How server-side tagging benefits complex operational systems

What was the biggest pain in your childhood when doing puzzles? Of course, the worst is when you need to somehow finish a plain-black segment of 300-400 pieces. Lost puzzle pieces proudly occupy the second place. Well, if you have chosen to work in the digital marketing or e-commerce industry, nothing changes. You still will suffer from huge black spots and tiny pieces of missing data. The bigger the company you work for is and the larger the amount of data you operate with, the more you will be affected by those information gaps.

This is the moment when it makes sense to start talking about the server-side tagging benefits. Switching the focus from client-side tracking to the server allows us to close most of those gaps and operate massive arrays of data in complex operational systems, losing as little as possible. Let’s review how server-side tagging helps to close the gaps, fill the black spots, and benefit big businesses.

Why may the data puzzle not be done?

The situation when some pieces of information are missing is pretty common even nowadays. Many businesses that use client-side tracking are familiar with this method. They share inaccurate data with the analytical platforms, get a twisted view of their company’s success, and create further strategies that are destined to be ineffective because they are created on the wrong basis. Thus, in a couple of words, we have just described the main pain point of many marketing and e-commerce companies. But what causes all those inaccuracies?

We would highlight 3 main issues client-side tracking causes nowadays. Each of them may not seem to be too dangerous on its own, but in combination, they influence the analytics quite significantly.

1. Limited tracking. Many users nowadays install ad-blocking add-ons in their browsers. They remove irritating advertisements popping up here and there all the time, which is great. However, they often block tracking scripts by confusing them with something related to the ads. The danger of this effect grows correspondingly with the company size. Let’s say a small local business runs 10 scripts on the website. 10% are getting blocked (1 script) - not cool, but manageable. A big international business runs 100 scripts on every page. 10% are getting blocked - it is 10 scripts, which can be very significant and even crucial for the business. Of course, it is a very rough representation, but we hope you got the point.
2. Short cookie lifetime. Cookies are essential to track the users’ behaviour and distinguish new users from returning ones. Unfortunately, browser security protocols, e.g., Safari’s ITP, often block third-party cookies and limit the lifetime of first-party ones. This influences both the user experience on the website and the quality of analytics.
3. Compliance. When all the tracking is done on the client’s side and sent to the analytical platform directly from the customer’s browser, you have little to no time to filter or anonymize sensitive information. This may lead to significant legal problems as transferring personal data without consent is a massive violation of GDPR and CCPA privacy policies. You are right if you say that this is not connected to data accuracy and analytics quality, but if your company gets closed and you - fined for not following the GDPR requirements, would you care about bypassing ad blockers?

We might have gotten a bit too deep into all the nuances of how client-side tracking works and why it is bad, especially for complex systems, but it is needed to understand the idea of server-side tracking better.

What changes with server-side tagging

When you switch to server-side tagging, you are not re-inventing the wheel. Instead, you are reinforcing the rim and changing the tire. In other words, tracking tags are still fired on the client’s side, the data is still delivered to the analytical platform, but one more stage appears between these 2 - a server.

What does it change? Well, it gives you more time and opportunities to prepare the data received from the client for sending it to the analytics. These are the main points server-side tagging actually covers when you switch to it:

• it allows filling all the gaps in data arrays, so that the analytical platform receives the most accurate package possible;
• with its help, you can remove or encrypt all the private data and personal information to be compliant with the privacy policies;
• if you have a server-side tagging configuration, you can set all the cookies from your cloud server, which turns them into first-party ones. If this is not enough, there are more ways to extend cookie lifetime, and Stape, the company that specializes in server-side tagging, has a detailed guide for each of them.

If you have a complex operational system, an additional effect that you may find very pleasant is increased productivity of your website. It often happens that when a server takes the responsibility to process the data and transfer it to analytics, pages start loading a bit faster. Not to say that this is something game-changing, but it is always great to get some unexpected perks.

Conclusion

Complex operational systems usually operate large amounts of data, and every microbit of it is essential. That is why switching to server-side tracking is something that we can definitely recommend to everyone who wants their business to succeed. Server-side tagging means more accurate data. More accurate data means more accurate insights. More accurate insights mean better planning. Better planning means better performance. As simple as that.