back to it.

This extends to support. I hate submitting a support ticket to just be told to go view the docs that I already viewed, or try things I have already done. As a customer, I want you to know I did that and to help me.

All this is trying to do is allow company to understand their customer within their own platform and own data.

This is not trying to fingerprint users or track everything they do on all websites like Facebook and other platforms.

I hope this clears up the motivation. In short, it is to resolve issues in using the data that a company has internally and is not about creeping on users across the internet.

Re: How to track users for analytics in a privacy-first, cookie-less future

#35

Post by OzCrimson »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #24

Will privacy be the future? I feel browser tracking will simply become less relevant in the future. I can't explain why. I'm sure of one thing though: the government will know more about us.

I think of this stuff separately.

1. The government can always use the excuse of "public safety." However,

2. A company that's selling brooms shouldn't have all kinds of access to tracking people. The public doesn't benefit from that.

Re: How to track users for analytics in a privacy-first, cookie-less future

#36

Post by OzCrimson »

ahmedelsama wrote: post #34
OzCrimson wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matt, I'm curious to know why? If a person has jumped through hoops to say they don't want to be tracked, why look for ways to still do it? It's like putting up curtains to keep people from looking in my window, but then you realize you can still see inside if you crouch down really low and look through the 1/8" space between the bottom of the curtain and the window sill. This puts me in a difficult position of suppo…

This is really great. I think it is about what and how one is being tracked. I think people are trying to stop companies from tracking them everywhere but if I am interacting with a single company, I know they are tracking some things. Foe example, if I buy off of an e-Comm website then they should have tracked my order so I can go back to it. This extends to support. I hate submitting a support ticket to just be tol…

Ok. Thank you. This does help. I can appreciate that.

Re: How to track users for analytics in a privacy-first, cookie-less future

#37

Post by syrrim »

er4hn wrote: post #9

So the overall concept of "shove a tracker value into the URL and collate all interactions" makes sense - but how do you track if a user is sharing a URL? Let's say that I'm on a desktop browsing a shopping site. I'm on shopping.site/product/coolthing.html?tracker=12345. I share this with my friend on a mobile device because it looks like something of interest to them. Now how do you handle the other person having th…

Use the referer, is my guess. Whereas browsers are starting to limit the sharing of referers, I don't think there are any plans to limit first party referers. So as long as the referer is your domain, you know the user navigated from within the site. Otherwise, the user followed a link offsite, likely shared by a friend. You can then assign a different tracking id to them.

Re: How to track users for analytics in a privacy-first, cookie-less future

#38

Post by slig »

zild3d wrote: post #20
korethr wrote: post #10

I'm mildly surprised cookie consent banners are only at 20%, given how often I come across banners who's only option is "Yes, I consent"

I've found more often than not they can just be ignored?

Me too. If I ignore or decline, then the next pageview will show the same banner. It's nuts, but I guess it's new normal.

Re: How to track users for analytics in a privacy-first, cookie-less future

#40

Post by ashneo76 »

Rephrase: how to track someone even after they have not given you the consent to.

And how wait to for their one mistake to retrace all their steps and then identify their history without their consent

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Track me on your website alright. Tracking me everywhere without my consent? You're a creep and nothing less

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