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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How To Protect Your Site in the Era of Tag Bloat

We announced last week our exclusive partnership with Digital Fulcrum which now allows any tag to run through our tag management system asynchronously. Adam Figuiera discusses in this guest blog post the issues of 3rd party tags and what to consider.

Guest post by Adam Figuiera, Product Marketing Manager, Monetate 

Adam Figueira

The web is awash in tags. From analytics to ad serving, website testing to channel optimization, marketers use an ever-increasing number of third-party solutions for improving and measuring the customer’s website experience–and to make the process for doing so easier.
But can too much of a good thing actually be bad? Indeed it can, and one might accurately term the last five years as the Era of Tag Bloat. However, the marketer’s challenges extend beyond just the number of tags necessary for running a modern website.

Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, website JavaScript tags can have split personalities–enhancing a marketer’s knowledge and the visitor’s experience when everything performs properly, but showing their evil side when things don’t go as planned. Continue reading

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

Q&A: Webtrends Alex Yoder on Analytics and Independent Tag Management, Part 1

Web trends, Alex YoderAs CEO of Webtrends, Alex Yoder is responsible for worldwide operations and the overall strategic vision of the company. Since joining Webtrends in 2000, he has focused on expanding the brand and delivering business value to global enterprises. Prior to Webtrends, Alex served as Vice President of Sales for Touch Clarity, a behavioral targeting company.

To say that he fully understands web analytics and where the industry is headed is an understatement. We recently caught up with him to discuss how his business is doing, how mobile analytics is growing, and the importance of an independent tag management system. Continue reading

Tag management helps Glasses Direct take on a gloomy-looking 2012

Rob Silsbury, Marketing Director, Glasses DirectRob Silsbury, marketing director of online glasses retailer Glasses Direct is under no illusions as to the state of the retail environment in 2012.

Speaking at TagMan’s most recent client get together TagMeet 2, Silsbury said: “It’s going to be a pig of a year.” And none of the other retailers in the room looked ready to disagree.

So what does Glasses Direct plan to do about it? Given its focus is online, then drive its online channels hard. Efficiency is the overriding mission. But, that doesn’t mean the company isn’t prepared to invest to get as lean as possible. Silsbury has a couple of things in mind: Continue reading

eMetrics Wrap-Up: Jim Sterne On Tag Management, Big Data, And Analytics

Jim Sterne at the TagMan Booth at eMetrics New York

We recently caught up with Jim Sterne, the Founder of the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit to talk about what happened at the event in New York and what’s happening in the industry overall.

Q:  What were some of the a-ha moments of eMetrics New York for you this year?

A: We are actually maturing as an industry. More Continue reading

Q&A: Accordant Media’s Matt Greitzer on Ad Retargeting & Tag Management

Ad retargeting and JavaScript tags go hand-in-hand. To learn more about best practices in retargeting – particularly insofar as tag management is concerned – we asked an expert. Matt Greitzer, co-founder and COO of Accordant Media, was kind enough to share his deep knowledge of the subject.

Q: Where does retargeting intersect with tag management?

A: The key component to retargeting is Continue reading

Last Chance: Free Download of Forrester’s Tag Management Report

Last December, Forrester Research published a report entitled “How Tag Management Improves Web Intelligence.” We’ve been able to make the report available as a free download, but it’s only available until the end of this week.

The report includes the following information:

  • An overview of current problems with managing tags
  • A web site tagging audit: score your site and get specific recommendations
  • Full list of the benefits of using a tag management system
  • Eight characteristics to look for in a tag management system Continue reading