Impact on removing analytics cookies

[VikramspATexper]

Hi,

We would like to understand the impact on removing the analytics cookie for our website on the reporting side.

[bjoern__koth]

Hi @VikramspATexper 

Adobe Analytics requires cookies to identify returning users. So, if you manually remove the cookie, the user will not be reidentified on the next page, being counted as new Visitor and hence inflating the Unique Visitor and Session count.

Are you asking due to the soon coming death of third-party cookies? Be aware that you can use first party cookies if you set up a CNAME on a subdomain of your website e.g. tracking.mycompany.com . Note though that this first-party cookie's lifetime may still be limited by certain browser functionalities like Safari's ITP.

Let me know if you have more questions on this topic.

Cheers from Switzerland
Björn

[Jennifer_Kunz]

Cookies are a key part of Analytics, so I'd push back and ask what the goal is of not having cookies. The anonymous identifiers in its cookies help Adobe keep track of the user as they go from page to page, and session to session. They are the basis for Visits and Visitors metrics, but also for any sort of persistence/attribution (if a user comes from paid search then make a purchase pages later, you want to be able to tie that purchase to that paid search campaign. Cookies are what ties that all together). 

There is no built-in mechanism to disable cookies; generally, either you're tracking the user (and cookies are being set) or you're not tracking (and there are no cookies). Technically, there is a way to send data with javascript without setting cookies, by hard-coding pixels, but it's not very supported and usually results in very messy data. You could also send data through Adobe's APIs, instead of relying on javascript and cookies, but that would rely on you having collected the data yourself already, and would still require some sort of identifier for each user. 

Fortunately, Adobe already primarily uses first-party cookies- see https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/core-services/interface/data-collection/cookies/overview. If you have a CNAME for tracking, then those cookies are slightly more reliable (though still limited by ITP). If you aren't using a CNAME implementation, the main cookies are still first-party, though some browsers are more likely to reject them. The only 3rd party cookie, if you have it enabled, is the demdex cookie, which in theory would help you identify visitors on different domains you have tracking on. 

[pradnya_balvir]

Hi @VikramspATexper ,

Adobe Analytics requires cookies to identify returning users. So, if you manually remove the cookie, the user will not be reidentified on the next page, being counted as new Visitor and hence inflating the Unique Visitor and Session count.

[VinayC]

Adobe Analytics utilizes cookies for the purpose of distinguishing requests originating from various browsers and retaining useful data for future application. Cookies serve the function of connecting browsing data with customer profiles. Additionally, they aid in identifying new website visitors anonymously, analyzing clickstream data, and monitoring past website interactions, including responses to specific campaigns or the duration of sales cycles.

Removing them will impact your user/customer/visitor data.