Tracking refers to the recording and evaluation of user behaviour on the Internet. This information can be accessed shortly after recording or in real-time.
Tracking can be used to collect important data, such as:
- Information from clicks
- Length of stay on the site
- Purchasing behavior
- Click-in channels
- IP address
- Geolocation
- and much more
Tracking can be recorded using HTTP headers, JavaScript or cookies and evaluated with analytical tools such as Google Analytics. This serves to optimize advertising campaigns and your own website.
Most tracking is done with the help of cookies. Here, profiles for the different users are created and stored in the background as cookies. With cookie tracking, a distinction can be made between first-party cookies, where the information is retrieved only between website users and users, and third-party cookies, where a third party can also access the user behavior.
Besides cookie tracking, there are many other types of tracking:
- Click- / Mouse Tracking:
With click/mouse tracking, the mouse movements and clicking behavior of users are tracked. For example, it is possible to see how far a user scrolls on the website or which offers are called up particularly often.
- Eye-Tracking:
With so-called eye-tracking, the viewer of the website is fitted with glasses that record the pupil movement and the exact point of view. This procedure is intended to investigate the processing of visual information and the usability of a website.
- Event Tracking:
Event tracking plays an important role especially for campaigns and other marketing activities. It allows the measurement of important events, such as the completion of a newsletter registration form.
- Cross-Device Tracking:
Cross-Device Tracking includes different terminals such as tablets and smartphones in the analysis. In this way, user behavior across multiple devices can be tracked and important milestones in the customer journey can be identified. This type of tracking is particularly interesting for e-commerce.
The aim of tracking is to improve online marketing. Tracking can be particularly interesting for online shops, as it enables webshop operators to identify customer behavior and derive measures for improvements and adjustments. This way the website can be made more user-friendly and can be adjusted individually and personally to meet the customers’ needs.
Tracking is also important for affiliate marketing, as it allows each visitor to be assigned to the right advertising partner.
Since tracking collects a lot of data, data protection regulations (especially the user’s right of objection) must be taken into account.