Guides

Why this matters

There is a lot of talk about how the future of tracking and analytics is cookieless, but that’s really not the case: the world has already gone cookieless, at least in part. Major browsers are blocking third party cookies already today, and marketers should not wait for Google Chrome to do the same before taking action. Cookieless tracking is the present, and it’s quickly becoming the new standard.

Embracing the Cookieless Future: A Win-Win for Privacy and Marketing Insights

In the digital analytics landscape, the cookieless future is not just a buzzword, but the new reality. As a business, it is imperative to understand the shift and adapt to the changes for continued success. In this article, we will dive into why the cookieless future is partially already here, why it’s beneficial for both users and marketers, and why there’s no time like the present to get on board.

The Cookieless Era is Here

Before we dive into the why, let’s address the what. The cookieless future refers to the phasing out of third-party cookies, which have been a staple in digital advertising for years. These cookies track users’ online behavior by storing small text files in your browsers, which marketers have used for years for a variety of purposes, from analytics to usability, from audience segmentation to ads targeting.

However, the winds of change have begun to blow. Major web browsers such as Safari and Firefox have already taken the lead by blocking third-party cookies by default. Together, these browsers account for over 24% of the market. This is a significant portion and a clear indicator that the cookieless era is not a distant future but a burgeoning reality.

Moreover, cookie acceptance rates have been estimated to be around 31% (source). In our experience, well optimized cookie banners can get to 45%-55% acceptance rate, but that still means that around half of the traffic is untracked. Even for businesses operating in regions with less strict privacy laws, it’s likely that a significant amount of data is lost when businesses rely solely on cookies for tracking user behavior.

So on one hand you have a quarter of the internet traffic blocking third-party cookies by default, and when it comes to the remaining 3 quarters data collection is subject to cookie acceptance rates that are often way below 50%. This is why companies need to think about they tracking and analytics setup already now.

No Need to Wait for Google Chrome

Google Chrome, which holds by far the largest share of the browser market, has announced plans to phase out third-party cookies starting from 2024. We can expect the complete phase out of cookies to take place between September and November 2024, with a minor rollout to 1% of web traffic taking place already in the first half of year (source).

While this is very close, that doesn’t mean businesses should be waiting for this to happen. The fact that a quarter of the market has already moved towards a cookieless environment is reason enough for companies to take action. Waiting on Chrome is akin to missing out on opportunities to adapt and thrive in the new landscape.

Benefits of a Cookieless World

Enhanced User Privacy

One of the most significant advantages of moving towards a cookieless future is the enhancement of user privacy. In an age where privacy concerns are rampant, both within the legislative world and the general public, the elimination of third-party cookies means less confusion on what tracking of user’s online activities involved. This is a step in the right direction for building trust and ensuring that users have more control over their data.

Improved Marketing Insights

Contrary to what some might believe, the phasing out of third-party cookies doesn’t spell doom for marketers. In fact, it opens the door to better, more accurate insights. Without cookies, marketers will be able to stop being dependant from browser settings and banner acceptance rates. Moreover, there will be less need to adapt to local privacy laws and have different approaches for different regions. Data collected via cookieless setups is often more reliable and can lead to more personalized and effective marketing strategies, so why would anyone not what that?

Future-Proofing Your Business

Adapting to a cookieless environment now is akin to future-proofing your business. As the industry moves away from third-party cookies, early adopters will have a competitive edge. They will have already navigated the learning curve and will be in a position to capitalize on the new avenues for data collection and analysis that a cookieless world presents. Just like it happened in the past with GDPR and other major events that transformed the industry, being late is usually not a good idea.

What marketers can do without third-party cookies

While below we’ll look at some challenges, let us be clear, there is no need to panic. This is an evolution, not a revolution. Here are some of the things marketers will still be able to do in a cookieless world.

Digital Analytics for User Journeys

Tools like Matomo and Simple Analytics (among many others) allow marketers to track user interactions and engagement on their websites without the need for third-party cookies. This enables marketers to map out user journeys, understand user behavior, and identify key touchpoints that influence decision-making.

Conversion Rate Optimization Analysis

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) remains a crucial aspect of digital marketing. You can use cookieless tracking solutions to analyze user behavior, identify barriers to conversion, and implement strategies to improve conversion rates. By focusing on first-party data and user experience, marketers can optimize their websites and campaigns to drive conversions.

Identifying Companies Behind Website Visits

Solutions like Leadfeeder and Snitcher can help marketers identify the companies that visit their website, even without the use of cookies. These tools use IP address tracking and other techniques to provide insights into which companies are interested in your products or services, enabling more targeted and effective B2B marketing strategies.

These are some examples of what you’ll still be able to do, using tools available today and that often require little implementation efforts.

About first-party cookies

As you probably know, first-party cookies are created and stored by the website you are directly visiting and they are typically used to remember information about your visit, such as your preferred language or items in a shopping cart. For obvious reasons, they are generally considered more privacy-friendly as they mostly focus about the user experience rather than audience analysis or ads targeting.

How can you Invest in First-Party Data Collection?

You can maximise the collection of first-party data by focusing on strategies that encourage users to willingly share their information. Some examples include:

1. Enhance User Experience: By creating a more customized website or app experience, users are more likely to engage and share their information.

2. Offer Value in Exchange for Information: Users are more likely to provide their information if they receive something valuable in return. This could be access to exclusive content, personalized recommendations, discounts, or rewards.

3. Optimize Registration Forms: Make sure to be strategic when it comes to collecting of demographic, interest or behavioral data in your forms.

4. Host Events or Webinars: These can be great opportunities to collect first-party data. Attendees can register for the event, providing their contact information and other details.

5. Surveys and Feedback Forms: These can be used to collect valuable customer insights while also gathering first-party data.

6. Privacy Policy and Transparency: Users are more likely to share their information if they trust the company. Be transparent about how you collect, use, and protect user data.

“Sometimes people think about first-party data as ‘Okay, I have an email address and a phone number’. But behind that email address and phone number, there is an individual that has been engaging with your business and you probably have much more data around their behaviour”

Alessandro Battaglia – Head of Paid Media at Wise

Sifted Talk, March 2023

Some challenges do exist though

While the new landscape represents an opportunity for marketers, there are indeed some challenges as well.

Tracking User Journeys

In a future without third-party cookies, tracking user behavior across multiple websites becomes a significant challenge. Cookies have traditionally been a fundamental tool in digital marketing, enabling user behavior tracking, personalized content delivery, and campaign effectiveness measurement. In the absence of third-party cookies, marketers will need to devise new strategies to gather and analyze user data.

Solution: The focus can shift towards first-party data, which is information directly collected from customers through methods like website registrations, newsletter sign-ups, or online purchases. First-party data is not only more reliable and accurate but also fosters trust with customers as they have willingly provided their information. On top of relying more on first-party data, marketers can still gain a great deal of user navigation insights with cookieless analytics solutions, which will become the only viable alternative in a cookieless world. We have collected some of the best software for you here.

Challenge 2: Effective Retargeting

The potential decrease in the effectiveness of retargeting campaigns is another challenge in a cookieless world. Tracking users across the web and serving them relevant ads becomes more difficult without third-party cookies.

Solution: This challenge can be addressed by developing more contextual advertising strategies. Instead of relying on past behavior, marketers can focus on the context of the web page to serve relevant ads, leading to more meaningful engagements with users. Moreover, retargeting is possible with frist-party cookies, which would require a change of strategy for companies in oder to implement it.

Challenge 3: Revenue Attribution Modeling

The loss of third-party cookies also poses a challenge for attribution modeling, the process of determining which marketing touch points a customer interacted with before a conversion event, like making a purchase or expressing interest in your product. Tracking these touch points becomes harder without third-party cookies.

Solution: This can be overcome by using deterministic attribution models, which rely on unique identifiers such as email addresses or user IDs, or probabilistic models, which use machine learning algorithms to assess attribution. There lots of solutions out there doing that (eg: HockeyStack) which marketers can use in parallel to their analytics tools.

Conclusion

The cookieless future is not just coming; it’s already here. With major browsers like Safari and Firefox leading the charge, now is the time for businesses to adapt. Not only does this transition protect user privacy, but it also offers marketers more accurate insights through first-party data. By embracing these changes, companies can position themselves for success in the new digital landscape. Don’t wait for the future to come knocking; step into it now with confidence and the knowledge that a cookieless world is a win-win for all.

GA4 in a cookieless environment: why this matters

As we move towards a cookieless world, it’s essential to understand how to set up tracking solutions like Google Analytics 4 accordingly. In this article we want to clarify how GA4 works by default, its approach to cookieless tracking, and its implications for privacy and data collection.

TL:DR

• GA4 is not cookieless by default

• The vast majority of GA4 implementations rely on third-party cookies

• If you rely on cookies, Google uses machine learning to fill in the gaps on data that is not tracked

• It is possible to set it up without third-party cookies, via server-side rendering

About GA4 and Third Party Cookies

Universal Analytics has been phased out in July 2023 and now GA4 is your only option from Google (there are in fact many alternatives). GA4 brings numerous changes, from minor ones like the elimination of bounce rate to major ones like the introduction of data streams. However, one of the most talked-about aspects of GA4 is its approach to cookieless tracking.

Before we delve into how GA4 handles cookies, it’s essential to understand what cookies are. Cookies are files that store small pieces of data about a user. They were first used in 1994 to enable shopping carts on e-commerce websites. Over the years, they have evolved to store various types of information, depending on what a website wants to track.

While first-party cookies are generally considered acceptable as they allow websites to remember visitor history, third-party cookies have been the subject of much debate. These cookies track users across multiple domains, painting a detailed picture of user behavior and preferences. This has significant value for marketers and advertisers but also potential privacy implications, which is why browsers like Safari and Firefox are already blocking them, with Google Chrome following them soon.

GA4’s Approach to Cookies

GA4 is designed to be privacy-centric, working with or without cookies, but in it’s default implementation it relies on third-party cookies. Google goes as far as calling the web-browser configuration (eg: with cookies) as the recommended one, although we think that will change soon.

What some people in the industry mistake for a privacy feature is their use of machine learning to enrich data. Google leverages ML and statistical modeling to fill in data gaps as the world becomes less dependent on cookies.

For example, if only 60% of your Google Ads conversions are tracked (via cookies), GA will apply machine learning models to attribute the remaining 40% of conversions for which the data is not available. This is however not an alternative to third-party cookies, but rather a way to compensate for the loss of data from users not consenting to third-party cookies, or using browsers that block them by default.

So what how can you set up GA4 in a cookieless world? The answer is server-side tracking (SST).

But before we jump into that, it’s important to note that everything we cover here specifically refers to third-party cookies, given that first-party cookies will be around for a very long time and are one of the foundations of modern web experiences.

Google Analytics 4 Server-Side Tracking: A Comprehensive Overview

GA4 server-side tracking facilitates the tracking of user behavior and events on a website’s server, as opposed to the user’s browser. This is a departure from traditional client-side tracking, where a tracking code is placed on a website’s front-end to gather data.

There are several compelling reasons for businesses to consider using GA4 server-side tracking. Firstly, it enhances data accuracy as tracking takes place on the server-side, thereby bypassing any discrepancies caused by ad-blockers, tracking prevention software, or lack of cookie consent by users. Secondly, it enables the tracking of server-side events, such as purchases or form submissions, which are not trackable through conventional client-side tracking. Lastly, although less crucial, it contributes to slight improvements in website performance by reducing the size of the tracking code on the website’s front-end.

The Mechanism of GA4 Server-Side Tracking

GA4 server-side tracking operates by transmitting data directly from the website’s server to the Google Analytics server. This is accomplished using an HTTP request sent from the server to the Google Analytics Measurement Protocol. The request incorporates data such as the user’s IP address, user-agent string, event information, and custom dimensions.

Setting Up GA4 Server-Side Tracking

The setup process for GA4 server-side tracking involves a few straightforward steps.

There are two scenarios:

• you already have a GA4 property

• you want to set this up for the first time

If you already have a GA4 property, you can start by not modifying it and creating a brand new property dedicated to server-side dispatch instead. This permits step-by-step replication of the current tags until you establish a dual-tagged Google Analytics 4 arrangement on the website.

Dual-tagging involves duplicating your present tagging to accumulate data for a GA4 property designed for client-side hits, alongside another GA4 property intended for server-side hits. You can then collect data from both sources, or phase out the client one and stay only with the server-side one.

If you don’t already have a GA4 property, you’ll simply have to follow a similar process but setting up tags yourself.

To create a Google Analytics 4 property and obtain a measurement ID. Subsequently, you need to establish a server endpoint to send data to Google Analytics. Finally, you need to implement the tracking code on your server to send data to Google Analytics.

The process looks like this:

You’ll start the set up in Google Tag Manager.

1. GA4 Client Configuration

• Open ‘Clients’ in your server container.

• Access the GA4 client’s configuration.

• Set up the GA4 client with these parameters:

  • Priority: Establishes the evaluation order for claiming incoming requests.

  • Default GA4 paths: Activates GA4 client for relevant event request URLs.

  • Default gtag.js paths: Allows handling of Google Tag JavaScript library requests.

  • Automatically serve dependent scripts: Ensures loading of Google Tag library dependencies.

  • Compress HTTP response: Minimizes network traffic cost through compression.

  • Cookies and Client Identification: Choose JavaScript Managed for identification.

2. Configure GA4 Tag:

• Create a new Google Analytics: GA4 tag in the server container.

• Leave all default fields as they are

3. Add Trigger to Tag:

• Set the tag to fire when the GA4 client generates an event data object.

• Create a custom trigger that activates the tag for events generated by the GA4 client.

4. Configure GA4 Tag in Web Container:

• Create a Google Analytics 4 Configuration tag in Google Tag Manager.

• Set the ‘Send to server container’ option using your server container’s Default URL.

• Match the Measurement ID for data stream.

• Add an appropriate trigger for tag activation.

These are the steps to follow, and for more details you can also look at Google official documentation for setting up SST.

While you can follow those steps, as well as tutorials like the one in the video below, there are several common mistakes to avoid. These include failing to include all required data in the HTTP request, sending duplicate or invalid data, failing to validate the measurement ID before sending data, and of course not testing the implementation thoroughly before going live.

Tips for Effective GA4 Server-Side Tracking

To maximize the benefits of GA4 server-side tracking, it is advisable to define clear goals and events to track, use custom dimensions to track additional data relevant to your business, monitor data accuracy and validate data regularly, set up alerts to monitor unusual traffic patterns, test the implementation thoroughly before going live, and continuously optimize and refine tracking to improve performance.

Analyzing GA4 Server-Side Tracking Data

GA4 server-side tracking data can be analyzed using the Google Analytics 4 interface or through Google’s reporting API. The data can be used to gain insights into user behavior, website performance, and business outcomes such as sales or leads. By analyzing the data, businesses can make informed decisions about website optimization and marketing strategies.

GA4 Server-Side Tracking vs. Client-Side Tracking

While both server-side and client-side tracking have their advantages, GA4 server-side tracking offers several benefits over traditional client-side tracking. It offers increased data accuracy, the ability to track server-side events, and improved website performance. Additionally, it helps to maintain user privacy by reducing the amount of data collected on the client-side.

Is GA4 set up for server-side tracking by default?

No. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is not set up for server-side tracking by default. While it does have the capability for server-side tracking, this is not the default setting and requires additional configuration to implement. GA4 uses first-party cookies by default to collect data, but it is designed to work with or without cookies. In its standard configuration it relies on third-party cookies for data collection, but with server-side tracking it does not.

For server-side tracking, you need to configure the GA4 data stream with server-side tagging. This involves setting up a Google Analytics 4 property, establishing a server endpoint to send data to Google Analytics, and implementing the tracking code on your server to send data to Google Analytics.

It’s important to note that server-side tracking with GA4 offers several benefits, including improved data accuracy and website performance, and the ability to track server-side events. However, it also requires more technical expertise to set up and manage compared to traditional client-side tracking.

For more detailed information on setting up server-side tracking with GA4, you can refer to the official Google Developers guide on configuring data stream with SST.

Does SST mean GDPR Compliance? Not so quick.

One important aspect to consider is where the data is store and how it may be transferred to other servers (for example outside of the E.U.). Just because you don’t collect data at browser-level via third-party cookies, it doesn’t mean GDPR, CCPA and other privacy laws may not require you to take additional actions when it comes to data collection, processing and retention.

Moreoever, if you are still relying on third-party cookies from other solutions, you can use Consent Mode from Google Tag Manager (GTM) which can work together with a standalone consent management solution. With the enabled consent mode, Google checks the consent status of users and reacts accordingly. Depending on what the user selected on your cookie banner, Google will understand if GTM can set cookies.

Another example is promotional emails. Under GDPR you are not allowed to send promotional emails without user consent. For example, you can send the event to your email marketing software when an existing user agrees to receive sales and promo materials. You can utilize web Google Tag Manager to identify users who agreed to receive promotional emails. On the other hand, if a new user would want to receive marketing emails, web GTM won’t help since most email software platforms do not allow creating new users in their systems from the web. You can do it only through the backend or server GTM.

Please note that while we create this content to help you understand the privacy implications of tracking an analytics, this is not legal advise and and for all privacy matters you should always rely on a lawyer or privacy consultant.

Controlling Data Flow with Server-Side GTM

Server-side GTM gives you better control over the data flow each vendor receives. The ideal scenario of how server GTM should work: you have one data stream in the web GTM that delivers data to the server GTM. For example, you can use Google Analytics 4 to send data to the server container. Server GTM processes GA4 requests and maps them into the events data inside the sGTM. Then you can use event’s data and HTTP requests to send information further to third-party tools.

Using Consent Status in Server GTM

Server GTM does not have a consent mode, similar to the web GTM. You should set up a consent management platform and integrate it with the web Google Tag Manager. Web GTM’s consent mode will control what information GA4 collects and send it depending on user consent. If the user does not agree to use cookies, Google Analytics 4 will work in a restricted mode and not read or write marketing cookies.

When a user doesn’t consent to set up marketing cookies, Google Analytics will still send requests to the server GTM container, meaning your data will be delivered and processed in the server GTM. In this case, the difference is that GA will be restricted from writing, storing, or reading cookies.

This type of request will have a new parameter gcs that contains the consent status. You can use this parameter in the server GTM to record user’s consent mode.

Conclusion

With the help of web Google Tag Manager, you can adapt to GDPR rules more easily. All you need to do is choose from various consent management systems or use a custom solution and then integrate it with your web GTM, in order for users’ online privacy rights to be protected properly while still allowing to use necessary cookies to provide a seamless experience.

Server GTM enables you to control the data your vendors receive strictly. Unlike browser tracking, where you can’t be 100% sure of what information the scripts collect. With server-side tagging, only configured data will be delivered to the 3rd party vendor. Not only does it help to protect your site from unwanted scripts, but it will also speed it up cause no work will be done in the user browser. SST also allows to modify and hash PII before sending it to 3rd party tools.

If you’re looking for a way to streamline your website performance and make user data secure – then server-side tracking is something that should be seriously considered.

TL:DR: In the past, Google has set a timeline for phasing out third-party cookies, although it has been subject to delays. Right now this process is underway, and it seems unlikely that there will be any further postponements. One thing is for sure, very soon third-party cookies will be thing of the past, and marketers must be ready.

Google goes cookieless: the timeline of their announcements

Google first announced its intention to phase out third-party cookies in January 2020, with the initial plan to make the switch by 2022. However, the company later postponed this date twice. The first delay was announced on June 24, 2021, pushing the phase-out to 2023. The second delay was announced on July 27, 2022, further pushing the phase-out to the second half of 2024.

The current timeline, as of now, is to begin phasing out third-party cookies in Chrome in three stages.

Stage 1 (opt-in)

Stage 1 is set to start in Q4 2023 on an opt-in basis and for testing purposes.

Stage 2 (sampled rollout)

Stage 2 is set to start in Q1 2024 and will affect 1% of internet traffic on Chrome.

Stage 3 (full cookie deprecation)

Stage 3 is when things get real. Over a period of two months Google will gradually bring the percentage of traffic for which third-party cookies are blocked by default all the way to 100%.

Why Marketers Should Prepare for a Cookieless Future Today

The phasing out of third-party cookies will definitely have a significant impact on digital marketing strategies, from tracking to retargeting, from affiliate sales to audience segmentation. While there are some challenges ahead, t’s important to note that the end of third-party cookies doesn’t mean the end of digital marketing. Instead, it’s a shift towards a more privacy-focused era. This change is a call for marketers to adapt their strategies and embrace new methods of reaching their audience.

Rather than waiting for third-party cookies to become obsolete, marketers should start preparing for a cookieless future today. This preparation could involve exploring alternative targeting methods, such as contextual advertising, first-party data collection, or predictive analytics.

In a cookieless world, marketers will need to be more creative and strategic in how they reach and engage their audiences. But with change comes opportunity. Those who can adapt and innovate in this new landscape will be well-positioned to succeed.

What happens when Chrome deprecates cookies

Already today Safari and Firefox block third-party cookies by default. Those browsers combined have a 24% market share, which means that already today we are sort of living in a cookieless environment. When Chrome phases them out to, you can expect around 90% of web traffic to take place on cookie-free browsers, and likely approaching 100% in the following months.Just how it happened with GDPR, which caught lots of companies unprepared and rushing to implementing solutions at the last moment, there is the risk that a lot of businesses will only take actions when it’s already too late. This is a great opportunity for marketers and data specialists to implement today solutions and set up that will work in a cookieless setting.How to get readyWhile this is a broad topic and this list may not be exhaustive, here are some of the most important steps you can take today to get ready for a cookieless world.Review what first-party data you collect and optimize those processes.Evaluate the cookieless tracking solution that works best for you.If you stick to Google Analytics 4, make sure it is set up with server-side tracking.Review which software, beyond user analytics, you’re currently using that relies on third-party cookies.Look into new ways to segment your audiences based on first-party data or other sources.

So the world is going cookieless and you are afraid your retargeting strategy will no longer work? Fear not. Retargeting is here to stay and in a cookieless setup it might even be better. Unfortunately there is some misleading information on how retargeting works without third-party cookies, and we want to shed some light. But one thing should be clear: retargeting without relying on third-party cookies is entirely feasible and many industry experts believe that the post-cookie era presents a more accurate and efficient way to reach out to potential customers.

TL:DR – Two ways to run cookieless retargeting

1. In-platform retargeting

2. Based on server-side events

How Traditional Retargeting Worked Until Now

For context, let’s briefly understand how retargeting has traditionally functioned with third-party cookies.

Imagine a shopper visiting an online shoe store, looking at a pair of sneakers, but leaving without making a purchase. The website drops a ‘cookie’ (a tiny piece of data) on the visitor’s computer. Later, when the shopper is reading news or browsing through another site, that ‘cookie’ informs an ad network, and voilà! They see an ad for the same sneakers, enticing them to revisit the store and complete the purchase.

An example: Retargeting on Meta

This is what cookie-based retargeting. looks like for Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram Ads.

1. Pixel Installation: The website owner installs the Facebook Pixel on their site. This pixel is essentially a third-party cookie that tracks users’ actions on the website.

2. User Interaction: When a user visits the website and takes specific actions (like viewing a product), the pixel “fires” and logs this activity. The pixel then sends this data back to Facebook.

3. Data Collection: Facebook matches the data from the pixel with its user profiles. This means that if the user is logged into their Facebook account (or any other Facebook-owned platform like Instagram) on the same browser, Facebook can identify them and associate their website activity with their profile.

4. Ad Creation: The website owner can then create Facebook ad campaigns targeting users based on their interactions on the site. For instance, if a user viewed a product but didn’t purchase it, the website owner can set up a retargeting ad showing that specific product, encouraging the user to complete the purchase.

5. Ad Display: When the user next logs into Facebook or Instagram, they’ll see the retargeting ad in their feed or as a sidebar ad. This is possible because the third-party cookie (the Facebook Pixel) has tracked their activity on the external website and communicated it to Facebook.

6. Additional Targeting Criteria: The website owner can decide to only show ads to users that performed certain actions and belong to a specific demographic (for example by age group, location, interests and so on).

7. Continuous Learning: The pixel also tracks if the user interacts with the ad, clicks on it, and eventually makes a purchase. This data helps in refining ad strategies, understanding return on ad spend, and optimizing for better results.

While this approach has been the industry-standard, there are several limits to it, including:

• challenges when it comes to cross-device tracking

• ad blockers

• browser blocking third-party cookies by default

• cookie banner acceptance/rejection

So the time to switch to cookieless retargeting is in fact… now. Or yesterday maybe.

There are several benefit to retargeting

1. Higher Conversion Rates: Retargeted users are already familiar with the brand, making them more likely to convert.

2. Brand Recall: Retargeting keeps the brand at the top of the user’s mind, reinforcing brand awareness.

3. Cost-Effective: By targeting users who have already shown interest, businesses often see a higher ROI on their ad spend.

4. Personalized User Experience: With the data available, ads can be tailored to the user’s behavior and preferences, making them more relevant.

This is probably stuff you already know, but we want to stress how important it can be to prioritize this form of targeting while transitioning to cookieless environments.

First approach

In-Platform Retargeting: Going Beyond Website Visits

Now, traditional retargeting has mostly been about luring back website visitors. But in today’s interconnected digital world, potential touchpoints with customers are vast.

Take LinkedIn, for instance. If you have a business page on the platform, users can visit and engage with your content, even if they’ve never been to your website. With LinkedIn Ads, you can specifically retarget users who’ve shown interest in your brand on LinkedIn, creating a specialized ad experience for them. This approach signifies that retargeting is not confined to website visits but encompasses all digital touchpoints where users interact with your brand. And just like other forms of retargeting, it can be combined with other targeting criteria offered by the platform (for example in the case of LinkedIn to focus on prospects and exclude job seekers).

Second approach

Server-Side: A New Dawn for Retargeting

One of the most promising cookieless retargeting strategies is leveraging server-side settings. Let’s explore this with an example, once again from Meta: the Meta Conversions API (formerly Facebook’s Conversions API).

Instead of relying on browser-based cookies, server-side tracking directly communicates user interactions from your server to the advertising platform. This means that even if a user has ad blockers or their browser restricts third-party cookies, you can still capture and send that data for retargeting.

For example, when a user adds an item to their cart on your website but doesn’t complete the purchase, this action is directly communicated to the ad platform through the server. Later, this user can be shown a targeted ad, reminding them of their abandoned cart.

This method is not only more resilient but also more accurate, as it reduces the chances of data loss due to browser restrictions.

The same can be done for other platforms and for those that do not offer such server-side set ups, we expect those to come very soon.

Embracing the Future: Why It’s Time to Test Cookieless Retargeting

Change can be daunting, especially when it affects tried-and-tested strategies. But as the saying goes, when one door closes, another opens.

The shift away from third-party cookies is not the end of retargeting but a new beginning. With cookieless methods, businesses have the opportunity to engage in more authentic, precise, and privacy-compliant ways.

It’s crucial, now more than ever, to be ahead of the curve. Start testing and integrating cookieless retargeting strategies today. By understanding and adapting to this new landscape, businesses can ensure they continue to connect meaningfully with their audience and achieve the desired marketing outcomes.

In conclusion, as the digital world continues to prioritize user privacy, it’s imperative for businesses to adapt. Major browsers are phasing out third-party cookies, and regulations like GDPR and CCPA are setting stricter guidelines for user data collection and usage. Whether it is in-platform retargeting or server-side based, cookieless retargeting offers a way forward, ensuring brands can still reach their audience effectively while respecting their privacy. Embrace this change, and your brand might just find new avenues for success in the post-cookie era.

Why this matters

In digital marketing, tracking user behavior and analytics is essential. Traditionally, cookies have been at the forefront of these efforts, but recent shifts in privacy regulations and user preferences are driving the industry towards cookieless tracking technologies. As major browsers like Chrome are likely to phase out third-party cookies in the near future, it is unavoidable for marketing professionals to explore alternatives. This guide aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of cookieless tracking, its importance, how it compares to cookie-based tracking, and the best options available today on the market.

From Cookie-based to Cookieless Tracking

You most definitely already know what cookies are, after all, you deal with those every single day. They’re small text files stored on a user’s browser to track their activity and preferences. They have been an essential tool for marketers for personalizing content, targeting advertisements, and analyzing user behavior. However, with growing concerns about privacy and data protection, the use of cookies has come under scrutiny.

How Cookieless Tracking Works

Unlike cookies, cookieless tracking does not rely on storing data on the user’s browser. One example is digital fingerprinting, where a unique identifier is created based on various attributes such as the user’s IP address, browser type, and device. This identifier can be used to track the user’s activity across different sessions and websites.

The Limitations and Challenges with Cookie-based Tracking

While cookies have been effective in tracking user behavior, they are not without their limitations. Cookies are browser-specific, meaning they do not work across different browsers, and they may present challenges in multi-device environments. They also rely on user consent, which can be a barrier to data collection. There has also been a wave of new privacy-focused browsers like Brave that created additional challenges, and on top of that cookies can also be deleted by users, making long-term tracking difficult.

The Rise of Cookieless Tracking

Cookieless tracking emerged as an alternative to cookies, allowing marketers to track user behavior without storing data on the user’s browser. Instead, cookieless tracking relies on techniques like digital fingerprinting, server-side tracking, and first-party data collection. This shift is largely driven by changes in privacy regulations and the phasing out of third-party cookies by major browsers. But while those are the factors driving the change, it’s worth highlighting that in this transition marketers may not miss cookie-based solutions after all. Let’s find out why.

Types of Solutions for Web Analytics

There are different solutions that rely on cookieless techonology to provide insights on user journeys on websites and app, but there not all built with for the same use case. In this guide we are focusing only on digital analytics, basically solutions that can be used in almost all cases as alternatives to Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics. So the green quadrant is what this page is about!

It’s important thought to understand how other categories work, as they might be relevant for specific industries or use cases.

Attribution Software

Attribution software is primarily used by businesses, especially in the B2B SaaS sector, to connect revenue to marketing efforts. It helps in identifying which marketing channels and campaigns are most effective in driving sales and conversions.

How does it work?

By tracking user interactions across various touchpoints, attribution software assigns credit to different marketing channels based on their contribution to the final conversion. This data-driven approach enables businesses to optimize their marketing strategies and allocate resources more efficiently.

Digital Analytics

Digital analytics involves the granular tracking of user journeys across websites and applications. It provides insights into how users interact with online content, which pages they visit, and what actions they take.

How does it work?

Digital analytics tools collect data on user behavior, such as page views, clicks, and time spent on the site. This data is then analyzed to identify patterns and trends, which can be used to improve website design, content, and overall user experience.

Product Analytics

Product analytics is focused on providing an overview of product usage metrics. It is particularly useful for product and UX/UI teams looking to understand how users are interacting with their product.

How does it work?

By tracking events such as feature usage, user engagement, and retention, product analytics tools help teams to understand what aspects of the product are resonating with users. This information can be used to make data-driven decisions on product development and design.

Frontend Monitoring

Frontend monitoring involves tracking frontend metrics and conducting health checks for websites. It is essential for developers and website managers who need to ensure that the website is performing optimally.

How does it work?

Frontend monitoring tools track various metrics such as page load times, error rates, and responsiveness. By monitoring these metrics in real-time, developers can quickly identify and resolve issues, ensuring a smooth and efficient user experience.

Cookieless Solutions Market Landscape

As a new, fast-growing industry, there isn’t today a single dominant player, but rather multiple solutions that meet different needs. The chart below might help you understand the state of cookieless analytics solutions today.

About the chart: the industry mapping is based on research from 2024. The “fast-movers” vs “market leaders” factor is based on elements like market share, user reviews and speed of growth based on BuiltWith data. The “easy to use” vs “advanced” factor is based on features and product scope. The chart is meant to help users in their research of the right tool and might be subject to errors. An updated version of the chart will be released in H1 2025.

Top 13 Cookieless Solutions for Marketers

As the industry shifts toward cookieless tracking, various solutions have emerged. Here are some of the best solutions out there.

1. Twipla (formerly Visitor Analytics)

Twipla is a website intelligence platform that employs cookieless tracking through digital fingerprinting. It offers data such as traffic structure, KPIs, page performance, visitor insights, geolocation, operating systems, devices, competition analysis, and campaign performance. Key features include heatmaps, conversion funnels, custom event tracking, and session recording. Privacy is a core aspect of Twipla, ensuring data is handled securely and in compliance with legal regulations.

Pricing: It offers a low-volume free plan (mostly for testing) and five pricing plans ranging from $10.39/mo (for 10k visits/month) to $123.20/mo (for 200k visits/month). Higher traffic thresholds require custom pricing.

👉 Read my full review

2. Simple Analytics

Simple Analytics is an EU-based and hosted web analytics tool that prioritizes privacy and simplicity. It does not use cookies, making it compliant with privacy regulations like GDPR. Simple Analytics provides website owners with essential web traffic data without compromising the privacy of visitors. It is particularly known for its ease of use, fast loading times, and clear visuals. The service allows users to track page views and events without tracing individuals. Additionally, Simple Analytics offers automated reports and supports integration with various tools and platforms.

Pricing: Simple Analytics offers three pricing tiers:

• Starter Plan: Costs $10 per month when billed yearly. It includes 100,000 data points per month, 1 user, and 10 websites.

• Business Plan: Costs $49 per month or $588 yearly. It includes 1,000,000 data points per month, 10 users, and 100 websites.

• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing depending on usage. It includes everything from the Business plan, plus priority email support.

Free Trial: Simple Analytics offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.

EU-Based: Simple Analytics is based in Amsterdam and hosts all data in the EU, making it compliant with EU privacy regulations.

👉 Read my full review

3. Plausible

Plausible is a privacy-focused web analytics service. It is known for providing website owners with essential web traffic data without compromising the privacy of visitors. Plausible is lightweight and does not use cookies, making it compliant with privacy regulations like GDPR. It deletes all anonymized IP data after 24 hours, making it one of the most privacy-focused solutions out there. Also, their UI is amazing.

Pricing: starting from $9 / month. For up to 500,000 monthly page views the price is $49 / month.

Free trial: 30-day.

Other notes: data hosted in the E.U. 🇪🇺

👉 See full review

4. Matomo

Matomo is a free and open-source web analytics tool that provides detailed information on website traffic. It offers insights into individual visitors and includes features like conversion funnels, session recordings, heatmaps, and A/B testing. Unlike most solutions listed here, it can be deployed both on-premise and on the cloud. Matomo ensures 100% data ownership and doesn’t use cookie consent banners.

Pricing: The on-premise version is free with a list of add-ons ranging from $29 to $500 a year each, these include heatmaps, A/B testing, forms and more. The cloud version starts at $19/mo and for 600,000 monthly sessions runs at $109/mo.

Free trial: 21-day, no credit card required.

5. Fathom

Fathom is a website analytics tool that provides insights through its fast dashboard. It offers information on the website’s most popular pages, sources of visitors, promotions, and top-performing products in real-time. Additionally, Fathom offers UTM campaign and event tracking features for monitoring marketing efforts.

Pricing: starting from $14 / month. For up to 500,000 monthly page views the price is $44 / month.

Free trial: 30-day, no credit card required.

6. PostHog

There are two important things to highlight about PostHog.

1) They are more know for product analytics, but also offer a web analytics that marketers can rely on.

2) It can be set up both cookie-based and cookieless, so it seemed worth including here.

They are growing extremely fast and they will most likely be one of the next target of one of our full scale reviews.

Pricing: they offer a free plan, and their paid plan is usage-based (the model is shaped around product analytics and number of events you record and process)

7. Ahrefs

I personally have used Ahrefs for a little over 10 years, and it's been great seeing how much their product has evolved. Now, at the end of 2024 they released a new product, Ahrefs Web Analytics.

It looks like a relatively simple solution for now, but given the generous free tier, and then fact that it just launched and will only get better from here, it's definitely worth having under your radar!

Pricing: free up to 1M events/month, then $20/mo for 10M events and up to $200/mo for 100M events per site.

8. Pirsch

Pirsch is a simple, cookie-free, and open-source web analytics solution that easily integrates into your website or backend. It is privacy-friendly and lightweight. Pirsch provides real-time insights into website statistics and allows users to see where visitors are coming from. It also enables tracking of conversion goals and events, such as button clicks and product sales​.

Pirsch is particularly notable for its strong commitment to privacy. It is GDPR, CCPA, PECR, and Schrems II compliant, ensuring that user data is handled with the utmost respect for privacy. Moreover, Pirsch is built and hosted in Germany, operating under strict European privacy laws. This means that any data collected belongs solely to the user and will never be shared or sold​.

Pricing: starting from $6 / month. For up to 500,000 monthly page views the price is $36 / month. Pirsch offers a 30-day free trial, with no credit card required for setting up your first website

Free trial: 30-day.

9. Piwik Pro

Piwik Pro is a Poland-based company that recently merged with Cookie Information, one of the leading consent management platforms. Needless to say, combining analytics with consent management makes a lot of sense, so it will be interesting to see how these two software will offer a comprehensive solution for all of your tracking and privacy needs.

Unlike other software listed here, Piwik Pro offers Tag Management, consent management and tons of other advanced features.

Pricing:

• Core Plan: free for up to 500,000 monthly actions

• Enterprise Plan: custom pricing

Free Trial: 14 days

EU-Based: yes

10. SealMetrics

SealMetrics is an EU-based web analytics tool that focuses on privacy and compliance. It is a cookieless analytics solution that tracks web traffic and sales legally and securely without using cookies nor fingerprinting. SealMetrics is designed to ensure 100% traffic and sales measurement without compromising user privacy, making it a reliable alternative to traditional analytics tools. It does not track individual visitors in any way, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations such as GDPR. The company and servers are located in the EU, and the traffic is 100% anonymous.

Pricing: Starting from $9/month and running at $49/month for 500,000 monthly page views.

Free Trial: 30-day.

11. Data Centurion

DataCenturion is a privacy-focused web analytics tool that allows users to track visitors in real-time. It is known for its simplicity, lightweight tracking code (less than 1kb in size), and compliance with privacy regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, and PECR. DataCenturion does not engage in IP tracking, fingerprinting, or of course the use of cookies. It provides detailed reports of website traffic, comprehensive overviews of website statistics, page performance analysis, and traffic channel acquisition insights. Additionally, DataCenturion supports integration with various platforms and allows users to export website statistics in CSV format.

Pricing: free plan available (below 1k page views/month) and only $15.99/month for 500,000 monthly sessions.

12. Swetrix

Swetrix is an ultimate open-source analytics tool that is designed to satisfy all your web analytics needs. It provides powerful and easy analytics to display all the metrics you need in a cookieless manner. Swetrix is GDPR-compliant with data and processing based in the EU zone. It also complies with HIPAA, PCI DSS, and CCPA. Swetrix offers features such as measuring website traffic with high accuracy, geo-reports, UTM & referrers tracking, custom events, user flow analysis, and performance monitoring. Additionally, Swetrix has a marketplace for browser extensions, notifications, and other functionalities to expand your possibilities. Unlike most other solutions, it offers a developer API.

Pricing Plans:

• Hobby Plan: Free. Includes up to 10,000 visits per month, add up to 20 websites, 10 alerting rules, user flow analysis, unlimited data exports, 100% data ownership, performance monitoring, shared & public dashboards, and email reports.

• Freelancer Plan: Includes everything in the Hobby plan plus 100,000 visits per month, and 20 alerting rules.

• Startup Plan: Includes everything in the Freelancer plan plus 1,000,000 visits per month, and 50 alerting rules.

• Enterprise Plan: Includes everything in the Startup plan plus 5,000,000 visits per month, add up to 50 websites, and 100 alerting rules.

EU-Based: Swetrix is based in the EU and hosts its data there, ensuring high levels of compliance with GDPR.

13. Cloudflare

While Cloudflare if mostly known for its CDN and cloud security services, it also offers a Web Analytics products that if fully cookieless. It is included in the company’s enterprise plan, coming at no extra charge. The fact that the product is not available as a standalone makes it only relevant to current Cloudflare users, likely making it an interesting option for larger companies.

Pricing: included in enterprise plans.

My favorite solutions?

You might be wondering what’s my top 3. Given that different solutions might work best for different models, these are my picks:

• Twipla – best all-in-one analytics and user engagement solution

• Simple Analytics – easiest to use software

• Plausible – best UI and complete analytics feature-set

However I am eager to fully test PostHog and Ahrefs Web Analytics, so stay tuned.

About free plans and scaling pricing

Most of the tools listed here offer extremely low thresholds on their free plans, often capped at 500 or 1,000 monthly page views. This means that these plans are only suitable for small personal blogs, or for testing purposes.

It’s also worth noticing that pricing is based on monthly page views, not monthly visitors. If you have 100,000 users a month on your website, with an average of 3 page views per user per session, you’re not looking at a 100k/month plan, but a 300k/month plan!

Lastly it’s important to forecast how your costs are going to change as you scale. For example, with Data Centurion, 1 million monthly page views cost $17.99 while 10 million page views would only be $29.99/month, so scaling is not a concern when it comes to pricing. In comparison, with SealMetrics, moving from 1 million to 10 million monthly page views means moving from $69 to $319/mo, more than 4 times as much. So this is an important aspect to consider.

Pricing for different solutions compared by monthly page views

As you can see, the larger the traffic volumes of your website, the bigger the price difference is. For example for 10,000,000 monthly page views plans can go from as little as $30 to over $1,600. On average 1M page views / month will run at $70/mo, while 10M will be over $400/mo.

When looking at the comparison above, It is worth keeping in mind that different tools offer different products. For example, Twipla (Visitor Analytics) and Matomo offer user behavior and engagement solutions like heatmaps, session replays, polls and surveys, so the higher price might be justified by the fact that you’ll save on buying licences for separate software to cover those use cases.

There are also companies that offer higher tiers or specific add-ons, so keep in mind that the price we included here is the starting one since that tends to includes all core analytics features.

Comparing the Accuracy of Cookieless vs Cookie-based Tracking

Cookie-based tracking has long been a staple in the marketing industry. However, as we move towards a cookieless future, it is crucial to understand how the accuracy of these two tracking methods compares.

Cookie-based Tracking

Cookie-based tracking, though effective in personalizing and targeting content, relies on storing data on the user’s browser. This means that if a user clears their cookies or uses different browsers, tracking can become less accurate. Moreover, cookies require user consent, and an increasing number of users are declining cookie tracking, which further impacts accuracy, especially if a lot of your traffic comes from the European Union or other regions with strict data and privacy laws.

Cookieless Tracking

Cookieless tracking, on the other hand, uses methods like digital fingerprinting, which does not rely on browser storage and hence is not affected by users clearing cookies. This can lead to more consistent and accurate tracking over time. However, cookieless tracking methods like fingerprinting can sometimes be less precise in differentiating between users, especially if they have similar attributes.

The Verdict

While cookieless tracking offers more reliable and long-term tracking, it might sometimes be less precise in differentiating between users compared to cookie-based tracking. Ultimately, the choice between these tracking methods will depend on the specific needs of your business. One thing is for sure, the shift is happening and user tracking will always exist, so some of the limitations of cookieless technology will likely be overcome in the near future.

Why is This Transition Important Now?

The transition to cookieless tracking is driven by several factors:

1. Privacy Regulations: Laws like GDPR and CCPA are pushing for more transparent and consent-based tracking, which makes cookie-based tracking more challenging.

2. User Preferences: Users are becoming more concerned about their online privacy and are more likely to decline cookie tracking.

3. Browser Changes: Major browsers like Chrome are phasing out third-party cookies, pushing marketers to adapt to cookieless solutions.

This transition is important now because it’s not just a trend, but a fundamental shift in how user data is collected and handled. Adapting early can give marketers a competitive advantage.

How to Choose the Right Solution?

When choosing a cookieless tracking solution, consider the following factors:

1. Features: Ensure the solution provides the features you need, such as heatmaps, conversion funnels, and campaign tracking.

2. Data Privacy Compliance: Choose a solution that complies with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy laws.

3. Pricing: Evaluate the pricing plans and ensure it fits within your budget, especially as you scale.

4. Scalability: Ensure the solution can scale as your business grows.

5. Integrations: Check how you would integrate other tools into your tracking setup.

6. Support and Community: Check if the solution has a support team and a community for help and advice.

Privacy and Compliance

Using cookieless technology does not mean that your tracking set up is automatically compliant. You still need to make sure that the data is hosted and handled according to the privacy laws where you operate, which often means privacy laws anywhere in the world.

1. GDPR: Under the General Data Protection Regulation, users in the EU must provide consent for data collection. While you may not need a cookie banner, you should still do some research to make sure your tracking solution complies with GDPR requirements.

2. CCPA: The California Consumer Privacy Act grants California residents the right to know what personal data is being collected. Ensure your solution is transparent in data collection and complies with CCPA.

3. Privacy considerations: Even in instances where it is not legally required, respecting user privacy and being transparent in how data is being used may be something your organization values and has interest in advertising to their user base. In those cases, a deep understanding of how you handle the data you collect is very important.

Conclusion

The move towards cookieless tracking is a significant shift in the digital marketing industry. Understanding the various solutions available, their features, and pricing, as well as how to choose the right one, is critical for marketing professionals navigating this new landscape. Additionally, respecting legal and ethical considerations is not only the right thing to do but also ensures your practices are sustainable in the long term. Staying up-to-date with recent developments and trends will ensure that you are always ahead in the marketing game.