Value of Tag Management Revealed, as told by the TMS users [Infographic]

Forrester Research, Inc.’s latest report “Understanding Tag Management Tools and Technology” provides third-party, unbiased insight from industry experts on the tag management competitive landscape. Highlighting findings from the survey, our latest Infographic looks at the benefits of using a tag management system (TMS), how companies are using the technology and important factors to consider when choosing the best TMS for your business. Continue reading

Know Your Tags – It’s The Law

Policies like the EU Privacy Directive, (effective in the U.K. from this Saturday, May 26th), and U.S. Do-Not-Track related bills are swiftly gaining traction. Companies and online marketers will be under a microscope to ensure they are respecting consumers’ tracking  wishes and keeping their  personal information protected. They will now have to work closely with third party tracking vendors to ensure the right tags are being added, removed, and managed in compliance with these new laws and regulations.

The real question is, do marketers truly understand the impact tags and tracking tools on their webpage will have on their brand and compliance with privacy laws? Continue reading

ePrivacy: an Opportunity to be Open with your Customers

We hosted the TagMeet ePrivacy Summit in London last week and we were delighted to be joined by three brilliant speakers, Nick Stringer of IAB, Damian Scragg of Evidon and Bill Beckler of TagMan customer lastminute.com –  all of whom touched on some hot button issues regarding privacy and the new EU Privacy Directive to be enforced on May 26th.

Nick Stringer

The summit kicked off with Nick Stringer’s presentation, “Preparing for the revised ePrivacy directive.” Nick, who serves as the IAB’s Director of Regulatory Affairs, gave a concise glimpse of the EU Privacy Directive, why it’s being enforced, and what businesses need to do to be compliant. Nick advised that in order for the UK to continue as the most advanced internet economy in the world, customer data must be used responsibly and transparently to empower the consumer. Businesses should know what’s going on, be clear and transparent, deliver prominence, and know that “context is king!”

Damian Scragg

Evidon knows all about empowering the customer. Just ask Damian Scragg, managing director at Evidon (our new partner). Evidon has done the impossible – making privacy “sexy” by empowering consumers and businesses to see, understand and control data online. In light of the upcoming EU Directive, Damian advises businesses to audit and continually monitor tracking across sites, review privacy policies and consider a cookie policy, and deploy consent solutions.

 

Bill Beckler

The summit wrapped up with Bill Beckler, Manager of Marketing Analytics at lastminute.com, who had an interesting take on the EU Directive: The new Privacy Directive isn’t at all a negative! It’s actually a great opportunity for website owners/ecommerce executives to provide clarity and information around what’s happening behind the scenes of web pages (i.e. tracking, cookies, etc.)

It was clear from the presentations that Tag Management can play a huge role in how website owners handle ePrivacy and companies will need to get smart on how they manage their cookies and tags if they’re going to comply with new privacy directives.  In light of all this, what makes TagMan a great tool is that it makes compliance with privacy laws and directives seamless. It was great to hear from a TagMan client that unlike the archaeological dig it may be without Tag Management, TagMan makes auditing easy and clear to understand.

Check out the presentations by clicking here.

Virgin Atlantic Uses Tag Management to Manage ePrivacy

With the UK’s European Union (EU) E-Privacy Directive coming May 26, and similar US privacy laws still pending, many etailers are concerned about compliance.

At the heart of this privacy issue, are a website’s tags, cookies, and data collection and how etailers will manage consumers opting out of online tracking by putting “do-not-track” capabilities in place. Fortunately, tag management systems enable advertisers to control all data-driven vendors in one place, thereby ensuring that best practices are met across the board. When it comes to TagMan, our system has do-not track built in from the start, enabling marketers to comply with the opt-out promises that the various laws and regulations require, and still continue to use tracking systems that don’t require such opt-outs. Here Virgin Atlantic talks about how they use tag management to manage their ePrivacy compliance. Continue reading

Getting ePrivacy Ready with Tag Management: Your Questions Answered

Consumer privacy laws are constantly evolving and with the EU ePrivacy Directive coming tagman privacyinto effect, as well as the growing focus in the US by the Obama administration, 2012 will be a big year for change. Our recent webinar featuring Forrester Research highlighted what you should know about the changing ePrivacy landscape, available solutions and how tag management can help.

Here Anthony Mullen, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research and Angus Glover Wilson, Chief Privacy Officer at TagMan answer your questions from the presentation on Thursday, March 29, 2012.

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What Web Analytics Tools Are Used Amongst the IR500?

Web analytics tags are one of the many tags that can be managed easily with a Tag Management System, and we have noticed the diversity and growth of them as we implement new tags for our clients or help them switch providers.  Here Erin Polka shares her research on the growth of clickstream analytics.

Erin Polka, iPerceptions

Guest Blog by Erin Polka, Marketing Director, iPerceptions

In November 2011, we at iPerceptions analyzed the top500 retail websites to determine how many were using web analytics tools. Online retailers are recognized leaders when it comes to integrating new web applications. A fast-growing, conversion-driven group, their choices often foreshadow those of other industries.

Our research found only 2% of IR500 is not using webanalytics tools with Google Analytics is still the major provider. But, interestingly we also found, the use of other, lesser-known clickstream and other web analytics tools is increasing. Let me share the 5 top charts of this research with you. Continue reading

Four Things Marketers Should Ask IT About Their Website’s Performance

Slow Loading Tags

Slow Loading Tags

According to a recent article in NY times Impatient Web-Users Flee Slow Loading Sites, 400 milliseconds is too long. Thirty-seven percent of consumers find performance issues when visiting a website unacceptable, and 86% of users will leave a site after having bad experiences, according to another study from Compuware.

When it comes to tracking what consumer’s are doing on websites, marketers need to use many third-party tags from web analytics, email, search, ad servers, online testing, behavioral targeting, social media, and more. These systems get very complex and often use Javascript which can slow pages down, making it harder to track conversions especially when the user experience has been compromised. See this Compuware Load Testing Infographic to view key findings from their survey and learn exactly how slow tags, that result in poor page performance, negatively impacts your bottom line. In fact we proved in our recent study that, “Just One Second Delay In Page-Load Can Cause 7% Loss In Customer Conversions.”

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Stéphane Hamel On Selecting A Tag Management System

Stéphane HamelThe Tag Management System (TMS) space is growing steadily. Stéphane Hamel, Director of Strategic Services at Cardinal Path, recently wrote a blog post making sense of the field: “Five things to look for when selecting a Tag Management System.”

After defining tag management and its distinct benefits, Hamel went on to outline the five main things you should look at when considering a vendor including features, reliability, attribution, performance, and pricing model. Having worked with several TMS providers to implement the best tool to address individual client needs, he concludes by addressing the good, the bad, and the ugly of TMS. Have a read to get his take on this growing space.

TagMan Joins Forces With Digital Fulcrum To Accelerate Page Load

TagMan rehouses all of your site's third-party tags into one independent tag management system, loading only the necessary third-party tags when a customer visits your site ensuring faster page load times and better tracking of conversions.

TagMan’s Tag Management System already accelerated page-load times by optimizing its clients’ third-party tags with its its patent pending smart tag loading functionality, which serves tags asynchronously enabling them to load independently of the page content rather than blocking it. Now by combining forces with Digital Fulcrum we are able to offer brand marketers even faster page-load times along with a superior online experience for customers by extending this solution further to allowing synchronous tags to be executed asynchronously without modifying any code, which now enables TagMan to be used asynchronously with any third-party tag.

Learn more about the TagMan and Digital Fulcrum partnership in this announcement, “TagMan and Digital Fulcrum Join Forces To Optimize Performance of Legacy 3rd Party Tags.”

And be sure to download our recent white paper, “Smart Loading Tags To Accelerate Your Website’s Performance,” which focuses on research in synchronous tag acceleration – assessing opportunities for optimizing page-load times through tag acceleration methods, which can result in lower abandonment rates and a better user experience for customers online.

Tag Management Done Poorly Can Create Performance Issues

Many marketers don’t realize just how much impact a few 3rd-party scripts have on their website’s page loading and performance and how that can affect the bottom line in terms of conversions, not to mention user experience. Research indicates that it can be significant.

In fact, a study by the Aberdeen group, reveals that a 1-second delay in page loading can correlate to a 7% loss in conversions. That’s a serious problem.

And while tag management is a solution, tag management done poorly can create, rather than solve, performance issues. In essence, tag management done badly can lead to poor acceleration issues. In a recent study, “Smart Loading Tags to Accelerate Your Website’s Performance,” we looked at page-load times with different tag management solutions to illustrate this point. Continue reading