GDPR & Privacy
GDPR & Privacy
Google Analytics and the new EU privacy law #1

Google Analytics and the new EU privacy law #1

Following new EU laws aimed at protecting the privacy of online users, there has been much said about the death of web tracking as we know it. At present the wording of the law is stating that visitors to your website must explicitly consent to having cookies stored on their computers. As pretty much all web analytics tools reply on cookies for visitor tracking, there are clearly implications for anyone that uses these on their site...

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GDPR & Privacy
The FTC Privacy report “Do Not Track” – a missed opportunity

The FTC Privacy report “Do Not Track” – a missed opportunity

As readers of this blog will know, I am a strong advocate of online privacy... That may sound strange coming from a web analytics evangelist. However, if we as an industry do not sort these privacy issues out, there is a real danger that web analytics as we know it today will disappear completely.

So, following the recent excellent post from Phil Kemelor on The FTC Privacy Report, “Do Not Track” Options and Web Analytics, I wanted to also add my take here...

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GDPR & PrivacyMetrics Understanding
Five Predictions For Web Analytics in 2011

Five Predictions For Web Analytics in 2011

Predicting the future invariably means you will be wrong most of the time. However, it is an interesting process to go through as even getting just one prediction right can have a significant impact – to me personally, my business or my client’s business. So I was honoured when Daniel Waisberg asked me to look into my crystal ball for what may happen in the world of web analytics in 2011. Here's the summary of my predictions:

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GDPR & PrivacyMetrics Understanding
Should you focus on website visitors as individuals?

Should you focus on website visitors as individuals?

Leaving aside the issue of privacy, is it valid to track visitors as individuals? From a marketer's perspective, tracking individuals sounds great in theory - you understand your customers better right? But if you receive 10,000 visitors per day and have weekly marketing performance meetings, that equals 70,000 data points to discuss? Best practice is to consider longer time frames in order to mitigate against calendar anomalies i.e. weekends v weekdays, holidays, the weather, force majeure etc... So for one month that could be 280,000 data points.

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