Less data, but relevant.
General Data Protection Regulation
On May 25, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will enter into force, bringing quite a few changes to the field of obtaining, storing and processing personal data of individuals.
One of the essential changes is that the collection of personal data is only permitted based on the express consent of the individual. The manager must clearly tell the individual why his data will be used and how long it will be stored. In addition, it must enable him to revoke his consent to data processing at any time (in an easy way).
Are cookies already personal data in digital marketing?
According to the new regulation, cookies are part of personal data, as a result of which the individual will have to give consent to the recording of cookies, which must be voluntary, unambiguous and demonstrable.
A mere notification that the website "uses cookies" will therefore no longer be enough. It will be necessary to indicate which cookies we record, for how long and for what purposes. Only after the user's consent can the recording begin. In addition, the user must be able to subsequently withdraw consent.
The relevance of web analytics in digital marketing
With strict rules regarding the recording of cookies, the question arises as to whether web analytics as we have known it until now is still relevant at all. Data obtained through Google Analytics and similar analytical tools will show a rather distorted picture.
We will never be able to know exactly how many users, for example, visited our website but did not give their consent for the data to be recorded. Patterns of user behavior (such as number of pages viewed, time spent on page, etc.) will thus be highly generalized and modeled on unrealistic numbers.
Custom analytics for successful digital marketing
One of the alternatives to classic analytical tools is custom analytics ("1st party analytics"). Although it is not defined as an exception, this form of analytics is considered less invasive (insofar as it does not record personal data) and therefore the presumed consent is sufficient for it. Nevertheless, users must have the option of subsequently rejecting the use of such cookies.
Custom analytics makes it possible to collect a much more limited set of user data, but we have to ask ourselves what data we actually need to optimize our website effectively. Usually, less is more, right!?
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*This article is designed as an interpretation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), but does not constitute legal advice.