In the past months we have all been working hard to implement our Google Analytics 4 (GA4) environment. Something that we are less accustomed to, is using data streams. A data stream represents a source of incoming data, being web, iOS or Android. Web streams have a measurement ID which is implemented in the Google Analytics 4 tracker to collect data. iOS and Android apps are identified with a Bundle ID or Package Name, respectively. When these apps are used as streams for a property, these identifiers are displayed in the stream configuration. Challenge Many of us manage a GA4 jungle with mu ..read more

Over the last years, Greenhouse has been going through an important transformation in the way we help our clients grow their business. Coming from a conversion optimisation background we have been evolving towards consumer experience optimisation. In this article, I'll tell you why that's crucial for sustainable growth, especially given the historical moment we as humanity are facing. So I hope that after reading this article you are going to consider that shift too. It has not been an easy journey, but we undoubtedly see the benefits for those brands that together with us are making this tra ..read more

Data and privacy has become an important concern in our lives. The introduction of GDPR has impacted freedom in tracking and cookie usage. In order to be allowed to track and target users, websites must ask users for consent. In Google Analytics, data from users that have not consented may not be used for remarketing features. This article focuses on how to use Google Analytics within the guidelines of the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens in The Netherlands. Background You might ask yourself why using one Google Analytics property with configurations in the Google Analytics settings variable is wr ..read more

Tracking users and using cookies has changed since the introduction of GDPR. To be compliant with GDPR, websites must ask users for consent. Some tags fire at the first page of a visit. This may have impact on your tag loads, since the user decides to give consent after the page has loaded. This article explains how to configure your tag in order to fire immediately after the user has given consent. Occurrence of this problem As an example I am using a Google Ads tag. The trigger of the tag is set to fire on a pageview on all pages. The tag is blocked when there is no consent. We assume that ..read more

News about the invalidated EU–US Privacy Shield has resulted in many questions from advertisers in the EU on the impact on their digital marketing activities. Many of these organisations rely heavily on US-based marketing and analytics tools and vendors like Adobe, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Xandr and many more. The Privacy Shield On July 16, the CJEU (Europe’s top court) has invalidated the EU–US Privacy Shield, effective immediately. This means that US companies that depended on the Privacy Shield for data transfers before, must now find other options to avoid illegal transfers of personal ..read more

Since the introduction of ITP by Apple there have been continuous discussions in the industry on how to deal with it. ITP and other privacy protection initiatives limit how and what data can be collected in browsers. A big part of the discussion is on how to keep data collection going, as if ITP weren’t active. I think it is an interesting technical question and it is important to have good quality data. But I also think it’s missing an important point: ethics. Ethics & privacy protection Let’s go back in time a little bit. Back in June 2018, ITP started to seriously limit third-party coo ..read more

Two weeks ago I have been attending the largest behavioural gathering I have ever been to, Nudgestock Global. Ogilvy Consulting created a space where Business & Academia can learn from each other about Behavioural Science. It was fuelled by 15 hours of content, where speakers from Dan Ariely to Patrick Fagan (an ex-Cambridge Analytica scientist) shared their ideas and knowledge. It was super interesting and intense as well. So if you didn't get the chance to follow this remarkable event, here are the top 3 most valuable learnings I got from 15 hours of Behavioural Science content: 1. "You ..read more

There is a growing awareness around privacy. Several years back, we saw the first examples of cookie laws in Europe. Two years ago, the GDPR was introduced. Technology vendors are getting involved (ITP anyone?). And stories like the one about Cambridge Analytica show that data can impact on our everyday lives. Even though Google Analytics is just a small dot in the vast landscape of privacy, it is a tool that runs on millions of websites. And it is also a tool that allows you to set quite some privacy-related settings. This post helps you use those settings to set up Google Analytics and the ..read more

Last week it was May 4. On that day, I found a nice data set on Kaggle with all the lines from the original Star Wars trilogy. I had the idea to make an analysis of those lines and quickly decided to present the results in an interactive plot. It turned out to be quite an interesting challenge. Generating an SVG in Matplotlib The first step is easy. I created a visualisation of my output data with Matplotlib. You can simply set the extension in your file name to .svg and run your script to get your file. Nothing fancy here. Making the SVG interaction friendly Now this is where it gets interes ..read more

Last week I attended my first Superweek in Hungary. A five day conference including a lot of amazing talks, great people, beautiful surroundings and a girl from the Netherlands having a blast! I can’t summarise the entire event in this single blog post, however I will take you with me to check out a few talks that really made an impact on me. Poor men’s personalisation With only reading the title of Sayf Sharif talk, my interest was triggered. Also, the dance performed by the first row underlined the enthusiasm in the crowd ;). He showed us that to start with personalisation you don’t need al ..read more