Since the ruling of the European Court of Justice in October 2019, it has been clear that third-party cookies require the active and voluntary consent of the user. This means that users must check the boxes themselves for all cookies they want to have, with the exception of necessary cookies.
We are currently still in a so-called “grace period.” However, as soon as the new law is implemented in Germany, the European law described above will become mandatory in Germany! We do not know exactly when this will be, but it could happen very quickly, as the bill has been pending since 2018. It is possible that it could even be passed in May/June 2020. From that point on, very few users will allow more than the necessary cookies. This is because many users will deliberately click something in the future to say: Yes, Google! Track me and my surfing behavior and use this for your purposes, no matter what they are and who you sell this data to! Many users may no longer want to do this consciously. And it is highly questionable how meaningful the data obtained with such technology will still be. It is currently assumed that a large proportion of the data previously collected will be lost – some say up to 95%, which is almost all of it! This would render statistics on page views, click paths, and similar analyses useless and meaningless if only data from 5% of users can be analyzed. In other words, it is high time for new solutions.
There is now a new magic technology: “cookie-less tracking.”
With “cookie-less tracking,” your own homepage is essentially “monitored.” That may sound alarming at first, but when you consider that you have actually been monitoring users even though you only wanted to monitor your own homepage, it makes more sense. Page views, click paths, automatic reports—how often each video on a page was viewed, how often a particular PDF was downloaded... all this and much more is recorded live and continuously and made available to the site owner.
No cookie notice required for “cookie-less tracking”
And there is another special advantage: Since no user-related data is stored and no cookies are created on the customer's device, this can be done without the annoying cookie notice. Of course, this means we cannot “recognize” a user. However, there are solutions for this too, because if you only use the data for your own marketing purposes, a simple notice stating that personal data is stored but not passed on to third parties such as Google or other providers is sufficient!
What solutions will there be?
There are very good alternatives and options for switching to other methods. For example, if you want to continue using Google Analytics, you can automatically import conversions and receive your usual reports.
One of the tools for cookie-less tracking is eTracker, a company based in Hamburg.
We have been working with eTracker for several years and have had very good experiences in terms of support, professionalism, and scope. Affordable standard solutions are available starting at €19 per month. More comprehensive analyses and reports, additional ad traffic, and much more are available starting at €49 per month. Specific packages can be easily put together and provided according to requirements.
What this means for website operators
Conclusion: Conventional cookies will come under heavy attack sooner or later, as users become increasingly concerned about their privacy. More and more obstacles are being placed in the way of measurement technology, and the results are becoming increasingly unusable. Website operators should take the following precautions.
A): They should ensure that they are legally compliant.
B): They should look for alternatives.
This will enable you to ensure that you continue to receive the evaluations and reports you need for marketing, sales, or other purposes. There are still important questions to be clarified regarding specific applications. We at DRIVE are always here for you and look forward to staying on the ball despite the difficult times to provide you with all the latest news and information.
