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Introduction
This document gives instructions on how to set up the Cookieless Tracking feature.
The Statistics module normally applies a cookie to the browser of the visitor. It is possible to remove this, and still allow us track the same data from visitors who refuse statistics cookies on the cookie banner.
The data tracked includes browsing behavior, geographical location, device information, and more.
Note: If Cookieless Tracking is enabled, the statistics from the cookie consent banner are not shown. This means that if you switch from cookie banner only to Cookieless Tracking, you might see a jump in the figures because the data is counted in a different way.
For more information see our FAQ article:
How it works
To gather the same data without a cookie, we rely on other pieces of information such as operating system, browser, browser plugins, user IP address, and browser language to assign a unique ID to each visitor in our systems.
The unique ID is only valid for 24 hours and visitor IP addresses are made fully anonymous until they are deleted.
This makes the solution privacy-friendly and prohibits fingerprinting.
Advantages
Practical: When users refuse statistical cookies via the cookie banner, Monsido can still gain valuable information without placing a cookie on their browser.
Symbolic: Show your audience that you care about their privacy.
Privacy: Visitors can rest assured that no unwanted files (cookies) are placed on their browser.
Legal: While not prohibited yet, cookies are becoming more and more unpopular as a tracking mechanism. In 2019, Google launched the Privacy Sandbox initiative, which aims to create a standard for websites to access user information without compromising the privacy of their visitors. Part of that initiative involves a move away from third-party cookies to gather data.
Disadvantages
There are few to no disadvantages with Cookieless Tracking.
Returning visitors: Since the unique visitor ID that Cookieless Tracking is based on expires after 24 hours, it makes it hard to track returning visitors and build visitor profiles over time. However, our Statistics feature does not provide visitor profiling. You can expect the same quality of visitor data without a cookie.
Instructions
This section gives instructions on how to set up Cookieless Tracking on your website.
Instructions for New Users
Click Admin Settings (gear icon) on the main toolbar from any page.
Note: The Settings button is only available to site admins.
The Domain Settings page opens.
On the same row as a domain, click Action.
The Action menu expands.
In the drop-down list, select Script Setup Guide.
The Set up your Domain page opens.
Click Enable Statistics to turn it on.
Click to turn on Enable Cookieless Tracking.
Click Save at the bottom of the page.
Copy the script and add it to the HTML code of the website. In the HTML editor, paste the script into the HEAD tag or place it before the </body> tag on every page.
Note: If Consent Manager is activated, the script must be in the HEAD tag in order to catch the cookies.
For more information, see the user guide article:
Add the Monsido Script.
Existing Statistics Users
Existing users of our Statistics feature can switch to Cookieless Tracking at any time. Follow the steps above to create a new script to publish.
When cookieless tracking is enabled, the analytics data merges seamlessly with your existing dataset to avoid the problem of two separate datasets (one for cookie-based tracking and one for cookieless).
Note: If Cookieless Tracking is enabled, the statistics from the cookie consent banner are not shown. This means that if you switch from cookie banner only to Cookieless Tracking, you might see a jump in the figures because the data is counted in a different way.
Advanced Setup
To set up Cookieless Tracking manually, see the instructions in:
Additional Resources
For more information on the topics covered in this article, see:
See Monsido for Developers collection for more documentation containing advanced help for developers.
For definitions and explanations of acronyms and abbreviations, see:
For further assistance, contact the support team or use the chat and help features inside the application on the main menu toolbar:
Live Support Chat (chat bubble icon).
Knowledge Base (Question mark icon).
Profile (user initials) expand the menu for the option to set up an online training session.