About World4You
World4You is a leading Austrian web hosting provider serving over 125,000 customers and hosting more than 250,000 domains. Its offerings include domains, web hosting, email, virtual servers, and cloud storage. Data protection and legal compliance are top priorities for the company.
Executive Summary
To improve data quality and ensure GDPR compliance, World4You implemented JENTIS server-side tracking in collaboration with the analytics agency WEBkiste. This allowed for the first-ever fully server-side configuration of Google Analytics 4 (GA4). The solution resulted in more accurate data, improved campaign attribution, and a future-proof analytics setup.
Challenge
World4You is a digital e-commerce retailer that offers a wide range of products in its online shop. The in-house marketing team takes a datadriven approach to effective performance marketing campaigns. The quality of the data underpinning these efforts is critical to success. World4You used client-side Google Analytics for data collection, reporting and analysis.
Users of client-side Google Analytics 4 face several challenges: Diminishing data quality Adblockers and tracking preventers block tracking and reduce cookie lifetimes to 7 days, leading to poor recognition in marketing tools. Client-side tracking therefore provides little (only 30-40%) and incorrect data. Since customer journeys as well as attribution and the measurement of campaign performance depend on it, efficient advertising budget allocation becomes impossible.
No server-side GA4 configuration from Google
Google does not offer a purely server-side implementation of Google Analytics 4 - not even with the server-side Google Tag Manager. Clientside components are needed. Data protection risks Compliance with data protection regulations is the order of the day. The new data protection agreement between the EU and the USA, Data Privacy Framework, should enable the legally compliant use of US tools. However, it will be challenged in court (possible „Schrems III“). The legal uncertainty for companies could remain until a final decision by the CJEU.
Solution
To solve the problems, World4You chose the JENTIS Data Capture Platform, implemented by WEBkiste. The JENTIS DCP combines the world‘s most advanced server-side tracking technology with comprehensive data protection features to ensure not only maximum data quality, but also future-proof compliance. With JENTIS, companies can use their Google Analytics 4 100% server-side for the first time - something that has not been possible with Google‘s server-side Google Tag Manager until now. They can now address all four problem areas simultaneously and solve them effectively.
Google Analytics 4 fully server-side for the first time
The JENTIS Data Capture Platform is the world‘s first tracking solution that enables a purely server-side use of GA4 out-of-the-box. This means that no tags or pixels are sent in the browser or by the client. The data is collected and processed 100% on the server side - saving resources with minimal impact on existing reporting processes and tools. Positive side effect: noticeably accelerated page load times and thus a significant improvement in Google Core Web Vitals values.
Correct data, maximum data quality
The JENTIS DCP uses server-side tracking, which is unaffected by adblockers and tracking prevention due to first-party cookies set on the server side. Website operators thus capture accurate data for complete customer journeys and a clear view of their users - the basis for data-driven decisions.
Future-proof data protection
The privacy-by-design architecture of the JENTIS DCP enables comprehensive data protection settings that enable compliance with the GDPR, ePrivacy and much more – for example by anonymising or pseudonymising the data streams to marketing tools such as Google Analytics. This means that these tools can be used in a future-proof, GDPRcompliant manner - no matter what happens.
Results & Impact
Accurate user measurement, fewer multiple counts Without server-side tracking, many returning users, e.g. Safari users, are incorrectly counted as new users due to tracking prevention and deleted cookies - and therefore counted multiple times. With server-side tracking from JENTIS, you can recognise these users again, clean up the numbers (25% fewer new users) and get meaningful customer journeys again.
• 50% longer customer journeys
World4You capture correct - and longer - customer journeys, which enable better attribution, correct conclusions about campaign performance and thus more effective marketing campaigns.
• 25% more revenue tracked
Unaffected by adblockers, turnover data now appears correctly in the reporting.
• Clean reports
JENTIS DCP automatically and correctly passes on promotion and list attribution up to the point of purchase.
• Future-proof use of Google Analytics 4
The fully server-side configuration of GA4 allows World4You to use the tool in a future-proof and privacy-compliant way. The sophisticated server-side tracking and data protection features of the JENTIS Data Capture Platform make it possible.
