Who is visiting our website?
Who is visiting our website? A question that many business leaders have asked but one for which there are few easy answers.
Anonymously tracking visitors
Enter the browser cookie to track down visitor interactions.
What are cookies:
Cookies are small text files placed on a visitor’s device by the browser when they visit a website. Cookies contain information about the visitor’s interactions with the site. The key word is anonymity as cookies track visitors without identifying them. Cookies are stored in the browser on the first visit and used to recall information from previous visits to personalize future user sessions.
First-party cookies vs. third-party cookies:
First-party cookies are stored by the domain being visited. They make possible collecting of analytics data, remembering language settings, and other user experience enhancing features. Third-party cookies are created by other domains (other than the visited domain) for cross-site tracking, retargeting and ad-serving, typically by ad serving platforms. Third-party cookies have turned into a “public enemy” of late, negatively impacting the world of programmatic advertising and ad tech.
Monitoring visits:
When a visitor visits a website, the web server sends a cookie (or multiple cookies) to the visitor’s browser, which stores the files locally in terms of “name value” pairs, that can be used for anonymously managing and tracking sessions and personalizing visitor experience. On subsequent visits by the visitor, the browser sends the data back to the web server, allowing the website to recognize the visitor by the ID and retrieve stored data.
Opening possibilities
Cookies open a world of possibilities for realizing valuable analytics toward marketing and business development.
Analytics at hand:
Cookies help identify where the visitors are coming from. Which marketing channels (source, medium), such as social media, email campaigns, or organic search, are driving visitors to the site? This is valuable insight to know which channels are working and which need additional tuning.
Identity unmasked:
A marketing platform like HubSpot can uncover visitor identity by relating data stored in the browser cookie to contact specific data inside HubSpot. This would happen if the visitor was a contact from a form conversion or if the visitor came in by clicking a link on a HubSpot-sent marketing email, for example. The magic is made possible by JavaScript tracking code that is embedded on the visited website.
But hard to nail down
Cookies are tough to get a lid on and obtain reliable visitor data.
Visitor changes:
Accurate cookie-based tracking assumes that the visitor did not delete cookies or block cookies at their end! If they delete cookies then the next visit would be treated as a new visitor! Also, if the visitor visits the site from a different device then again would be treated as a new visitor. Unless we use a tool like HubSpot to deduplicate visits data based on their email address entered in a form submission.
Browser restrictions:
Browsers are increasingly restricting the use of third-party cookies. Features like Safari’s intelligent tracking prevention (ITP) and Firefox’s enhanced tracking protection (ETP) limit third-party cookies, affecting cross-site tracking capabilities. These restrictions reduce the effectiveness of cookies for tracking and analytics especially across different websites.
Ad blockers:
Many visitors employ ad blockers that can also block cookies, impacting the accuracy of tracking and analytics. This limitation underscores the need for alternative tracking methods and comprehensive data collection strategies.
Conclusion
Browser cookies are powerful tools for tracking website visitors, offering extensive analytics possibilities and the ability to personalize visitor experiences. However, in the face of privacy concerns and browser restrictions, third-party cookies have come under threat. This is an evolving space, and we can expect more developments in the future. Stay tuned!