One of the most impactful contributions modern technology leaders make to their organizations is implementing effective website tracking techniques. Website tracking is crucial for making data-driven decisions, optimizing user experiences, and improving marketing. 

This post explores various tracking techniques, including both client-side and server-side approaches, common implementations, and advanced methods that can give your organization a competitive edge. This is post two in a three-part series. Don’t forget to check out our first post introducing website tracking if you need a refresher course on what tracking is and how it’s used today. 

Client-side vs. Server-side Tracking

The debate between client-side and server-side tracking continues to evolve as privacy concerns and technical capabilities shape the landscape. 

Many organizations are now adopting hybrid solutions, leveraging the strengths of both approaches. For instance, you might use client-side tracking for user interactions and server-side tracking for transaction data and sensitive information.

Common Tracking Implementations

Google Analytics 

Google Analytics remains a cornerstone of website tracking. Its latest iteration, GA4, offers enhanced machine learning capabilities and cross-platform tracking. When setting up GA4, pay special attention to event tracking and custom dimensions to capture data specific to your business goals.

Pixels

Social media pixels are essential for advertising attribution and audience building. The Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, and Twitter/X Pixel all offer similar functionalities, allowing you to track conversions, build retargeting audiences, and optimize ad spend. Implement these pixels through a Tag Management System (TMS) for easier deployment and management.

Tag Management Systems

Speaking of TMS, solutions like Google Tag Manager, Adobe Launch, Tealium iQ, and Aqfer Universal Tag have become indispensable for managing multiple tracking scripts. They allow for centralized control, reducing the need for frequent code changes on your website and enabling non-technical team members to manage tags.

Mobile App SDKs

For mobile apps, tracking requires a different approach. iOS and Android use different identifiers (IDFA and GAID, respectively) for user tracking. With increasing privacy restrictions, especially on iOS, it’s crucial to implement proper consent mechanisms and explore alternative tracking methods like probabilistic matching.

Advanced Tracking Techniques

Cross-Device Tracking 

Cross-device tracking has become increasingly important as users switch between multiple devices. Deterministic matching (using logged-in user data) provides the most accurate results, but probabilistic matching techniques can fill in the gaps by using algorithms to connect user behaviors across devices.

Fingerprinting

Fingerprinting, while controversial from a privacy standpoint, remains a powerful tool for identifying users without relying on cookies. It uses a combination of device characteristics to create a unique identifier. However, be aware of legal and ethical considerations when implementing such techniques.

Paid Media Tracking

Relying on combinations of pixels, creative wrappers, and redirects, paid media tracking techniques help advertisers better understand which audience members have been exposed to their ads, and the overall impacts of their campaigns. Moreover, they can assist with advanced campaign controls such as frequency capping, or advanced analytics across channels like video engagement, such as knowing which users dropped off a video at the 75% threshold. 

Typically, these trackers are deployed within a DSP such as Google’s Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk, or Amazon DSP. Be mindful that not all platforms allow all types of trackers, and most of them will have their own (as evidenced by the reports and dashboards provided by the DSP UI); however, you should always trust but verify by using your own tracking tags in addition to the defaults of the DSP.

Behavior Visualization Tools

Heatmaps and session recordings provide valuable insights into user behavior. Tools like Hotjar or Crazy Egg can help you visualize how users interact with your site, identifying pain points and opportunities for optimization. These tools are particularly useful when combined with traditional analytics data.

The Technical Side of Tracking

Data collection is just the beginning. Implementing a robust data processing and storage infrastructure is crucial for handling large volumes of tracking data. For activating data in real-time, such as for personalization, dynamic creative optimization, or next-best offer, consider tools such as Apache Kafka, Amazon Kinesis,  and Aqfer’s Real-Time Connector.

However, critical to making those types of tools work efficiently is a low-latency in-memory datastore. With these types of storage formats, often OLTP-based, smaller subsets of data are made available for lookups so that you only have to process smaller bits of data such as an API lookup with a JSON return package that can easily be parsed for downstream applications, whereas larger data sets would be impractical to fetch without slowing down the page and leading to a poor user experience. Examples include Google’s Firebase, AWS Dynamo DB, Aerospike, and Aqfer IO. 

Your data flow should be designed to minimize latency while ensuring data integrity. From the initial user action to the final insight, each step should be optimized for performance and accuracy. This might involve implementing a data lake architecture for raw data storage, coupled with a data warehouse for structured, query-optimized data, or the best of both worlds: the data lakehouse

DNS management plays a crucial role in tracking implementation, especially when using custom tracking domains. Properly configured CNAME records can help avoid ad-blockers and provide a seamless tracking experience.

Finally, don’t underestimate the power of API integrations for data enrichment. Connecting your tracking data with CRM systems, marketing automation platforms, or third-party data providers can provide a more comprehensive view of your users and their behaviors.

Up Next: Privacy and Implementation Considerations

Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. Always prioritize user privacy and comply with relevant regulations like GDPR and CCPA when implementing tracking solutions. By striking the right balance between data collection and user trust, you’ll be well-positioned to lead your organization into a data-driven future.

Our next article in this three-part website tracking series explores best practices like these – from data privacy concerns to implementation.