Measuring without over-collecting.
WHAT ANALYTICS COLLECT
Pages viewed Device and browser details Approximate location Network addresses Behaviour across a session, and sometimes across sites
WHY THAT IS PERSONAL DATA
It relates to identifiable individuals, directly or in combination.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
What you actually need to know.
WHAT MOST ORGANISATIONS NEED
Which pages are visited Where visitors come from Whether they complete key actions
WHAT THEY DO NOT NEED
Individual behaviour histories Cross-site tracking
WHAT OPTIONS EXIST
Privacy-focused analytics that avoid identifiers Self-hosted analytics Aggregate server-side measurement
WHAT THOSE PROVIDE
The information you need, with far less exposure.
WHAT TO CHECK ABOUT ANY PROVIDER
Where data is processed Whether they use it for their own purposes Whether consent is required for their approach
WHAT TO NEVER SEND TO ANALYTICS
Customer content Identifiers in page addresses Anything entered into forms
WHY THAT LAST ONE
It happens accidentally, through address parameters.
WHAT TO CHECK
What your analytics actually receives.
WHAT TO CONFIGURE
Retention periods, which default to long.
WHAT TO DOCUMENT
The purpose, basis and retention.
WHAT TO REVIEW
Whether anyone uses the data.