By now you may have heard about the recent European rulings stating that Google Analytics has violated GDPR. At the forefront of the issue was the transfer of personal data from the European Economic Area (EEA) to the U.S. through the use of Google Analytics.
In case you need a refresher, The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a data privacy regulation that gives EU residents control over how and when their personal data is collected and shared. You can visit our GDPR FAQ to learn more.
How does GDPR impact your business?
What does that mean for you and your business? Simple: it’s expensive not to comply. GDPR applies to any company that touches the personal data of any EU resident. So even if you’re running a business based in the U.S. or elsewhere, if you target EEA consumers, you still must be in compliance with GDPR.
Is Google Analytics GDPR Compliant?
Google Analytics is probably the most recognized and widely used web analytics service. However, as mentioned previously, Google Analytics has become the subject of many European rulings ever since the Austrian DPA ruled that NetDoktor’s use of Google Analytics violated key aspects of the regulation and was therefore illegal.
Just weeks after the Austrian DPA ruled that the use of Google Analytics violated Chapter V (transfers of data to third parties), France’s DPA (CNIL) followed suit. Norwegian DPA joined the decisions in January 2022 and in September 2022 Danish DPA stated that Google Analytics is illegal without additional adjustments.
Since the issues surrounding Google Analytics and their data compliance have surfaced, many businesses both small and enterprise, have been seeking alternatives.
Which countries is Google Analytics illegal in?
Governments of the following countries officially declared Google Analytics does violate the GDPR:
January 13, 2022, Austria
January 26, 2022, Norway
February 10, 2022, France
September 21, 2022, Denmark
June 23, 2022, Italy
Whether your country is bound by the GDPR or not, if you have or could potentially have website visitors from the EEA then the safest solution is to seek an analytics alternative. Especially since more rulings are expected this year.
Mouseflow as Google Analytics Alternative
As you’re reading this article you’re probably finding yourself cornered in a tricky situation where a simple change in Google Analytics’ settings is not enough, proxy is too complex of a solution and you’re on the lookout for alternatives.
We’d like to pitch in with Mouseflow web behavior analytics and here are 7 reasons why you should consider it:
1. Track online traffic in a compliant way
Mouseflow is GDPR, CCPA, LGDP a POPIA compliant. The privacy of your customers is our top priority – from masked IPs and keystrokes to data isolation (we have separate data centers for clients in Europe and in the US ). Learn more about privacy and security in our Legal Hub
2. Understand your users’ behavior
Go beyond measuring clicks and events and tap into understanding why your visitors didn’t convert. Looking at your website through their eyes.
3. Improve the customer journey
Know where your visitors experience friction and what causes it. We get as specific as identifying the part of code on your website where the errors happen so that you can easily share them with development. Explore our 5 features that serve as an ecosystem and allow you to dive into your visitor’s experience and explore it from different angles.
4. Track conversion funnels
Explore conversion paths and stay on top of their performance. Build funnels, set up custom reports, and segment in all possible ways: device, country, source, paid/non-paid traffic, campaign, interaction with specific element, you name it!
5. Optimize online advertising
Filter campaign traffic and drive insights on its quality. Know what’s the campaign traffic really worth. Don’t rely just on the number of clicks, see the actual sessions that they generated, what paths they took on your website and what prevented them from converting. Learn more on optimizing ads with behavior analytics here.
6. Easy and compliant setup
We mean it. Insert a code, click record, and you’re ready.
Further you get all necessary tools to stay GDPR compliant. By default we are disabling keystrokes and anonymizing IP addresses in EU/EEA without the possibility of changing the setting.
Our Visual Privacy Tool allows you to customize the content you want to exlude or whitelist on your website. What does that mean? By default we will mask all input fields, however, some fields not containing PII (for example website search bar) can be whitelisted.
7. Excellent support
We know the value of support when it comes to technical tools. With us, no matter the plan you’re on, we make sure to be there for us when needed. From phone, chat, email, how-to videos, and help center, we’ve got you. Our support gets so much recognition from clients that we made it a dedicated page on our website.
Want to learn more? Sign up for a free trial or book a demo with our specialists.
