In the wake of the Austrian Google Analytics decision, we can question the impact of consent and obtaining only 30-40% of the data. The value of web analytics is bound to be questioned - how do you explain this to your boss? Some arguments: ►Web analytics has never been a perfect science. We’re in the realm of statistics with margins of errors. ►Even the broader “digital analytics” is not perfectly accurate and trustable… when Google Ads or Facebook tells you a number of impressions and clicks, there’s always a margin - sometimes a pretty big one because of ad fraud… ►Yet, this data is useful because it provides directional information to inform decisions. But also: ►What’s the reason for using web analytics in the first place? ▷Measure off-site marketing campaigns? Use “multiplicity” with other data sources ▷Measure web traffic? You might not be able to compare YoY, but you can compare smaller timeframes, or establish a baseline and extrapolate the results (careful with that!). ▷Optimize the website itself? 30% should be sufficient, depending on volume… ▷Make important high-level strategic decisions that are decisive for the future of the business? Typically not! And if so, certainly not the only source of truth! ►What are the alternatives? It is up to you to assess if 30% of something is better than 100% of nothing… ►Back-office data (mainly sales & clients data) is typically much more reliable - so whenever you can use that, it might be a better primary source of data ►Comparing YoY these days - given Covid - is a risky endeavour. Doable, but should be preceded with a bunch of warnings, stated assumptions and hypotheses ►Don’t neglect the qualitative data - be it social monitoring, call center logs (anonymized…), surveys or more traditional marketing methods of understanding your customers! The future of web analytics? ►privacy will be front and centre for marketers & analysts ►new ways of dealing with consent will emerge (consent banners are the worse thing since the creation of the BLINK tag) ►if the goal is to optimize the website, some solutions are emerging to do just that in a privacy-first way (or GA/Adobe can/will have ways to be configured in accordance to the law) ►for marketing, vendors trying to play a game of deceit and work around the spirit of the GDPR, ePrivacy and others will eventually get caught and shamed… and it will be costly for them, but also for those brands using their solutions Thoughts? Happy to discuss!