Partner Content
Understanding user behavior is crucial for unlocking success in an increasingly data-driven and digital landscape. Companies rely on third-party code embedded in their websites, like pixels and tags, to track user interactions and gauge the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. However, these traditional methods often come with big challenges:
This all creates a significant blind spot for businesses, hindering their ability to track and analyze data for users who haven't identified themselves on the platform. The challenge becomes more problematic when working with walled gardens (i.e., closed ecosystems like Facebook) and demand-side platforms (DSPs) that rely on identifier-based matching for ad targeting and attribution. Even other Server-Side Tag Managers struggle to go beyond tracking conversions and events when PII or a clickID is absent.
If it were easy, everyone would do it, right?
We can all agree that understanding your entire audience, especially anonymous users, is crucial for digital marketing success. But how do you identify those users securely and completely? Well, there’s the easy way, then the hard way…
Many companies opt to collect personally identifiable information (PII) and then delve into IP address matching and fingerprinting where necessary. This approach is common, but it comes with inherent limitations. The user information collected during this process is incomplete, relying heavily on PII or a clickID for effective tracking and event attribution.
Even still, attribution often continues to be an issue. One method to restore attribution functionality is employing "script injection," which involves dynamically reintroducing third-party scripts onto the page. This approach contradicts the core objective of server-side tag management, which aims to eliminate intrusive code and prioritize user privacy.
Removing these tags for privacy reasons can render anonymous user identification and attribution ineffective, relying solely on less reliable methods like browser fingerprinting or user logins.
This is just a temporary fix for a major, long-term problem.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.” In that spirit, we've taken the hard (and sustainable) route: developing a unique technology to negotiate with vendors and uncover anonymous tracking IDs. This enables complete (and privacy-forward) user identification server-side.
The Sync Injector is a proprietary Javascript module that runs alongside your website event collection SDK. It handles identity negotiation with common AdTech and MarTech vendors by utilizing cookie-based or other identifier signals present on the page. This makes vendor-specific identifiers available within the event stream for the purposes of advertising retargeting, conversion measurement and attribution, and other niche use cases.
For example, a company may want to tell Meta about a purchase executed on their website, as it may be critical to converting on an advertising campaign. But what if they don’t want Meta’s tag to have uninhibited access to their website? Most server-side tag managers can deliver this data from the server if the user has previously provided an email, thus deprecating the need for Meta’s site tag to collect this data directly. But what if the user has never provided any PII?
In this scenario, MetaRouter’s Sync Injector can create a common, anonymous link between the enterprise’s website and Meta’s servers, which can be used with MetaRouter’s server-side “Order Completed” event — even if PII is never provided. This is a game changer for any enterprise, especially those experiencing a majority of anonymous traffic.
MetaRouter steps in as a game-changer with its revolutionary identity sync capabilities. This innovative solution tackles the challenge of anonymous user data head-on:
The core use case for the Sync Injector is to facilitate the negotiation of addressable vendor identifiers to the event stream. This is conducted via the following steps:
The Sync Injector may utilize any of the following sync methodologies to return a vendor-specific addressable identifier to the browser. Some vendors require multiple identifiers and methodologies to fully replicate their own tag’s functionality, while others may only require one or even none, depending on what identifier signals they rely upon.
The Sync Injector is utilized to power the following use cases:
MetaRouter offers a compelling solution for businesses seeking to navigate the complexities of user data collection and attribution in a privacy-conscious world. It eliminates the need for intrusive client-side code, protects user privacy by minimizing PII collection and unlocks valuable insights from all users, enabling businesses to optimize their marketing efforts and gain a deeper understanding of their entire customer base.
Move Server-Side Without Compromise: Embrace server-side data collection without sacrificing privacy or compromising data completeness. We unlock the full potential of your data, so you can make informed decisions and achieve your marketing goals.
Choose wisely: Easy but incomplete, or hard but powerful? The choice is yours for a clear audience picture and a successful digital marketing journey.