How to Implement Anonymous Page View Tracking with Adobe Launch & Adobe Analytics (Without User Consent)

[SaurabhPathakRa]

Hi everyone,
I'm exploring ways to set up anonymous page view tracking using Adobe Launch and Adobe Analytics, specifically in scenarios where user consent is not provided (e.g., users ignore or decline the consent banner).

My goal is to capture basic page view data without relying on cookies or persistent identifiers. Ideally, this would be a lightweight, privacy-respecting implementation that still allows for high-level traffic analysis.

A few questions I have:

• Is there a recommended approach for cookieless tracking using Adobe Analytics?
• Can the Data Insertion API or server-side calls be used to bypass client-side consent restrictions?
• Are there best practices for configuring Launch rules to fire anonymously, without violating consent policies?
• Has anyone successfully implemented a setup that respects opt-out but still captures anonymous traffic trends?

Any guidance, examples, or documentation links would be greatly appreciated!

[bjoern__koth]

hi @SaurabhPathakRa 
It depends. The classic AppMeasurement library provides a way to define cookie lifetime, which can be set to "session". This will still set cookies, but depending on which lawyer you ask, this may be acceptable (though it is a grey zone).

The data insertion API would work for directly ingesting data into Analytics, alternatively you could be importing your server access logs into the experience platform.
You will have to bring them into an XDM compatible schema through. Be aware though that in that case your unique visitor numbers will go through the roof, so this is really mainly just to get page views in, irrespective from visitor numbers.

Also, this would likely have to be a batch import that runs e.g, nightly, so it will come with a delay.

Latter is surely the most GDPR compliant approach you can choose for anonymous statistics 

[SaurabhPathakRa]

@bjoern__koth 

We’re currently working on implementing a compliant tracking setup using Adobe Launch, ECID Opt-In configuration, and OneTrust as our CMP. Our goal is to ensure that:

• Only one anonymous page view is triggered before consent, using session-based cookies and no persistent identifiers.
• No additional tracking occurs after consent is declined, in full alignment with GDPR and other privacy regulations.

We’ve configured the ECID extension with Opt-In enabled, and are planning to fire a separate rule before consent that captures basic page view data anonymously. This rule will:

• Use session cookies (cookieLifetime = "Session")
• Avoid setting ECID or other persistent identifiers
• Be scoped to fire only once, before consent is given

We’re looking for any official guidance or implementation resources that support this approach. For now, we’re prioritizing a lightweight, privacy-respecting solution that still allows us to capture high-level traffic trends

[bjoern__koth]

The documentation states

• If set to SESSION, cookies set by AppMeasurement expire after the browser session completes.
• If set to NONE, AppMeasurement does not attempt to set cookies.

So in that case maybe try "NONE" instead.

s.cookieLifetime = "NONE";

One caveat though is that (to my knowledge), you cannot change this value on the page the users lands on upon consent is given.

So, this may have to be a setting on the next page.

Bear in mind though that not having cookies will bloat your unique visitor numbers.

Also, people might still think they are being tracked, even without their given consent.

As another option, if you are using OneTrust, you can enable anonymous consent tracking per consent category in a dashboard hosted on OneTrust side.

This should give you an indication of how much traffic you may be losing. This obviously won't count the instances of people having ad blockers installed since most of the time, these block the consent banners altogether.

[nitesh__anwani]

Hi @bjoern__koth ,

Is it possible to achieve this with the Web SDK implementation?

Thanks,

Nitesh

[bjoern__koth]

Hi @nitesh__anwani 

to my knowledge not. There is no setting in the Web SDK configuration that allows you to set the cookie lifetime. 
And the Edge network requires cookies to work properly.

[nitesh__anwani]

Hi @bjoern__koth ,

Thank you for the confirmation.

Is there any workaround to configure the Visitor ID cookie as a session-based cookie, to remain compliant with anonymous tracking requirements under GDPR?

[bjoern__koth]

Unfortunately not. Even session based cookies are a bit of a grey zone since they are still using a cookie.

So, I would anyway check with your legal department first.