Implementing Anonymous Tracking for Non-Consent Users

Question

Hi Folks,

I’ve received a requirement from the product team to implement anonymous tracking on the website pages to measure content consumption even when users deny performance cookie consent.

We plan to use an additional variable to indicate the user’s consent status. This will ensure that any hits collected without consent are only used for aggregate reporting and not for any re-engagement or personalization activities.

We’re currently exploring possible implementation approaches. One of the primary requirements from the Legal team is that no cookies should persist beyond the session for users who have not provided consent.

I tried setting s.cookieLifetime = "SESSION", which worked correctly for the AMCV_<orgid> cookie. However, I noticed that the s_ecid cookie still persists in the user’s browser. Since the s_ecid cookie is used to regenerate the same ECID upon subsequent sessions, this behavior does not meet the Legal team’s requirement of preventing cookie persistence beyond the session.

Could you please share any recommendations or best practices on how this requirement can be handled?

Thanks and regards,
Nitesh

Jennifer_Dungan · Accepted Answer

Hi Nitish,

I assume you are using AppMeasurement and not WebSDK?

While I haven't implemented this myself (only using some demo code), to deal with the ECID you will have to use the Opt-In settings inside the Experience Cloud ID Service...

Depending on your needs, I believe you need to choose a default state and most importantly, set up the permissions:

In this example, I set the default to "false" for ECID and Analytics... if you are "opt in until otherwise told to opt out, then set the default to true. I think you would just need ECID.

I would actually make the Previous Permission a Data Element, that reads from your consent tool, and sets the values appropriately....

I think you will have to make sure that rules trigger in an appropriate order, but as soon as you are able to, read your consent model, set the JSON for your ECID into your Data Element and then this extension should respect the true or false state... If you find that the ECID is set, then later the user rejects; and the ECID is still present; you may need to have some custom code to delete the ECID cookie....

bjoern__koth · Answer

Hi @nitesh__anwani

Web SDK doesn't work without cookies and the session based cookie setting would also be a grey zone your legal team has to sign off. A session cookie remains a cookie even though it is limited in lifetime.

In the past, I have used a truly cookieless, fully anonymous through the use of a proxy that stripped outgoing and incoming cookies, but that was also with AppMeasurement and I cannot say whether this would still work with Web SDK and the way the Edge network works.

Bottom line, respect the users' cookie consent and accept the fact that you'll lose maybe 30% of trackable data. It is like it is and the Wild West times when one - and especially marketeers could do, and did - whatever you wanted are finally over xD

Analytics is about trends, and not an exact science I always try to tell my clients.

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