Cookies use with Adobe Analytics

[CM128]

Hi there. I have a question on cookie use with analytics. Does analytics work if we block / remove all the cookies it drops? Are there integral to the tool working, or will it still collect data, it just won't be as comprehensive? Many thanks, Chris. 

[Brian_Johnson_ · Accepted solution]

@CM128 -

Different cookies serve different purposes, so removing some will have more or less impact than removing others. At a minimum, I'm assuming you'll want to keep the visitor ID-related cookies. The following articles may help you make the decision that is best for your use case:

• Analytics Cookies - https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/core-services/interface/administration/ec-cookies/cookies-an...
• Adobe Analytics and browser cookies - https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/analytics/technotes/cookies/cookies.html?lang=en 

[CM128]

Thank you for getting back on his Brian. For a bit of context, we are working through privacy and cookie policies and with this in mind I'm looking to find out if analytics will still be collecting data even if no cookies are used at all? Is there one of the cookies that is an enabler if you like, which allows analytics to work at all? Kind regards, Chris.

[Brian_Johnson_]

No. The cookies are mostly used to help with visitor and session identification, so even without them, you'd still be able to collect data. The usability/quality of that data would suffer, but you'd still be able to collect it.

My recommendation for privacy implementations would be to simply block/not load the analytics tags and to not allow the network requests to fire. By not loading the related logic, the cookies will never be set and the data will never be sent to Analytics.

[pradeep_nextrow]

Hello @CM128 Adobe Analytics tracking will work even without cookies. It has a fall back mechanism and here is the order of operation for visitor identification : https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/id-service/using/reference/analytics-reference/analytics-ord...

Even it is technically possible, please follow the guidance from @Brian_Johnson_ for a great customer experience and improved privacy options.

Hope this is useful!