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Waarom je je webtracking-setup moet voorbereiden op de toekomst
- Artikel
- Technical Web Analytics
- Server-side tracking


Webanalytics staat voor steeds grotere uitdagingen door strengere wetgeving, browserupdates, aanpassingen in cookiebanners en adblockers. Deze veranderingen maken het moeilijker om websiteprestaties te volgen en inzicht te krijgen in statistieken zoals Return On Ad Spend (ROAS). Veel bedrijven zoeken snelle oplossingen om juridische en technische obstakels te omzeilen. Echter, deze shortcuts werken vaak niet en leiden tot hogere kosten. Een betere aanpak is om ethiek, privacy en een goed technisch fundament prioriteit te geven.
*Het artikel is geschreven in het Engels voor een betere leesbaarheid.
In this article series we dive into tracking prevention measures. Learn how to deal with the developments in web analytics and optimise your TMS for the future.
This article series consists of 4 articles:
- (Current article) Why you need to prepare your web tracking setup for the future
- Tracking conversions in a privacy first browser
- Tracking unique users in a privacy first browser
- (Re)targeting users in a privacy first browser
In this chapter, we’ll outline the two major developments reshaping web tracking—privacy legislation and tracking prevention—and explain how these impact conversion tracking, unique user measurement, and targeting. We’ll also introduce the key areas where you’ll need to upgrade your TMS to stay ahead.
GDPR and browser tracking prevention have changed how companies collect and use data. Strict consent rules and blocked cookies disrupt marketing and analytics. To keep up, businesses need to adapt their TMS—focusing on conversion tracking, unique users, and targeting—tailored to their needs.
The two main developments in web analytics
We can divide the developments in two categories: legislation and tracking prevention measures by browsers, operating system and adblockers.
1. How legislations are transforming web analytics and data privacy
The GDPR requires organisations to obtain explicit consent or establish another lawful basis for processing personal data, clearly linked to its intended purpose. It places strong emphasis on having a clear and accessible privacy notice that informs users how their data is used.
The regulation also mandates that data breaches must be reported without undue delay, and no later than 72 hours after becoming aware of them. It highlights the need for a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for high-risk processing activities and, in some cases, the appointment of a Data Protection Officer (DPO) to ensure compliance.
This wide-reaching regulation prioritises the protection of personal data, giving individuals greater control while placing strict responsibilities on organisations.
These rules directly affect how organisations may collect, process, and use data, imposing clear requirements for handling personal information.
2. How tracking prevention impacts digital analytics and marketing
Tracking prevention measures now block third-party cookies entirely and restrict first-party cookies and data transmission to specific endpoints (like Facebook.com). You can find definitions of these terms here. As a result, three key areas in digital analytics and marketing are affected:
- Loss of conversion visibility: Many conversions can no longer be attributed to the campaigns that actually drove them, making performance measurement harder.
- Unreliable user-level metrics: Analysis that depends on identifying unique users has become inaccurate. Metrics such as unique users, cost per acquisition, and average revenue per user are now inflated and no longer reflect reality.
- Targeting limitations: With third-party cookies gone, building marketing audiences for platforms like Meta and Google has become significantly more difficult. Reaching specific users across the web is now a challenge.
Since the GDPR and tracking prevention came into play, websites should already have a cookie banner in place, along with clear information about how and why personal data is processed.
Secondly, users must also be able to easily delete any personal data that has been collected by a company.
Finally, and what will be discussed later on in this article series: If gaining insights at the individual level and running personalised marketing campaigns matter to you, it’s essential to tackle the challenges caused by tracking prevention.
Upgrading your TMS: the three areas of impact
Depending on your organisation and its specific goals it can vary which upgrade is the right one. Moreover, some organisations might need to assess whether an investment is worthwhile for their particular purposes.
Originally, tracking users’ behaviour and targeting them (almost) anywhere on the internet was a capability that came “out of the box” with TMS and analytics tools.
Today, doing this effectively requires organisations to invest in software, train employees, and develop a comprehensive data strategy. These investments might not be justifiable for every type of product.
We will detail a TMS upgrade that addresses every aspect of tracking prevention. Determine which parts of the upgrade are relevant to you and explore how these upgrades can be specifically implemented in your organisation.
As discussed earlier, there are three areas of impact: tracking conversions, tracking unique users and the (re)targeting of these users. In the next three articles, we will go through these areas of impact, discuss the issues more specifically, and elaborate on the appropriate upgrades to address them.
Dit is een artikel van Anne Wind
Anne Wind, Technisch Web Analist, combineert zijn marketingachtergrond met expertise in datacollectie. Zijn kritische blik op data vanuit marketingperspectief bracht hem naar de technische kant van data-analyse. Met focus op nauwkeurige dataverzameling helpt hij organisaties inzichten om te zetten in impactvolle acties.
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