Eneco becomes the owner of their web data streams using server-side tracking

Eneco

Customer case
Technical Web Analytics
Data consultancy

Stefan Put

Business Manager

3 min

30 Jul 2024

Eneco has been working with us for years for the (client-side) tracking of their online traffic. When server-side tracking emerged at the end of 2022, it was a logical step for them to ask us to think about the business value of this tracking method. They wanted to compare their existing Google Analytics implementation with a tagging server on Microsoft Azure.

Server-side tracking

Server-side tracking is a hot topic in the tracking world. Instead of outsourcing your data streams to, for example, Google Analytics, you process your web data yourself via a tagging server. You then determine which data you share with processors like Google and Meta. This allows you to better protect your visitors' privacy, improve your website's performance, and gain better insights into your marketing campaigns.

Approach

We set up the new server-side tracking framework parallel to the client-side implementation as a proof-of-concept (POC) with an evaluation after six months. The intention here was not to phase out client-side tracking immediately but to look at the differences between client-side and server-side tracking based on BigQuery analyses.

The main questions of the POC were:

To what extent does server-side tracking add value compared to the current implementation?
To what extent can the new framework mitigate the drawbacks of tracking prevention*?
Is there a difference in data quality between the two tracking methods?
Is it worth the investment to roll out server-side tracking further?

Tracking prevention

*In 2022, there was a lot of controversy about the use of Google Analytics. Several EU countries banned it because it did not comply with privacy regulations. With server-side tracking, you have an alternative because you control your data streams and can decide what you share with Google, Meta, etc. This way, you can avoid sharing sensitive data. Due to changing legislation, more and more web browsers are limiting their tracking options. This makes it increasingly difficult to track online visitors over a longer period or across multiple websites.

We started by developing the server-side architecture. Eneco used Google Tag Manager, which integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics. The tagging server had to run on Azure, which was less compatible with GTM. We shared our architecture plan and the resources we needed with Eneco. Their own engineers then implemented this in Azure using Azure Kubernetes Services.

In collaboration with the client, we looked at which measurements we wanted to perform via the own tagging server. Besides the hosting costs, you pay for each outgoing HTTP request sent from your tagging server in server-side tracking. This can quickly become expensive. For the POC, we decided to focus on e-commerce interactions and exclude, for example, scroll events.

To test the infrastructure, we first rolled it out for the subsidiary label Oxxio. Due to the lower visitor volume, it was safe to experiment here. We used the learnings from this to set up the tagging server for Eneco. Our Technical Web Analysts and Data Engineers worked intensively with the Engineers.

Result

Thanks to automated tagging server monitoring with BigQuery and Looker Studio, we were able to provide clear insights into the data reliability and uptime of the server. For example, we determined how many events were measured client-side and server-side.

The conclusion of the POC was that server-side tracking delivers a dataset of high-quality web data. The new framework still runs parallel to the client-side implementation. Eneco is ready for the future. If legislation changes or server-side tracking becomes the standard, they can phase out client-side tracking seamlessly.

How our client experienced it

René Stuifzand, Digital Analytics Lead at Eneco

"Setting up server-side tracking alongside our existing client-side implementation was a well-considered choice. This approach provides us with insights into the differences between the two methods and makes us more flexible. Thanks to Digital Power, we can now better respond to new privacy laws and technological changes while improving the quality of our web data. This strategy strengthens our position in online tracking."

Need help implementing server-side tracking?

Let our Technical Web Analysts guide you through the process seamlessly! Contact us or schedule a meeting directly here.

Want to know more?

Stefan will be happy to talk to you about what we can do for you and your organisation as a data partner.

Stefan Put

Business Manager+31(0)20 308 43 90 +31(0)6 33 65 99 17 stefan.put@digital-power.com

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