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• How to not process any personal data with Matomo and what it means for you

  22 avril 2018, par InnoCraft

  Disclaimer : this blog post has been written by digital analysts, not lawyers. The purpose of this article is to explain how to not process any personal data with Matomo in order to avoid going through the GDPR compliance process with Matomo analytics. This work comes from our interpretation of different sources : the official GDPR text and the UK privacy commission : ICO resources. It cannot be considered as a professional legal advice. So as GDPR, this information is subject to change. GDPR may be also known as RGPD in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Datenschutz-Grundverordnung, DS-GVO in German, Algemene verordening gegevensbescherming in Dutch, Regolamento generale sulla protezione dei dati in Italian.

  Are you looking for a way to not process any personal data with Matomo ? If the answer is yes, you are at the right place. From our understanding, if you are not processing personal data, then you shouldn’t be concerned about GDPR. Our inspiration came from this official reference :

  “The principles of data protection should therefore not apply to anonymous information, namely information which does not relate to an identified or identifiable natural person or to personal data rendered anonymous in such a manner that the data subject is not or no longer identifiable. This Regulation does not therefore concern the processing of such anonymous information, including for statistical or research purposes.“

  In this blog post we are going to see how you can configure Matomo in order to not process any personal data and what the consequences are.

  Which data is considered as personal according to GDPR ?

  From : eur-lex.europa.eu

  (1) “‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’) ; an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person ;”

  (30) “Natural persons may be associated with online identifiers provided by their devices, applications, tools and protocols, such as internet protocol addresses, cookie identifiers or other identifiers such as radio frequency identification tags. This may leave traces which, in particular when combined with unique identifiers and other information received by the servers, may be used to create profiles of the natural persons and identify them.”

  So according to your Matomo configuration, it may leave some traces within the following data :

  1. IP addresses
  2. Cookies identifiers
  3. Page URL or page titles
  4. User ID and Custom “personal” data
  5. Ecommerce order IDs
  6. Location
  7. Heatmaps & Session Recordings

  Let’s see each of them in more detail.

  1. IP addresses

  IP addresses can indirectly identify an individual. It can also give a good approximation of an individual’s location.

  IP addresses are therefore considered as personal data which means you need to anonymize them. To do so, a feature is available within Matomo, where you can anonymize the IP. We recommend you to anonymize at least the last two bytes :

  

  See our configuration guide for more information

  What are the consequences of using this feature ?

  When applying IP anonymization on two bytes, you will no longer be able to see the full IP in the UI.

  Moreover, there is a small chance that 2 different visitors with the same device and software configuration will be identified as the same visitor if the anonymised IP address is the same for both.

  2. Cookies

  It is not clear for us yet if all cookies are considered equal under GDPR. At this stage it is too early to make a definite decision.

  Did you know ? Matomo lets you optionally disable the creation of cookies by adding an extra line of code to your tracking code see below.

  

  See our configuration guide for more information

  What are the consequences of using this feature ?

  Matomo is using a few first party cookies, and the following cookies may hold personal data :

  • _pk_id : contains a visitor id used to identify unique visitors
  • _pk_ref : to identify from where they came from

  If Matomo cannot set cookies, it will use a technique called Fingerprint. It is based on several metadata such as the operating system, browser, browser plugins, IP address, browser language ; just to name a few to identify a unique visitor. As this feature is less accurate than the one using cookies, the number of visitors and visits will be affected.

  3. Page URLs and page titles

  URLs are not mentioned within the official GDPR text. However, we know that according to the different CMS you use, some of them may have URLs including personal identifiers.

  For example :

  

  As a result, you need to find a way to anonymize this data.

  There are several ways you can perform this action according to your website. If your website is adding the personal data through query parameters, you can define a rule to exclude them from Matomo.

  If the personal data are not included within query parameters, you can use the “setCustomURL” feature and write your code as follow :

  

  See our developer documentation for more information

  If you are also processing personal data within the title tag, you can use the following function : “setDocumentTitle”.

  What are the consequences of using this feature ?

  By anonymizing the URLs containing personal data, some of your  URLs will be grouped together.

  4. User ID and custom personal data

  User ID is a feature (a tracking code needs to be added) which allows you to identify the same user across different devices.

  A User ID needs a corresponding database in order to link a user across different devices, it can be an email, a username, a name, a random number… All those data are either direct or non direct online identifiers and are therefore under the scope of GDPR.

  It will be the same situation if you are using custom variables and/or custom dimensions in order to push personal data to the system.

  To continue using the User ID feature but not recording personal data, you can consider using a hash function which will anonymize/convert your actual User ID into something like “3jrj3j34434834urj33j3”.

  Alternatively, you can enable the feature “Anonymise User IDs”. This feature will be available starting in Matomo 3.5.0 :

  

  What are the consequences of using this feature ?

  Under GDPR, User ID is personal data. Anonymizing the User ID using a hash function or our built-in functionality make the User Id pseudo-anonymous, which means it can’t be easily identified to a specific user. As a result, you will still get accurate visits and unique visitors metrics, and the Visitor Profile, but without tracking the original User ID which is personal data.

  5. Ecommerce order IDs

  Order IDs are the reference number assigned to the products/services bought by your customers. As this information can be crossed with your internal database, it is considered as an online identifier and is therefore under the scope of GDPR. As for User ID, you can anonymize order IDs using our built-in functionality to Anonymise Order IDs (see section 4. about User Id).

  What are the consequences of anonymizing order ID ?

  It really depends on your former use of order IDs. If you were not using them in the past then you should not see any difference.

  6. Location

  Based on the IP address of a visitor, Matomo can detect the visitors location. Location data is problematic for privacy as this technology has become quite accurate and can detect not only the city a visitor is from, but sometimes an even more precise position of a visitor.

  

  In order to not leave any accurate traces, we strongly recommend you to enable the IP anonymization feature. Next, you need to enable the setting “Also use the anonymized IP address when enriching visits”. You find this setting directly below the IP anonymization. This is important as otherwise the full IP address will be used to geolocate a visitor.

  

  What are the consequences of anonymizing location data ?

  The more bytes you anonymize from the IP, the more anonymized your location will be. When you remove two bytes as suggested, the city and region location reports will not be as accurate. In some cases even the country may not be detected correctly anymore.

  7. Heatmaps & Session Recordings

  Heatmaps & Session Recording is a premium feature in Matomo allowing you to see where users click, hover, type and scroll. With session recordings you can then replay their actions in a video.

  Heatmaps & Session Recordings are under the scope of GDPR as they can disclose in some specific cases (for example : filling a contact form) personal data :

  

  To avoid this, Matomo will anonymize all keystrokes which a user enters into a form field unless you specifically whitelist a field. Many fields that could contain personal data, such as a credit card, phone number, email address, password, social security number, and more are always anonymized and not recorded.

  See our configuration guide for more information

  Note that a page may still show personal information within the page as part of regular content (not a form element). For example an address, or the profile page of a forum user. We have added a feature which allows you to set an HTML attribute “data-matomo-mask” to anonymize any personal content shown in the UI.

  What are the consequences of using this feature ?

  Mainly, you will not be able to see in plain text what people are entering into your forms.

  What should you do with past data ?

  Once more, we have to say that we are not lawyers. So do not take our answers as legal advice. From : ec.europa.eu/newsroom/article29/document.cfm ?doc_id=50053

  “For example, as the GDPR requires that a controller must be able to demonstrate that valid consent was obtained, all presumed consents of which no references are kept will automatically be below the consent standard of the GDPR and will need to be renewed.”

  Our interpretation is that, if you were previously relying on consent, unless you can demonstrate that valid consent was obtained, you need to get the consent back (which is almost impossible) or you need to anonymize or remove that data.

  To anonymize previously tracked data, we are actively working on a feature to do just that directly within Matomo. Alternatively, you may also set up the deletion of logs after a certain amount of time.

  We really hope you enjoyed reading this article. GDPR is still on the go and we are pretty sure you have a lot of questions about it. You probably would like to share our vision about it. So do not hesitate to ask us through our contact form to see how we are interpreting GDPR at Matomo and InnoCraft.

  The post How to not process any personal data with Matomo and what it means for you appeared first on Analytics Platform - Matomo.

• What is Audience Segmentation ? The 5 Main Types & Examples

  16 novembre 2023, par Erin — Analytics Tips

  The days of mass marketing with the same message for millions are long gone. Today, savvy marketers instead focus on delivering the most relevant message to the right person at the right time.

  They do this at scale by segmenting their audiences based on various data points. This isn’t an easy process because there are many types of audience segmentation. If you take the wrong approach, you risk delivering irrelevant messages to your audience — or breaking their trust with poor data management.

  In this article, we’ll break down the most common types of audience segmentation, share examples highlighting their usefulness and cover how you can segment campaigns without breaking data regulations.

  What is audience segmentation ?

  Audience segmentation is when you divide your audience into multiple smaller specific audiences based on various factors. The goal is to deliver a more targeted marketing message or to glean unique insights from analytics.

  It can be as broad as dividing a marketing campaign by location or as specific as separating audiences by their interests, hobbies and behaviour.

  

  Audience segmentation inherently makes a lot of sense. Consider this : an urban office worker and a rural farmer have vastly different needs. By targeting your marketing efforts towards agriculture workers in rural areas, you’re honing in on a group more likely to be interested in farm equipment. 

  Audience segmentation has existed since the beginning of marketing. Advertisers used to select magazines and placements based on who typically read them. They would run a golf club ad in a golf magazine, not in the national newspaper.

  How narrow you can make your audience segments by leveraging multiple data points has changed.

  Why audience segmentation matters

  In a survey by McKinsey, 71% of consumers said they expected personalisation, and 76% get frustrated when a vendor doesn’t deliver.

  

  These numbers reflect expectations from consumers who have actively engaged with a brand — created an account, signed up for an email list or purchased a product.

  They expect you to take that data and give them relevant product recommendations — like a shoe polishing kit if you bought nice leather loafers.

  If you don’t do any sort of audience segmentation, you’re likely to frustrate your customers with post-sale campaigns. If, for example, you just send the same follow-up email to all customers, you’d damage many relationships. Some might ask : “What ? Why would you think I need that ?” Then they’d promptly opt out of your email marketing campaigns.

  To avoid that, you need to segment your audience so you can deliver relevant content at all stages of the customer journey.

  5 key types of audience segmentation

  To help you deliver the right content to the right person or identify crucial insights in analytics, you can use five types of audience segmentation : demographic, behavioural, psychographic, technographic and transactional.

  

  Demographic segmentation 

  Demographic segmentation is when you segment a larger audience based on demographic data points like location, age or other factors.

  The most basic demographic segmentation factor is location, which is easy to leverage in marketing efforts. For example, geographic segmentation can use IP addresses and separate marketing efforts by country. 

  But more advanced demographic data points are becoming increasingly sensitive to handle. Especially in Europe, GDPR makes advanced demographics a more tentative subject. Using age, education level and employment to target marketing campaigns is possible. But you need to navigate this terrain thoughtfully and responsibly, ensuring meticulous adherence to privacy regulations.

  Potential data points :

  • Location
  • Age
  • Marital status
  • Income
  • Employment 
  • Education

  Example of effective demographic segmentation :

  A clothing brand targeting diverse locations needs to account for the varying weather conditions. In colder regions, showcasing winter collections or insulated clothing might resonate more with the audience. Conversely, in warmer climates, promoting lightweight or summer attire could be more effective. 

  Here are two ads run by North Face on Facebook and Instagram to different audiences to highlight different collections :

  

  Each collection is featured differently and uses a different approach with its copy and even the media. With social media ads, targeting people based on advanced demographics is simple enough — you can just single out the factors when making your campaign. But if you don’t want to rely on these data-mining companies, that doesn’t mean you have no options for segmentation.

  Consider allowing people to self-select their interests or preferences by incorporating a short survey within your email sign-up form. This simple addition can enhance engagement, decrease bounce rates, and ultimately improve conversion rates, offering valuable insights into audience preferences.

  This is a great way to segment ethically and without the need of data-mining companies.

  Behavioural segmentation

  Behavioural segmentation segments audiences based on their interaction with your website or app.

  You use various data points to segment your target audience based on their actions.

  Potential data points :

  • Page visits
  • Referral source
  • Clicks
  • Downloads
  • Video plays
  • Goal completion (e.g., signing up for a newsletter or purchasing a product)

  Example of using behavioural segmentation to improve campaign efficiency :

  One effective method involves using a web analytics tool such as Matomo to uncover patterns. By segmenting actions like specific clicks and downloads, pinpoint valuable trends—identifying actions that significantly enhance visitor conversions. 

  

  For instance, if a case study video substantially boosts conversion rates, elevate its prominence to capitalise on this success.

  Then, you can set up a conditional CTA within the video player. Make it pop up after the user has watched the entire video. Use a specific form and sign them up to a specific segment for each case study. This way, you know the prospect’s ideal use case without surveying them.

  This is an example of behavioural segmentation that doesn’t rely on third-party cookies.

  Psychographic segmentation

  Psychographic segmentation is when you segment audiences based on your interpretation of their personality or preferences.

  Potential data points :

  • Social media patterns
  • Follows
  • Hobbies
  • Interests

  Example of effective psychographic segmentation :

  Here, Adidas segments its audience based on whether they like cycling or rugby. It makes no sense to show a rugby ad to someone who’s into cycling and vice versa. But to rugby athletes, the ad is very relevant.

  

  If you want to avoid social platforms, you can use surveys about hobbies and interests to segment your target audience in an ethical way.

  Technographic segmentation

  Technographic segmentation is when you single out specific parts of your audience based on which hardware or software they use.

  Potential data points :

  • Type of device used
  • Device model or brand
  • Browser used

  Example of segmenting by device type to improve user experience :

  Upon noticing a considerable influx of tablet users accessing their platform, a leading news outlet decided to optimise their tablet browsing experience. They overhauled the website interface, focusing on smoother navigation and better readability for tablet users. These changes offered tablet users a seamless and enjoyable reading experience tailored precisely to their device.

  Transactional segmentation

  Transactional segmentation is when you use your customers’ purchase history to better target your marketing message to their needs.

  When consumers prefer personalisation, they typically mean based on their actual transactions, not their social media profiles.

  Potential data points :

  • Average order value
  • Product categories purchased within X months
  • X days since the last purchase of a consumable product

  Example of effective transactional segmentation :

  A pet supply store identifies a segment of customers consistently purchasing cat food but not other pet products. They create targeted email campaigns offering discounts or loyalty rewards specifically for cat-related items to encourage repeat purchases within this segment.

  If you want to improve customer loyalty and increase revenue, the last thing you should do is send generic marketing emails. Relevant product recommendations or coupons are the best way to use transactional segmentation.

  B2B-specific : Firmographic segmentation

  Beyond the five main segmentation types, B2B marketers often use “firmographic” factors when segmenting their campaigns. It’s a way to segment campaigns that go beyond the considerations of the individual.

  Potential data points :

  • Company size
  • Number of employees
  • Company industry
  • Geographic location (office)

  Example of effective firmographic segmentation :

  Companies of different sizes won’t need the same solution — so segmenting leads by company size is one of the most common and effective examples of B2B audience segmentation.

  The difference here is that B2B campaigns are often segmented through manual research. With an account-based marketing approach, you start by researching your potential customers. You then separate the target audience into smaller segments (or even a one-to-one campaign).

  Start segmenting and analysing your audience more deeply with Matomo

  Segmentation is a great place to start if you want to level up your marketing efforts. Modern consumers expect to get relevant content, and you must give it to them.

  But doing so in a privacy-sensitive way is not always easy. You need the right approach to segment your customer base without alienating them or breaking regulations.

  That’s where Matomo comes in. Matomo champions privacy compliance while offering comprehensive insights and segmentation capabilities. With robust privacy controls and cookieless configuration, it ensures GDPR and other regulations are met, empowering data-driven decisions without compromising user privacy.

  Take advantage of our 21-day free trial to get insights that can help you improve your marketing strategy and better reach your target audience. No credit card required.

• Blog series part 1 : How to use Matomo to increase customer acquisitions for your business

  2 septembre 2020, par Joselyn Khor — Analytics Tips, Marketing
  Are you investing time and money into marketing your business and unsure if it’s paying off ? Web analytics provides the tools and insights to help you know which marketing channels to target and focus on. Without it you might be going in blind and missing opportunities that might’ve been easily found in your metrics.

  Increasing acquisition cheat sheet

  To increase customer acquisition on your website you need to first attract the right visitors to your website. Then capturing their attention and engaging them in your content. Finally you’ll want to convert by driving them through a streamlined funnel/buyer’s journey on your website all backed up by data.

  So, how do you attract audiences to your site with a web analytics tool like Matomo ?

  1. Figure out who your audience is through the Visitor Profiles feature. 
  2. Calculate the Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC) to plan for growth. To grow and make your business/website sustainable, you’ll need to earn more money from a customer than you spend on acquiring them. How to calculate : Divide marketing spend by the number of customers acquired. 
  3. Figure out which marketing channels e.g., social media, PPC, SEO, content marketing, etc., you should invest more in and which of those you should focus less on.

  How to increase acquisitions with Matomo

  1. Use the Acquisitions feature
  2. Use funnels
  3. Study Visitor Profiles
  4. Focus on SEO efforts
  5. Look at the Multi Attribution feature
  6. Set goals
  7. Set Advanced eCommerce reporting

  1. Use the Acquisitions feature

  Matomo Analytics has a dedicated Acquisition feature to help with some of the heavy-lifting, making it easy for you to formulate targeted acquisition plans.

  

  This feature helps you learn who your potential customers are and figure out what marketing channels are converting the best for these visitors.

  • Learn what traffic you get from external websites : Knowing who’s helping you succeed from external websites is a crucial step to be able to focus your attention. Paid sponsorships, guest blog posts or even spending more on advertising on the particular website could result in greater traffic.

  • Social Networks : See which social media channels are connecting with the audiences you want. Take the guesswork out by using only the ones you need. By finding out which social channels your ideal audience prefers, you can generate shareable, convincing and engaging content to drive shares and traffic through to your site.

  • Campaigns : Your marketing team may have spent precious time and resource coming up with campaigns that are designed to succeed, but how can you be so sure ? With Campaigns you can understand what marketing campaigns are working, what aren’t, and shift your marketing efforts accordingly to gain more visitors, more effectively, with less costs. Keep track of every ad and content piece you display across internal and external channels to see which is having the biggest impact on your business objectives. Learn more

  

  Watch this video to learn about the Acquisitions feature

  2. Use funnels

  Creating conversion funnels gives you the big picture on whether your acquisition plans are paying off and where they may be falling short.

  

  If the ultimate goal of your site is to drive conversions, then each funnel can tell you how effectively you’re driving traffic through to your desired outcome.

  By integrating this with Visitor Profiles, you can view historic visitor profiles of any individual user at any stage of the conversion funnel. You see the full user journey at an individual level, including where they entered the funnel from and where they exited. Learn more

  How to amplify acquisition strategies with Funnels : Use conversion funnels to guide acquisition as you can tell which entry point is bringing the most success and which one needs more attention. Tailor your strategies to zone in on areas that have the most potential. You can identify where your visitors are encountering obstacles from the start, that are stopping them from progressing through their journey on your site.

  3. Study Visitor Profiles

  Visitor Profiles helps you understand visitors on a user-by-user basis, detailing each visitors’ history into a profile which summarises every visit, action and purchase made.

  

  Better understand :

  • Why your visitors viewed your website.

  • Why your returning visitors continue to view your website.

  • What specifically your visitors are looking for and whether they found it on your website.

  The benefit is being able to see how a combination of acquisition channels play a part in a single buyer’s journey.

  How Visitor Profiles helps with acquisition : By understanding the full behavioural patterns of any individual user coming through from external channels, you’ll see the path that led them to take action, where they may have gotten lost, and how engaged they are with your business over time. This gives you an indication of what kinds of visitors you’re attracting and helps you craft a buyer persona that more accurately reflects the audience most interested in you.

  TRY IT FOR FREE

  4. Focus on SEO efforts

  Every acquisition plan needs a focus on maximising your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts. When it comes to getting conclusive search engine referrer metrics, you need to be sure you’re getting ALL the insights to drive your SEO strategy.

  Integrate Google, Bing and Yahoo search consoles directly into your Matomo Analytics. This helps kickstart your acquisition goals as you rank highly for keywords that get the most traffic to your website.

  As another major SEO benefit, you can see how the most important search keywords to your business increased and decreased in ranking over time. 

  How to amplify acquisitions strategies with search engines and keywords : By staying on top of your competitors across ALL search engines, you may uncover traffic converting highly from one search engine, or find you could be losing traffic and business opportunities to your competitors across others.

  5. Look at the Multi Attribution feature

  Multi Attribution lets you measure the success of every touchpoint in the customer journey.

  

  Accurately measure (and assign value to) channels where visitors first engaged with your business, where they came from after that, as well as the final channel they came from before purchasing your product or service.

  No longer falsely over-estimate any marketing channel and make smarter decisions when determining acquisition spend to accurately calculate the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). Learn more

  6. Set your Goals

  What are the acquisition goals you want to achieve the most ? The Goals feature lets you measure the most important metrics you need to grow your business.

  

  Goals are crucial for building your marketing strategy and acquiring new customers. The more goals you track, the more you can learn about behavioural changes as you implement and modify paths that impact acquisition and conversions over time. You’ll understand which channels are converting the best for your business, which cities/countries are most popular, what devices will attract the most visitors and how engaged your visitors are before converting.

  This way you can see if your campaigns (SEO, PPC, signups, blogs etc.) or optimising efforts (A/B Testing, Funnels) have made an impact with the time and investment you have put in. Learn more

  7. Set Advanced Ecommence reporting

  If your website’s overall purpose is to generate revenue whether it be from an online store, asking for donations or from an online paid membership site ; the Ecommerce feature gives you comprehensive insights into your customers’ purchasing behaviours.

  

  When you use Ecommerce analytics, you heavily reduce risk when marketing your products to potential customers because you will understand who to target, what to target them with and where further opportunities exist to have the greatest impact for your business. Learn more

  Key takeaway

  Having the tools to ensure you’re creating a well planned acquisition strategy is key to attracting and capturing the attention of potential visitors/leads, and then driving them through a funnel/buyer’s journey on your website. Because of Matomo’s reputation as a trusted analytics platform, the features above can be used to assist you in making smarter data-driven decisions. You can pursue different acquisition avenues with confidence and create a strategy that’s agile and ready for success, all while respecting user privacy.

  TRY IT FOR FREE

  Want to learn how to increase engagement with Matomo ? Look out for part 2 ! We’ll go through how you can boost engagement on your website via web analytics.