How the 'privacy first' world is really coming in 2024

The rise of privacy regulations

2018 saw the first significant steps in the world of data regulation. The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect, changing the framework in which companies can collect and process data. That very GDPR brought with it the famous cookie banner, which started appearing on websites everywhere. From this point on, marketers had to think seriously about how they handled personal data and what they wanted to measure and store. This used to happen according to the moral compass, of course, but the eye of regulation always compels just a little bit more.

In the years that followed, we saw similar steps in more and more places. In the United States, several laws emerged that imposed new restrictions on data collection and forced marketers to rethink their approach. The message was clear: privacy protection is no longer an option, but a legal obligation. The transfer of personal data between the United States and Europe has also been a frequent topic of discussion recently.

The essence of all the changes

Sometimes it almost feels like a game to make the marketer's job impossible, but you shouldn't see it that way. In fact: the aim of regulations is not to stop you from measuring anything. They do, however, seek to better protect the data of 'the individual' (or: personal data). In this way, we prevent that personal data from being used as a business model without consent. And while the regulations require an adjustment in part of the marketer's work, plenty of information also remains — but you need a well-founded strategy behind it.

Technological changes in analytics and tracking

As regulations transformed the playing field, the technology underlying web analytics and tracking also evolved. In a world where cookies are no longer the undisputed rulers of data collection, marketers and tech companies have been looking for new ways to gain valuable insights. As a marketer, you should have a clear understanding of this.

Changes in browsers and operating systems

First, we've seen several changes in browsers and operating systems that affect traditional tracking.

Safari and Firefox were the first to (partially) block third-party cookies or greatly reduce cookie duration, with ITP and ETP, respectively. This has had a huge impact on advertising tracking, which requires those third-party cookies and uses a cookie that marketers want to have on the device as long as possible for attribution reporting. A/B testing and Google Analytics were also hit with that cookie duration, as visitors are less likely to be seen as returning visitors and those same returning visitors don't always see the test variant they saw before.

Apple then came out with several changes to iOS (App Tracking Transparency) which also impacted how advertising providers handle their reporting.

Browser plugins and ad blockers

Ad blockers and other browser plugins have also been on the rise in recent years. But most users of ad blockers also facilitate the blocking of tracking tooling. And these plugins go even further than browser restrictions: they don't just block third-party advertising pixels, but also analytics tracking tools like Google Analytics that use a first-party cookie.

The impact of the changes

These changes forced companies like Meta to look for alternatives. Many new tools emerged, some of which incidentally disappeared just as quickly. One of the key trends in this development is the emergence of privacy-friendly tracking technologies. Cookie-proof tracking, cohort analysis, and advanced statistical models are taking over from traditional cookie-based methods. This still allows marketers to collect valuable data without compromising users' privacy. Those technologies are designed to deliver relevant content and ads while preserving user anonymity.

This is a key reason why we invest in modelling capabilities at iO. We strongly believe that aggregated data (without personal identification) will become one of the main alternatives in terms of data analysis. Smart models allow you to analyse large amounts of data and find insights not previously covered.

The impact on past years and the years to come

All these changes affect the way we measure data to some extent. And many of them have also been introduced incrementally, so you may not have felt their impact immediately. It pays to take a look back — we provide some benchmarks.

Impact cookie bar

First, of course, we have the impact of the cookie bar, which requests explicit consent from visitors. There has been a long debate about what type of consent and what data may be measured. But at iO, we see more and more organisations opting for the 'safe way'. Visitors also have the free choice to refuse statistical cookies at the start of their visit. In our experience, around 20-30% of visitors opt for this, but the number could go much higher than that. In other words: the tools for which you ask consent receive at least 20 to 30% less data, and that has a considerable impact on your marketing.

Impact on recognising user level

Changes in browsers and operating systems (ITP / ETP) affect data recognition at the individual level.

We see the following developments, for example:

In Safari, we see about 25% more new users on average, which means returning traffic is not recognised as effectively due to shortened cookie duration. That affects:

Organisations reporting at user level
Organisations doing A/B testing or online personalisation (and wanting to show the same version the next day)

In Safari, we also see on average about 35% more transactions from Direct traffic, meaning the original channel is no longer recognised due to shortened cookie duration. This mainly affects organisations using paid media who want to measure the impact of this channel.

Impact paid media channels

Third, we see an impact in organisations that invest heavily in paid media. Almost all of those channels use third-party cookies to measure advertising performance. That has a huge impact on the amount of data that 'comes back' in the advertising tools, which in turn has an impact on the reliability of the measurements — think attribution models, for instance. We don't get back data that we 'lose' due to lack of consent, of course, but modern alternatives to tracking exist that rely less on third-party cookies. Organisations using those alternatives get about 20% traffic back. That can be important for your CPC and audience quality.

The greatest impact is yet to come: Google's Privacy Sandbox

Depending on your situation — in particular the setup of your marketing tooling and advertising landscape — your organisation may have already suffered a lot from this over the past five years. But the biggest impact is yet to come. Many of the changes that cause data to arrive in a worse or different way don’t apply to everyone yet. They've only been implemented in browsers that serve only a small group of users or in a specific part of the browsers (e.g. only in incognito windows).

The biggest impact may yet come when Google Chrome also makes adjustments. With 50-60% market share in Belgium and the Netherlands, Google's browser is more than double the size of the second player, Safari. Google calls the planned tweaks their Privacy Sandbox. It was originally announced in 2020 and postponed a few times, but it will come in early 2024. Again, it'll start small: only 1% of Chrome users will get the Privacy Sandbox. After that, Google will gradually roll out the changes.

The Privacy Sandbox is the alternative to cookie-driven tracking for advertisers. But the rollout is going to be tricky: after all, Google has to take into account users, legislation, advertisers, and the ad tech industry. Keeping all those parties satisfied has proven to be a difficult task.

In essence, the Privacy Sandbox means that Google will work more with APIs instead of cookies. The first step after implementation is for ad tech organisations like Meta to adopt those APIs for their tracking standards. Google's goal is to have the Privacy Sandbox fully rolled out by the end of 2024. We will keep an eye on the impact.

The changes marketers need to make in 2024

As we approach 2024, marketers face a crucial challenge: balancing privacy and insights. It's clear that the trend towards privacy-focused regulations and technologies is irreversible. Marketers must adapt to thrive in this new environment.

In the years to come, marketers will have to invest in advanced tracking and analytics solutions that comply with strict privacy regulations. As such, you'll have to delve into the latest technologies and methods that respect user privacy while still providing valuable data.

First of all, marketers need to build trust with their audience more than ever. Obtaining consent for data collection is becoming the norm, and it's up to marketers to communicate clearly and transparently how they will use that data. An understandable Consent Management Platform is therefore essential.

There are also a number of things you can invest in in 2024 to build a strong foundation for analytics and tracking. For instance, you can think about the following initiatives, listed in order from simple to complex:

Cookieless analytics: There are alternatives to web analytics that work in a completely cookieless manner. Two well-known examples are Piwik PRO and Matomo Analytics;
Server-side tracking and tag management: Server-side tracking gives you more control over the data you share with third parties than traditional client-side tracking;
First-party data strategy: First-party data is data you have collected yourself from website visitors. For example, by being smart about lead nurturing flows, you'll be better able to analyse on a user level. Read more in this whitepaper;
Data modelling: Smart calculation models are often much better at extracting insights from large data sets than humans. In addition, models also become much easier to use.

Finally, we recommend staying up to speed, in terms of developments but also the impact on your organisation. By this we mean that you truly understand the impact of developments — in figures or in facts. Not every development has the same impact on your organisation.

Organisations that prepare well now for privacy-first analytics and tracking create a head start that they will enjoy for many years to come.

2024: the start of a new era for web analytics and tracking

The changes of recent years have prepared us for the shift to a 'privacy first' world, but the real challenge lies ahead. Marketers who embrace privacy regulations and invest in privacy-friendly technologies will continue to gain valuable insights and retain the trust of their audiences. In this rapidly evolving digital world, adaptation is the key to success, and 2024 promises to be an exciting year in any case.

Want to get a head start?

Our data and privacy experts are happy to help you make the right choices — for your reporting and for your customers.

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About the author

Lars van Tulden

Data & Intelligence Consultant

For 6 years now, Lars has been mining the new gold that is data. Considering the power of data to improve digital products and solutions, he loves showing clients the true value of their own channels – through numbers and his own sheer curiosity.