When operating a website such as a blog or an e-commerce site, understanding the needs of the users who visit it is an important strategy. By taking a customer’s perspective and providing necessary information on your website, you can attract more users, increase the number of buyers, and have a significant impact on your company’s sales.
Nowadays, with the development of Internet technology, companies that operate websites are wondering which parts of the site the users who actually visit the site pay attention to while reading, and what other companies’ sites they use on a daily basis. You can now track your usage history. This tracking is called tracking. Here we will explain tracking in detail.
What is tracking?
When you hear the word tracking, what comes to mind? If you search for tracking in the marketing glossary, the following will come up:
”Tracking is the tracking and analysis of where specific users are browsing within a site.
In other words, tracking refers to collecting and analyzing the behavior of users who visit a specific site. When running a website such as a blog or an e-commerce site, it is very important to understand the needs of the users who visit it.
By analyzing the hobbies and preferences of users, such as what kind of websites they visit, you can use it for marketing and develop strategies to get more users to visit.
Purpose of tracking
The purpose of tracking is to measure whether the advertising you are running is effective. By tracking, you can find out how many of the user actions that you aim for when operating your website, such as whether users who actually visited your website purchased products or services.
You can check the cost-effectiveness, such as how much money was spent on which advertisements to achieve the desired results, enabling more effective advertising operations.
Corporate marketing perspective
The main purposes of tracking from a marketing perspective in companies are “tracking user behavior” and “improving website usability.”
User behavior tracking
For example, when a ”
” occurs on your company’s website, if you can track the user’s actions, you can track what actions the user took on the website before the conversion occurred. You can also understand the web pages that users are most interested in and the series of actions within those pages, and you can take measures to determine what kind of content you can provide that will effectively lead to CV.
Improving website usability
If you can track user behavior within a website through tracking, you can regularly review the design of your web pages and improve their usability. For example, usability can be expected to improve by making the following improvements.
In this way, by regularly changing the design of your website from time to time, you can improve usability.
User perspective
Tracking also has benefits for users. For example, login information for a website you have visited is saved in
a cookie
, which saves you from having to enter login information multiple times each time you visit the website.
Additionally,
e-commerce
sites retain data on products and services that you have added to your cart, so even if you leave the website, it will remain in your cart when you visit it again.
Furthermore, search history on search engines may lead to the acquisition and discovery of new information, such as displaying interesting advertisements and presenting relevant information.
How to track
There are various tools to perform tracking. Although there are moves to regulate personal information from the perspective of protecting personal information, the one that is most commonly used is “cookies.” Cookies are a system that records input contents such as the history of visits to a specific website and login information. By using this system, it is possible to identify the same user when visiting the same website multiple times. It has become.
Cookie technology allows users to use the Internet smoothly by storing information. For example, when a user uses a website that requires login, once they enter their ID and password, the login information is retained using cookie technology, so even if they access the website after some time, You can use it without having to enter your login information again.
Also, on e-commerce sites, the items you put in your shopping cart are saved using cookies. Even if you leave the site in the middle of shopping, when you return to the site again, the items you put in your shopping cart will still be there because the information is retained thanks to the cookie system. . Cookies are a highly convenient system for both users and the companies operating websites.
1st Party Cookie
1st Party Cookie refers to cookie information that can be obtained only from media owned by the company, such as owned media, or only from the domain in question.
Information that can be obtained by the company that operates the website includes information such as whether the person who visited the website has visited the website before, and if there is a history of visits, which pages they stayed on. You can manage it.
3rd Party Cookie
On the other hand, third-party cookies refer to cookie information issued from a domain other than the website’s domain. This is so-called “cookie information from other people’s websites.”
Information that a company operating a website can obtain includes information such as how many pages a user has viewed in a single visit, how many times the user has visited in the past, and information that can be obtained by a company that operates a website through multiple websites. It is also possible to manage and control the placement of ads, such as specifying the number of times ads are displayed and the order in which ads are displayed.
browser fingerprint
Browser fingerprint refers to various information and data regarding the user’s PC environment and web browser environment. These are retrieved when a web page is loaded in a web browser. The information that can be obtained mainly includes the OS and browser version, installed plug-ins, and screen resolution.
Regulations on third-party cookies have been tightened in recent years from the perspective of privacy protection, and Google and others have announced that they will discontinue support for third-party cookies by 2022. Against this background, browser fingerprinting is attracting attention as an alternative to third-party cookies.
How to track on a smartphone
On smartphones, tracking is also performed in apps and browsers, such as when an app is installed and permissions are granted to access information on the device. Typical tracking mechanisms used on smartphones include “advertising identifiers”, “sensor IDs”, and “smartphone apps”.
advertising identifier
An advertising identifier is an ID used to identify a smartphone device for advertising distribution, and is also called an advertising ID. There are two types of ID: “IDFA”, which is used on iPhones, and “AAID (or ADID)”, which is used on Android devices.
The difference from cookies is in the unit of tracking; cookies are per browser, but advertising identifiers are per device. By being able to track on a device-by-device basis, it is possible to analyze and distribute advertisements with more detailed segments.
However, similar to cookie regulations, restrictions on the use of “IDFA” and “AAID” are becoming stricter.
Sensor ID
Sensor ID refers to tracking performed by detailed analysis of data from smartphones, which are equipped with sensors such as “acceleration sensors” and “gyro sensors.”
Sensor ID is the latest of several tracking mechanisms and was announced by the University of Cambridge. Utilizing this technology enables more detailed analysis of consumer behavior data and contributes to improving the convenience of the Internet.
smartphone app
When installing a smartphone app, you are asked for location information, contact information, permission to access the app, etc., but these also ask whether or not tracking is possible. If you allow this, the app will be able to track you, and the company that created the app will be able to obtain tracking information.
This is the most privacy-friendly tracking method, as users can refuse tracking.
How to measure tracking
There are two types of tracking measurement methods: “direct measurement” and “redirect measurement”. I will explain each one.
Direct measurement
Direct measurement is a method of setting a measurement tag on a page and counting when it is loaded. Even if there is a problem with the tracking server, the advantage is that counting can continue without any problems.
Additionally, there are no tracking server contract fees. However, there is a certain time lag between the time the measurement tag is loaded and the time it starts counting, and it takes time and effort to install measurement tags on all the pages you want to count. Direct measurement is recommended when you want to reduce costs.
Redirect measurement
Redirect measurement is a method of counting via a tracking server. The advantage is that there is less lag from when the measurement tag is read until the measurement is taken, and it allows for more accurate counting than direct measurement.
Management is also easier because there is no need to set up measurement tags within the page. However, if there is a problem with the tracking server, it will be difficult to measure, and since the tracking server will manage the data, usage fees for each service will be required. We recommend using redirect measurement when you want to improve measurement accuracy.
Trends in strengthening tracking regulations
In recent years, there has been a significant movement towards stricter tracking regulations. In Japan, the Personal Information Protection Act was revised in 2020, and the handling of cookie information is being reviewed. Google has also removed support for third-party cookies in Chrome.
Furthermore, Apple has introduced “ITP (Intelligent Tracking Prevention)” to Safari, and from iOS 14.5 onwards, the system has been updated to ask users whether or not they can be tracked. Against this background, it will be almost impossible to use third-party cookies to target advertisements to users in the future.
In light of this cookie-less market backdrop, web marketing companies will need to quickly transition to other tracking technologies other than third-party cookies, such as browser fingerprints, advertising identifiers, and smartphone apps.
Examples of marketing to comply with tracking regulations
We will explain marketing examples to comply with tracking regulations. In order to comply with tracking regulations, it is extremely important to utilize first-party cookie information. To this end, we will take the following measures.
Strengthen your own website, including owned media
In order to obtain valid first-party cookie information, strengthen the media that your company owns, including owned media. First-party cookies are cookie information obtained by your own website, and do not include cookie information obtained by other companies.
Customer information is information obtained through seminars and exhibitions held by the company, membership registration on the company’s website, etc., and is the property of the company. Because users participate in seminars or register as members of their own volition, the response rate is high and customer information can have a high “hot lead = immediate customer” and ”
LTV (life time value)
= customer lifetime value.” Sexuality also increases.
In order to obtain these first-party cookies, you need to not only increase your company’s appeal, but also strengthen your own media such as owned media.
Utilize SNS
By making good use of SNS, which also has the aspect of owned media, it becomes possible to obtain user data that replaces information from third-party cookies. For example, many companies place great importance on reviews and word-of-mouth, as they are the real voices of users.
In fact, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, nearly 70% of people in their 20s to 60s refer to reviews.
For these reasons, it can be used as sufficient information as an alternative to third-party cookies.
Reference:
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Research on the contribution of ICT to social welfare that does not appear in GDP.p39
Regarding permission/denial of tracking
We will explain when to allow and deny tracking.
Allow tracking
When you allow apps and websites to track you, you’ll start seeing ads about the sites and search terms you’ve previously visited. Also, based on location information, etc., ads that are more likely to be desired by the user will be displayed.
For example, on iPhones with iOS 14 or later, “Allow tracking” pop-ups are increasingly displayed. If allowed, user behavior will be tracked, but may improve usability by providing the most relevant information to the user.
Do not allow tracking
If you refuse tracking, information about your usage history of sites you have visited in the past will not be passed on to apps and websites. Although it can reduce the risk of personal information leakage, users may be shown ads that are completely uninteresting to them.
Also, since your ID and password are not remembered when you log in, you will have to enter your ID and password every time you log in, which will be a hassle. It is easy to refuse tracking, and you can do so from the search tool settings screen.
Usability and convenience may deteriorate on iPhones with iOS14 or later.
Tracking security risks
Through tracking, companies that operate websites can learn about the usage history of users who actually visit the site, such as which parts of the site they pay attention to while reading, and the sites of other companies that they regularly use. Now you can track your data and create more effective marketing strategies.
On the other hand, the security risks associated with tracking are also viewed as an issue. Here, we will explain in detail about “session hijacking” and “session fixation”, which are often discussed.
session hijack
First of all, a session refers to a series of communication processes between the web server and browser, from the start of access to the end of access. Session hijacking refers to stealing the information exchanged in this communication and gaining unauthorized access on behalf of the user.
Session hijacking is possible when a web server steals the session ID, which is an identifier used to recognize a user’s session. This is done by illegally accessing information in tracking systems such as cookies in order to steal session IDs, so as long as tracking is in progress, there is a risk of session hijacking.
Nowadays, with the spread of the Internet and smartphones, it is now possible to browse websites and other information easily. Tracking contributes to improving the usability of the Internet, and is carried out to benefit both the companies operating the websites and the users who use the Internet.
However, it is also true that location information, frequently visited websites, advertising identifiers, etc. are acquired and transmitted as data without the user’s knowledge. It is important for users to consider whether it is really necessary to disclose information to the app or website they are considering, rather than allowing any kind of tracking from the app or website they are considering.
session fixation
Session fixation is an attack method used by malicious cyber attackers such as hackers to force users to use session IDs that are intentionally generated, thereby taking away the user’s privileges to use systems and applications. “Fixation” means “fixation” in Japanese, and is also called “session ID fixation.”
How to prevent tracking
Below we will explain how to prevent tracking.
Set privacy settings
Most major browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari allow you to set whether or not tracking is possible. If you set “Reject Tracking” in the tracking settings, no further tracking will be performed.
Use ad blocking tools
Some
ad blocking
tools also include tracking blocking functionality. You can also prevent tracking by using tools that have tracking blocking features.
Introduction of antivirus software
For example, even if you turn on the tracking block function in the OS or web browser, it is meaningless if the device itself becomes infected with malware or other viruses. Therefore, by introducing anti-virus software, you can also expect to have the effect of preventing tracking at the same time. Many antivirus software are equipped with anti-tracking features.
summary
With the development of Internet technology, companies that operate websites are now able to track which parts of the site the users who actually visit the site pay attention to while reading, as well as the usage history of other companies’ sites that they regularly use. You can now get information using the function.
When running a website such as a blog or an e-commerce site, it is very important to understand the needs of the users who visit it. By analyzing users’ hobbies and preferences, such as what websites they visit, you can use it for marketing and develop strategies to get more users to visit.
Also, for users, when using a website that requires login, once you enter your ID and password, the cookie system retains your login information, so even if you access the website after a while. , you can use it without having to enter your login information again.
Even on e-commerce sites, the items you put in your shopping cart are saved using cookies, so even if you leave the site in the middle of shopping, when you return to the page again, the items you put in your shopping cart will remain there. This makes it possible to use the Internet smoothly.
However, there are also security risks associated with tracking. In consideration of the possibility of information leakage, it is important for users to consider whether it is really necessary to disclose information to the app or website before using it, rather than allowing tracking at all costs. is.
With this understanding in mind, we hope that this article will be of some help to you so that you can use the Internet more comfortably and safely when using tracking.