Case study: 20% of data recovered from tracking prevention | Peak Metrics

Peak Metrics is a collective of digital marketing freelancers who promote sustainable brand growth through data-driven performance marketing strategies. They focus on increasing qualified traffic and conversions by providing services like digital analytics, advertising, SEO, and training.

Problem: how to make tracking more reliable

Server-side tracking is an advanced technique where user requests are not sent directly from their browsers to analytics tools. Instead, they first pass through a server which manages and processes the collected data before forwarding it to tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, or other platforms. Using an intermediary server helps bypass browser limitations, such as ad blockers or Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) features in Safari, making tracking more accurate and reliable.

Solution: utilizing Stape server-side tracking

To maximize the effectiveness of server-side tracking, there are some key technical requirements to consider. Here are a few, though this list is not exhaustive:

• CNAME: the tracking server, which sets the cookie, is placed behind a CNAME record inserted into your DNS records (e.g., sgtm.yoursite.com).
• Tracking server in the same subnet as the website server: the tracking server, located within the same subnet as the website, ensures that requests are forwarded and processed correctly.
• Backup of Google, Meta identifiers, etc.: the importance of implementing server-side tracking goes beyond better statistics. By improving data collection, this method provides more complete and reliable information to advertising algorithms, like those used by Google and Meta. Therefore, backup systems for identifiers are essential for building a resilient server system (e.g.,

Results: more reliable data recovery

One of the main advantages of server-side tracking, if implemented correctly, is the ability to recover more data, even in the presence of ad blockers and tracking prevention systems like Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP).

According to data from a 10-day test involving over 7 million hits conducted through Stape, a significant number of blocked requests were recovered:

• Total requests: 7,032,096
• Recovered from ad blockers: 231,604 (3.29%)
• Recovered from tracking prevention: 1,456,034 (20.71%)

Analyzing these numbers, it's clear that server-side tracking can help recover a significant amount of data that would otherwise be lost due to tools like ad blockers or browser-imposed limitations.

Looking specifically at different browsers:

• Safari (Mobile and Desktop): 1.5 million requests, with 0.99% recovered from ad blockers.
• Chrome (Mobile and Desktop): 4 million requests, with 4.28% recovered from ad blockers.
• Other browsers (Brave, Edge, Firefox, etc.): 1.6 million requests, with 2.94% recovered from ad blockers.

This shows that server-side tracking can recover a considerable amount of data, significantly improving visibility into user actions from an analytics perspective, and providing a greater volume of data to advertising algorithms (Google Ads, Meta, etc.).

Even for specific activities tracked in GA4, the results were similar:

• AddToCart: 4.3% of requests recovered from ad blockers and 20.48% recovered from tracking prevention.
• Purchase: 4.27% recovered from ad blockers and 30.67% recovered from tracking prevention.

Conclusion

Implementing server-side tracking not only allows you to bypass limitations imposed by browsers and ad blockers but also offers greater accuracy in the data collected. This is crucial for making informed marketing decisions. As demonstrated by the data collected in this test, you can recover a significant number of requests that would otherwise be lost, enhancing the accuracy of your analytics and optimizing your digital marketing campaigns.

A big thanks to Matteo Boscolo for providing us with this valuable case study of Stape product use.