Hi everyone,
One of my clients has a B2B website and recently realised that, despite having a cookie-consent banner on their website, they were actually recording Google Analytics data before consent was given. The GA script was hardcoded into the <head> of the site and wasn't controlled by the cookie-consent plugin they were using (it's a WordPress site).
We reconfigured it so that the tracking code is only activated once the user gives consent, and they're happily GDPR compliant.
However, their analytics data has now fallen off a cliff — they're seeing <50% of the traffic they had before.
I understand that they're now compliant and it's ethically right to give users the choice etc. but it essentially makes the GA data worthless.
We've tried two different Cookie Consent plugins, so I don't think it's a bug (unless its the same issue affecting both plugins). I'm also surprised that so many users are either rejecting cookie consent, or are using pop-up blockers so they don't even see the consent banner.
Do they just have to accept that in order to be GDPR compliant, they are only going to have 50% useable data? Is there no way of tracking visits and still being GDPR compliant? Surely major web-based companies aren't operating like this — how could a large eCommerce retailer make important commercial decisions without accurate data?
I feel like I'm missing something — any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
One of my clients has a B2B website and recently realised that, despite having a cookie-consent banner on their website, they were actually recording Google Analytics data before consent was given. The GA script was hardcoded into the <head> of the site and wasn't controlled by the cookie-consent plugin they were using (it's a WordPress site).
We reconfigured it so that the tracking code is only activated once the user gives consent, and they're happily GDPR compliant.
However, their analytics data has now fallen off a cliff — they're seeing <50% of the traffic they had before.
I understand that they're now compliant and it's ethically right to give users the choice etc. but it essentially makes the GA data worthless.
We've tried two different Cookie Consent plugins, so I don't think it's a bug (unless its the same issue affecting both plugins). I'm also surprised that so many users are either rejecting cookie consent, or are using pop-up blockers so they don't even see the consent banner.
Do they just have to accept that in order to be GDPR compliant, they are only going to have 50% useable data? Is there no way of tracking visits and still being GDPR compliant? Surely major web-based companies aren't operating like this — how could a large eCommerce retailer make important commercial decisions without accurate data?
I feel like I'm missing something — any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.