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• What Is Data Ethics & Why Is It Important in Business ?

  9 mai, par Erin

  Data is powerful — every business on earth uses data. But some are leveraging it more than others.

  The problem ?

  Not all businesses are using data ethically.

  You need to collect, store, and analyse data to grow your business. But, if you aren’t careful, you could be crossing the line with your data usage into unethical territories.

  In a society where data is more valuable than ever, it’s crucial you perform ethical practices.

  In this article, we break down what data ethics is, why it’s important in business and how you can implement proper data ethics to ensure you stay compliant while growing your business.

  What is data ethics ?

  Data ethics are how a business collects, protects and uses data.

  It’s one field of ethics focused on organisations’ moral obligation to collect, track, analyse and interpret data correctly.

  

  Data ethics analyses multiple ways we use data :

  • Collecting data
  • Generating data
  • Tracking data
  • Analysing data
  • Interpreting data
  • Implementing activities based on data

  Data ethics is a field that asks, “Is this right or wrong ?”

  And it also asks, “Can we use data for good ?”

  If businesses use data unethically, they could get into serious hot water with their customers and even with the law.

  You need to use data to ensure you grow your business to the best of your ability. But, to maintain a clean slate in the eyes of your customers and authorities, you need to ensure you have strong data ethics.

  Why you need to follow data ethics principles

  In 2018, hackers broke into British Airways’ website by inserting harmful code, leading website visitors to a fraudulent site. 

  The result ? 

  British Airways customers gave their information to the hackers without realising it : credit cards, personal information, login information, addresses and more.

  While this was a malicious attack, the reality is that data is an integral part of everyday life. Businesses need to do everything they can to protect their customers’ data and use it ethically.

  Data ethics is crucial to understand as it sets the standard for what’s right and wrong for businesses. Without a clear grasp of data ethics, companies will willingly or neglectfully misuse data.

  With a firm foundation of data ethics, businesses worldwide can make a collective effort to function smoothly, protect their customers, and, of course, protect their own reputation. 

  3 benefits of leaning into data ethics

  We’re currently transitioning to a new world led by artificial intelligence.

  While AI presents endless opportunities for innovation in the business world, there are also countless risks at play, and it’s never been more important to develop trust with your customers and stakeholders.

  With an influx of data being created and tracked daily, you need to ensure your business is prioritising data ethics to ensure you maintain trust with your customers moving forward.

  

  Here are three benefits of data ethics that will help you develop trust, maintain a solid reputation and stay compliant to continue growing your business :

  1. Compliance with data privacy

  Privacy is everything. 

  In a world where our data is being collected nonstop, and we live more public lives than ever with social media, AI and an influx of recording and tracking in everyday life, you need to protect the privacy of your customers.

  One crucial way to protect that privacy is by complying with major data privacy regulations.

  Some of the most common regulations you need to remain compliant with include :

  • General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
  • California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
  • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
  • General Personal Data Protection Law (LGPD)
  • Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations (PECR)

  While these regulations don’t directly address ethics, there’s a core overlap between privacy requirements like accountability, lawfulness and AI ethics.

  Matomo ensures you protect the privacy of your web and app users so you can track and improve your website performance with peace of mind.

  2. Maintain a good reputation

  While data ethics can help you maintain data privacy compliance, it can also help you maintain a good reputation online and offline.

  All it takes is one bad event like the British Airways breach for your company’s reputation to be ruined.

  If you want to keep a solid reputation and maintain trust with your stakeholders, customers and lawmakers, then you need to focus on developing strong data ethics.

  Businesses that invest time in establishing proper data ethics set the right foundation to protect their reputation, develop trust with stakeholders and create goodwill and loyalty.

  3. Increased trust means greater revenue

  What happens when you establish proper data ethics ?

  You’ll gain the trust of your customers, maintain a solid reputation and increase your brand image.

  Customers who trust you to protect their privacy and data want to keep doing business with you.

  So, what’s the end result for a business that values data ethics ?

  You’ll generate more revenue in the long run. Trust is one thing you should never put on the back burner if you have plans to keep growing your business. By leaning more into data ethics, you’ll be able to build that brand reputation that helps people feel comfortable buying your products and services on repeat.

  While spending time and money on data ethics may seem like an annoyance, the reality is that it’s a business investment that will pay dividends for years to come.

  5 core data ethics principles

  So, what exactly is involved in data ethics ?

  For most people, data ethics is a pretty broad and vague term. If you’re curious about the core pillars of data ethics, then keep reading.

  Here are five core data ethical principles you need to follow to ensure you’re protecting your customers’ data and maintaining trust :

  

  1. Data ownership

  The individual owns the data, not you. This is the first principle of data ethics. You don’t have control over someone else’s data. It’s theirs, and they have full ownership over it.

  Just as stealing a TV from an electronics store is a crime, stealing (or collecting) someone’s personal data without their consent is considered unlawful and unethical.

  Consent is the only way to ethically “own” someone’s data.

  How can you collect someone’s data ethically ?

  • Digital privacy policies
  • Signed, written agreements
  • Popups with checkboxes that allow you to track users’ behaviour

  Essentially, anytime you’re collecting data from your website or app users, you need to ensure you’re asking permission for that data.

  You should never assume a website visitor or customer is okay with you collecting your data automatically. Instead, ask permission to collect, track and use their data to avoid legal and ethical issues.

  2. Transparency

  The second core principle of data ethics within business is transparency. This means you need to be fully transparent on when, where and how you :

  • Collect data
  • Store data
  • Use data

  In other words, you need to allow your customers and website visitors to have a window inside your data activities.

  They need to be able to see exactly how you plan on using the data you’re collecting from them.

  For example, imagine you implemented a new initiative to personalise the website experience for each user based on individual behaviour. To do this, you’ll need to track cookies. In this case, you’d need to write up a new policy stating how this behavioural data is going to be collected, tracked and used.

  It’s within your website visitors’ rights to access this information so they can choose whether or not they want to accept or decline your website’s cookies.

  With any new data collection or tracking, you need to be 100% clear about how you’re going to use the data. You can’t be deceptive, misleading, or withholding any information on how you will use the data, as this is unethical and, in many cases, unlawful.

  3. Privacy

  Another important branch of ethics is privacy. The ethical implications of this should be obvious.

  When your users, visitors, or customers enter your sphere of influence and you begin collecting data on them, you are responsible for keeping that data private.

  When someone accepts the terms of your data usage, they’re not agreeing to have their data released to the public. They’re agreeing to let you leverage that data as their trusted business provider to better serve them. They expect you to maintain privacy.

  You can’t spread private information to third parties. You can’t blast this data to the public. 

  This is especially important if someone allows you to collect and use their personally identifiable information (PII), such as :

  • First and last name
  • Email address
  • Date of birth
  • Home address
  • Phone number

  To protect your audience’s data, you should only store it in a secure database. 

  

  For example, Matomo’s web analytics solution guarantees the privacy of both your users and analytics data.

  With Matomo, you have complete ownership of your data. Unlike other web analytics solutions that exploit your data for advertising purposes, Matomo users can use analytics with confidence, knowing that their data won’t be sold to advertisers.

  Learn more about data privacy with Matomo here.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, while respecting user privacy.

  Start for free

  No credit card required

  4. Intention

  When you collect and store data, you need to tell your users why you’re collecting their data. But there’s another principle of data ethics that goes beyond the reason you give your customers.

  Intention is the reason you give yourself for collecting and using the data.

  Before you start collecting and storing data, you should ask yourself the following :

  • Why you need it
  • What you’ll gain from it
  • What changes you’ll be able to make after you analyse the data

  If your intention is wrong in any way, it’s unethical to collect the data :

  • You’re collecting data to hurt others
  • You’re collecting data to profit from your users’ weaknesses
  • You’re collecting data for any other malicious reason

  When you collect data, you need to have the right intentions to maintain proper data ethics ; otherwise, you could harm your brand, break trust and ruin your reputation.

  5. Outcomes

  You may have the best intentions, but sometimes, there are negative outcomes from data use.

  For example, British Airways’ intention was not to allow hackers to gain access and harm their users. But the reality is that their customers’ data was stolen and used for malicious purposes. While this isn’t technically unlawful, the outcome of collecting data ended badly.

  To ensure proper data ethics, you must have good standing with your data. This means protecting your users at all costs, maintaining a good reputation and ensuring proper privacy measures are set up.

  How to implement data ethics as a business leader

  As a business leader, CTO or CEO, it’s your responsibility to implement data ethics within your organisation. Here are some tips to implement data ethics based on the size and stage of your organisation :

  Startups

  If you’re a startup, you need to be mindful of which technology and tools you use to collect, store and use data to help you grow your business.

  It can be a real challenge to juggle all the moving parts of a startup since things can change so quickly. However, it’s crucial to establish a leader and allow easy access to ethical analysis resources to maintain proper data ethics early on.

  Small and medium-sized businesses

  As you begin scaling, you’ll likely be using even more technology. With each new business technique you implement, there will be new ways you’ll be collecting user data. 

  One of the key processes involved in managing data as you grow is to hire engineers who build out different technologies. You must have protocols, best practices and management overseeing the new technologies being built to ensure proper data ethics.

  Global businesses

  Have you scaled internationally ?

  There will be even more rules, laws, regulations and organisations to answer to if you start managing data unethically.

  You should have established teams or departments to ensure you follow proper privacy and data protocols worldwide. When you have a large organisation, you have more money and vast amounts of data. This makes you a bigger target for leaks, ransomware and hackers.

  You should ensure you have cross-departmental groups working to establish ongoing protocols and training to keep your data management in good standing.

  Leverage data ethically with Matomo

  Data is powerful.

  It’s a crucial point of leverage that’s required to stay competitive.

  However, improper use and management of data can give you a bad reputation, break trust and even cause you legal trouble.

  That’s why you must maintain good data ethics within your organisation.

  One of the most important places to set up proper data ethics and privacy measures is with your website analytics.

  Matomo is the leading, privacy-friendly web analytics solution in the world. It automatically collects, stores, and tracks data across your website ethically.

  With over 1 million websites using Matomo, you get to take full control over your website performance with :

  • Accurate data (no data sampling)
  • Privacy-friendly and GDPR-compliant analytics
  • Open-source for transparency and to create a custom solution for you

  Try Matomo free for 21-days. No credit card required.

  Try Matomo for Free

  21 day free trial. No credit card required.

  
  

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• Accessibility Testing : Why It Matters and How to Get Started

  7 mai, par Erin

  Nearly 96% of website homepages had failures with meeting web accessibility criteria in 2024. Aside from not complying with web accessibility laws and regulations, companies are failing a growing number of users with accessibility needs.

  With disabilities, chronic illnesses and ageing populations all rising, brands need to take accessibility more seriously. 

  In this article, we explain why accessibility testing is so important and how you can get started today.

  What is accessibility testing ?

  Accessibility testing optimises digital experiences to make them accessible for users with a range of disabilities and impairments. This includes users with vision impairments, hearing loss, neurodivergence, motor disabilities and cognitive conditions.

  The goal is to create inclusive experiences for everyone by implementing UX principles that address the usability needs of diverse audiences.

  To help developers create accessible experiences, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) created the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The international WCAG standards define the Four Principles of Accessibility :

  • Perceivable : Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they perceive.

  • Operable : User interface components and navigation must be operable.

  • Understandable : Information and the operation of user interfaces must be understandable.
  • Robust : Content must be robust enough to be interpreted reliably by various user agents, including assistive technologies.

  

  The current version of WCAG (2.2) contains 86 success criteria with three grades representing conformance levels :

  • Level A is the minimum conformance rating, indicating that web content is accessible to most users.

  • Level AA is the recommended conformance level to make content accessible to almost everyone, including users with severe disabilities.
  • Level AAA is the highest conformance rating, making content accessible to everyone, regardless of disability.

  

  Why is accessibility testing important ?

  With record numbers of lawsuits over online accessibility cases, it’s clear that companies underestimate the importance of accessibility testing. Here are seven key reasons you should pay more attention to it :

  1. Create inclusive experiences : Above all, accessibility testing creates inclusive experiences for all users.
  2. Adhere to accessibility regulations : Accessibility laws in most major markets — including the EU web accessibility policy — make it illegal for companies to discriminate against users with disabilities.
  3. Social responsibility : Companies have an ethical responsibility to cater to all users and consumers. 57% say they’re more loyal to brands that commit to addressing social inequities.
  4. Accessibility needs are growing : 16% of the world’s population (1 in 6) experience significant disability and the number will continue to grow as ageing populations rise.
  5. Improve experiences for everyone : Accessibility improves experiences for all users — for example, 80% of UK viewers aged 18-25 (2021) watch content with subtitles enabled.
  6. Maximise marketing reach : Platforms like Google prioritise accessibility yearly, making accessible content and experiences more visible.
  7. Accessibility is profitable : Inclusive companies earn 1.6x more revenue, 2.6x more net income and 2x more profit, according to Accenture (PDF).

  

  Who needs inclusive UX ?

  Accessibility testing starts with understanding the usability needs of audiences with disabilities and impairments. Here’s a quick summary of the most common impairments and some of the needs they have in common :

  • Visual impairments : Users may rely on screen readers, magnification software, braille displays, etc. or require certain levels of contrast, text sizes and colour combinations to aid visibility.
  • Hearing impairments : Users may rely on closed captions and subtitles for video content, transcripts for multimedia content and visual alerts/notifications for updates.
  • Motor or mobility impairments : Users might rely on adaptive keyboards, voice recognition and other assistive devices.
  • Cognitive and neurological impairments : Users may rely on technologies like text-to-speech software or require simplified user interfaces, contrast designs, etc., to aid comprehension.
  • Speech impairments : Users may rely on speech recognition and dictation software for any interaction that requires them to speak (e.g., automated customer service machines).

  While accessibility tools can alleviate certain accessibility challenges, inclusive design can remove much of the burden from users. This can involve using plenty of contrast, careful font selection, increasing whitespace and plenty of other design choices.

  Refer to the latest version of the WCAG for further guidance.

  How to run accessibility testing

  Now that we’ve emphasised the importance of accessibility, let’s explain how you can implement your own accessibility testing strategy.

  Create your accessibility testing plan

  Careful planning is crucial for making accessibility testing affordable and profitable. This starts with identifying the assets you need to test and optimise. This may include :

  • Website or web app
  • Mobile app
  • Videos
  • Podcasts and audio
  • PDFs
  • Marketing emails

  Map out all the assets your target audience interacts with and bring them into your accessibility testing plan. Optimising your website for screen readers is great, but you don’t want to forget your marketing emails and exclude vision-impaired users.

  Once you’ve got a complete list of assets, identify the elements and interactions with each one that require accessibility testing. For example, on your website, you should optimise navigation, user interfaces, layouts, web forms, etc.

  You also need to consider the impact of device types. For example, how touchscreens change the experience for motor impairments.

  Now that you know the scope of your testing strategy, it’s time to define your accessibility standards. Use external frameworks like WCAG guidelines and relevant legal requirements to create an internal set of standards.

  Once your accessibility standards are complete, train your staff at every level. This includes designers, developers, and content creators — everyone who works on assets is included in your accessibility testing strategy.

  Implement your accessibility standards throughout the design and development phases. Aim to create the most inclusive experiences possible before the accessibility testing stage.

  Implement accessibility practices at every level

  Treating accessibility as an afterthought is the biggest mistake you can make. Aside from neglecting the importance of accessibility, it’s simply not affordable to create assets and then optimise them for accessibility.

  Instead, you need to implement accessibility standards in every design and development stage. This way, you create inclusive assets from the beginning, and accessibility testing flags minor fixes rather than overhauls.

  By extension, you can take lessons from accessibility tests and update your accessibility standards to improve the quality of future assets.

  Set clear specifications in your accessibility standards for everyone to follow. For example, content publishers should be responsible for adding alt-text to all images. Make designers responsible for following contrast guidelines when optimising elements like CTA buttons.

  

  Next, managers can review assets and check for accessibility standards before anything is signed off. This way, you achieve higher test accessibility scores, and most fixes should be minor.

  This is the key to making accessibility testing manageable and profitable.

  Automate accessibility testing

  Automation is the other big factor in making accessibility efficient. With the right tools, you can run tests periodically without any manual workload, collecting data and flagging potential issues at almost no cost.

  For example, you can run automated accessibility tests on your website every month to check for common issues. This might flag up pages without alt-text for images, colour issues on a new batch of landing pages or a sudden drop in mobile loading times.

  Every automated test you can run reduces the manual workload of optimising accessibility. This frees up more time for the manual tests that require the attention of accessibility experts. 

  • Free up time for accessibility tasks that require manual testing
  • Identify issues with new content, assets, code, etc. faster
  • Run automated accessibility testing on new CRO changes

  Schedule manual accessibility reviews

  While it’s important to automate as much accessibility testing as possible, most accessibility standards require some form of manual testing. If we use the WCAG standards as a guideline, more than 70% of success require manual review and verification, including :

  • Testing websites with a screen reader
  • Navigating apps by only using a keyword
  • Quality assessing closed captions and subtitles
  • Testing web forms for people using speech input
  • Checking conversion actions for users with mobility issues (CTAs, forms, payments, etc.)

  Yes, you can automatically check all images for alt-text, but simply providing alt-text isn’t enough. You also have to review alt-text to make sure they’re descriptive, accurate and informative about the experience.

  Once again, the best way to minimise your time spent on manual testing is to implement accessibility standards throughout design and development. Train your content publishers to create alt-text that meets your criteria and editors to review them before pieces are signed off. 

  This way, you should always have the required alt-text before the content reaches the accessibility testing stage. The same applies to video transcriptions, web forms, website navigation, etc.

  Building a culture of accessibility makes the testing process as efficient as possible.

  What tools do you need for accessibility testing ?

  Now that we’ve covered the key essentials of accessibility testing, let’s look at some of the best accessibility testing tools to help you implement your strategy.

  accessiBe : AI-powered accessibility testing automation

  accessiBe is an accessibility testing automation and management system. It incorporates two core products : accessWidget for automating UI accessibility and accessFlow as an all-in-one solution for developers.

  

  Key features :

  • Automated accessibility testing
  • Accessibility widget for easy optimisation
  • Product accessibility for web, mobile and native apps
  • AI-powered accessibility insights
  • Compliance with WCAG, EAA and more

  As explained earlier, automation is crucial for making accessibility testing efficient and profitable. With accessiBe, you can automate the first line of accessibility checks so testers only need to get involved when manual action is necessary.

  Maze : Intelligent usability testing software

  Maze is a usability testing system that uses AI and automation to enhance traditional qualitative testing. You can run automated tests on live websites, capture survey feedback and recruit users to test experiences with real people.

  

  Key features :

  • Live website testing
  • Feedback surveys
  • Usability interviews
  • Test recruitment
  • Automated analysis

  While traditional usability interviews can provide in-depth insights, they’re expensive, time-consuming and difficult to run at scale. Maze’s solution is a hybrid testing system that automates data capture and analysis while supporting real user testing in one system.

  Matomo : Empowering people with ethical web analytics

  Matomo is a web analytics solution that gives you 100% data ownership while respecting user privacy. Think of this as a Google Analytics alternative that doesn’t use your visitors’ data for advertising purposes.

  

  Key features :

  • Privacy-friendly and GDPR-compliant tracking
  • Conversion rate optimisation features like heatmaps, session recordings, A/B testing and more
  • Accurate, unsampled data – see 40-60% more data than other analytics tools that sample data
  • Open-source

  Accessibility starts with creating quality experiences for everyone. Matomo reliably captures 100% of the data you need to optimise experiences without losing their trust. Instead of handing their personal info to Google or other tech giants, you retain full data ownership — fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA, etc.

  Try Matomo free for 21-days (no credit card required), or speak to our sales team for more info on how Matomo can enhance your site’s user experience and support your accessibility testing strategy.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

  Start for free

  No credit card required

  UserTesting : Video-based user testing software

  UserTesting is the more traditional system for running usability tests with real people. The platform helps you recruit users and manage usability tests with a series of sessions and video interviews.

  

  Key features :

  • Usability testing
  • Test recruitment
  • Live interviews
  • AI-powered insights
  • Usability services

  UserTesting is a slower, more expensive approach to testing experiences, but its video-based interviews allow you to have meaningful conversations with real users.

  Siteimprove : WCAG compliance testing

  Siteimprove automates website testing, accessibility and optimisation. It includes dedicated tools for checking WCAG and DCI compliance with an automated scoring system. This helps you keep track of scores and identify any accessibility and usability issues faster.

  

  Key features :

  • Automated accessibility checks
  • Inclusivity scores
  • Accessibility recommendations
  • Accessibility tracking
  • Marketing and revenue attribution
  • Usability insights

  Siteimprove provides a first line of accessibility testing with automated checks and practical recommendations. It also tracks accessibility scores, including ratings for all three WCAG compliance levels (A, AA and AAA).

  Find the value in accessibility testing

  Accessibility testing isn’t only a moral obligation ; it’s good business. Aside from avoiding fines and lawsuits, inclusive experiences are increasingly profitable. User bases with accessibility needs are only growing while non-disabled audiences are using accessibility resources like subtitles and transcripts in greater numbers.

  Accessibility improves everyone’s experiences, and this only does good things for conversion rates, revenue and profit.

  Start building your datasets for accessibility testing today with a Matomo 21-day free trial — no credit card required. Gain 100% ownership over your analytics data while complying with GDPR and other data privacy regulations.

  Try Matomo for Free

  21 day free trial. No credit card required.

  
  

  Your email address
  

  Your website address
  

  Your Analytics subdomain will be .matomo.cloud (change)

  Choose your analytics subdomain
  

  .matomo.cloud

  I accept the terms and conditions and data processing agreement (DPA)

  
  Your information will be used to create an account on our cloud service. For more information please consult our privacy policy.
  
  
  

  Start improving your websites now

  

• Consent Mode v2 : Everything You Need to Know

  7 mai, par Alex — Analytics Tips

  Confused about Consent Mode v2 and its impact on your website analytics ? You’re not the only one. 

  Google’s latest update has left many scratching their heads about data privacy and tracking. 

  In this blog, we’re getting straight to the point. We’ll break down what Consent Mode v2 is, how it works, and the impact it has.

  What is Consent Mode ?

  What exaclty is Google Consent Mode and why is there so much buzz surrounding it ? This question has been frustrating analysts and marketers worldwide since the beginning of this year. 

  Consent Mode is the solution from Google designed to manage data collection on websites in accordance with user privacy requirements.

  This mode enables website owners to customise how Google tags respond to users’ consent status for cookie usage. At its core, Consent Mode adheres to privacy regulations such as GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California, without significant loss of analytical data.

  

  How does Consent Mode work ?

  Consent Mode operates by adjusting the behaviour of tags on a website depending on whether consent for cookie usage is provided or not. If a user does not consent to the use of analytical or advertising cookies, Google tags automatically switch to collecting a limited amount of data, ensuring privacy compliance.

  This approach allows for continued valuable insights into website traffic and user behavior, even if users opt out of most tracking cookies.

  What types of consent are available in Consent Mode ?

  As of 6 March 2024, Consent Mode v2 has become the current standard (and in terms of utilising Google Advertising Services, practically mandatory), indicating the incorporation of four consent types :

  1. ad_storage : allows for the collection and storage of data necessary for delivering personalised ads based on user actions.
  2. ad_user_data : pertains to the collection and usage of data that can be associated with the user for ad customisation and optimisation.
  3. ad_personalization : permits the use of user data for ad personalisation and providing more relevant content.
  4. analytics_storage : relates to the collection and storage of data for analytics, enabling websites to analyse user behaviour and enhance user experience.

  Additionally, in Consent Mode v2, there are two modes :

  1. Basic Consent Mode : in which Google tags are not used for personalised advertising and measurements if consent is not obtained.
  2. Advanced Consent Mode : allows Google tags to utilise anonymised data for personalised advertising campaigns and measurements, even if consent is not obtained.

  What is Consent Mode v2 ? (And how does it differ from Consent Mode v1 ?)

  Consent Mode v2 is an improved version of the original Consent Mode, offering enhanced customisation capabilities and better compliance with privacy requirements. 

  The new version introduces additional consent configuration parameters, allowing for even more precise control over which data is collected and how it’s used. The key difference between Consent Mode v2 and Consent Mode v1 lies in more granular consent management, making this tool even more flexible and powerful in safeguarding personal data.

  In Consent Mode v2, the existing markers (ad_storage and analytics_storage) are accompanied by two new markers :

  1. ad_user_data – does the user agree to their personal data being utilized for advertising purposes ?
  2. ad_personalization – does the user agree to their data being employed for remarketing ?

  In contrast to ad_storage and analytics_storage, these markers don’t directly affect how the tags operate on the site itself. 

  They serve as additional directives sent alongside the pings to Google services, indicating how user data can be utilised for advertising purposes.

  While ad_storage and analytics_storage serve as upstream qualifiers for data (determining which identifiers are sent with the pings), ad_user_data and ad_personalization serve as downstream instructions for Google services regarding data processing.

  How is the implementation of Consent Mode v2 going ?

  The implementation of Consent Mode v2 is encountering some issues and bugs (as expected). The most important thing to understand :

  1. Advanced Consent Mode v2 is essential if you have traffic and campaigns with Google Ads in the European Union.
  2. If you don’t have substantially large traffic, enabling Advanced Consent Mode v2 will likely result in a traffic drop in GA4 – because this version of consent mode (unlike the basic one) applies behavioural modelling to users who haven’t accepted the use of cookies. And modelling the behaviour requires time.

  The aspect of behavioural modelling in Consent Mode v2 implies the following : the data of users who have declined tracking options begin to be modelled using machine learning. 

  However, training the model requires a suitable data volume. As the Google’s documentation states :

  The property should collect at least 1,000 events per day with analytics_storage=’denied’ for at least 7 days. The property should have at least 1,000 daily users submitting events with analytics_storage=’granted’ for at least 7 of the previous 28 days.

  Largely due to this, the market’s response to the Consent Mode v2 implementation was mixed : many reported a significant drop in traffic in their GA4 and Google Ads reports upon enabling the Advanced mode. Essentially, a portion of the data was lost because Google’s models lacked enough data for training. 

  And from the very beginning of implementation, users regularly report about a few examples of that scenario. If your website doesn’t have enough traffic for behaviour modelling, after Consent Mode v2 switching you will face significant drop in your traffic in Google Ads and GA4 reports. There are a lot of cases of observing 90-95% drop in metrics of users and sessions.

  In a nutshell, you should be prepared for significant data losses if you are planning to switch to Google Consent Mode v2.

  How does Consent Mode v2 impact web analytics ? 

  The transition to Consent Mode v2 alters the methods of user data collection and processing. The main concerns arise from the potential loss of accuracy and completeness of analytical data due to restrictions on the use of cookies and other identifiers when user consent is absent. 

  With Google Consent Mode v2, the data of visitors who have not agreed to tracking will be modelled and may not accurately reflect your actual visitors’ behaviours and actions. So as an analyst or marketer, you will not have true insights into these visitors and the data acquired will be more generalised and less accurate.

  Google Consent Mode v2 appears to be a kind of compromise band-aid solution. 

  It tries to solve these issues by using data modelling and anonymised data collection. However, it’s critical to note that there are specific limitations inherent to the modelling mechanism.

  This complicates the analysis of visitor behavior, advertising campaigns, and website optimisation, ultimately impacting decision-making and resulting in poor website performance and marketing outcomes.

  Wrap up

  Consent Mode v2 is a mechanism of managing Google tag operations based on user consent settings. 

  It’s mandatory if you’re using Google’s advertising services, and optional (at least for Advanced mode) if you don’t advertise on Google Ads. 

  There are particular indications that this technology is unreliable from a GDPR perspective. 

  Using Google Consent Mode will inevitably lead to data losses and inaccuracies in its analysis. 

  In other words, it in some sense jeopardises your business.