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Changes In Visitor Traffic Volumes & Conversion Rates

Following the cookie change on 8th September to maintain GDPR compliance in line with ICO guidelines (see this article), some sites have seen a noticeable drop in recorded visitor volumes in Google Analytics. This does not mean your site is receiving less traffic, it means some visitors are not being tracked until after they click to accept cookies. Previously we tracked every initial visit (unless Do Not Track was enabled on the user's device) but then stopped tracking if they didn't click to accept or turned off non-essential cookies.

So in practice, the drop in volumes is mostly going to be from visitors who would visit a single page and then bounce off straightaway and this traffic is of negligible value.

The upside from this is the conversion rate recorded in Google Analytics is likely to increase as the ratio of orders to tracked visitors will be higher. 

How Do I Record Most Visitors & Still Comply With GDPR?

Google is moving its analytics and ad tracking to a consent model and also using aggregated tracking for non-consenting visitors which is in beta mode for a limited number of advertisers. Read more about this on Google

There are other cookieless analytical tracking tools that can collect visitor data and still comply with GDPR,  which are typically chargeable such as fathom. They will also differ in how they classify genuine traffic, real people versus bots and crawlers, so their visitor numbers may not be a direct tally with the way Google works.

Could This Impact my Ad Tracking?

People who purposefully choose to Reject cookies will be excluded from ad tracking data and so there could be an increase in this as the cookie banner has a more visible 'Reject' button than before, again in line with ICO guidance (previously people had to navigate via cookie settings). It is still possible to place an order without clicking 'Accept' first and those orders would not be tracked in that case. The cookie banner has also been made slightly larger to encourage more people to choose their preferred consent.

Will This Affect My Order Levels?

No. Genuine visitors to the site will still continue to place orders, this is just a question of whether they are tracked in Google Analytics and Ads. What it does mean is that some order data is no longer tracked in their tools making order levels look lower if you use these tools for order revenue analysis. However, it has long been the case that Google has had discrepancies tracking this data even between its own tools, and neither does it exclude returns and cancellations. The correct and accurate place to get your order data is from REC+ > Reports > Order Information Report or Report Builder where you can build your own custom management reports.

In Summary

Changes were enacted to make sure we closely follow ICO the latest guidelines on cookie tracking. Do not be alarmed if your visitor numbers have reduced since 8th September 2021, your conversion rates will likely have increased as a counter-balance to this and it will not impact your ability to take orders. For accurate order revenue data use the tools available within REC+.


GDPR Compliance & Warranties

We recommend all website owners regularly check their GDPR compliance as it remains your responsibility to be compliant. This means ensuring you regularly scan your site for cookies, especially after adding or removing any 3rd party scripts, and provide a means for visitors to enact their preferences. Our cookie manager tool is provided free to help you record and display your cookies but is not in itself a warranty for GDPR compliance. You must also ensure your cookie and privacy policies reflect your current GDPR compliance practices. We can provide cookie scans and updates to cookie manager for a charge of £295+VAT.

 


Server Infrastructure Upgrade Tues 14th September 2021

WEBSITE INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADE - NEXT TUESDAY

As described in previous bulletins, as part of our continuous investment in the technology that powers your website and provides security and data backups, we are upgrading our infrastructure next Tuesday, 14th September starting at 7am. This means your website will be offline until the upgrade is completed and a temporary notice will be displayed to visitors as shown below.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?

The upgrade will take a number of hours to complete and so you should expect your site to become available again during the course of early afternoon onwards.

WHAT ACCESS IS THERE DURING THIS PERIOD? 

During this period visitors will not be able to access web pages nor place / view orders and site administrators will not be able to login.

HOW WILL I KNOW WHEN MY WEBSITE IS AVAILABLE AGAIN?

You can visit your normal website domain URL to see if it available online again and once it is then continue to login and administer your site as normal.

WILL I LOSE ANY DATA?

No. We are copying all existing data across to the new infrastructure and have already performed some test migrations to ensure data integrity.

WHERE CAN I VIEW UPDATES ON THE MIGRATION?

Go to our WildfireNet twitter account to view updates and remember to follow us: https://twitter.com/WildfireNet

HOW DO I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?

Raise a support ticket or send us an email to [email protected] and we will respond as soon as possible. 



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