Are you currently using analytics software to track and view your data? Is your analytics software tracking your data correctly under GDPR privacy policies? Do you know where your data is stored? If you answered mostly “no” then this Fathom Analytics review will help give you answers.
These are all very important questions you need to ask yourself before you end up on the wrong side of the law.
There is countless software available with Google Analytics being the most preferred and popular you can choose to track your website traffic.
However, Fathom Analytics has revolutionized the way online data is being handled. So, how has Fathom Analytics done it?
This Fathom Analytics review explains why they are the best privacy GDPR compliant tracking software for your website traffic.
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Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this is not and by no means any legal advice. I would recommend you seek legal counsel if there is anything you don’t understand. This article is for informational purposes only.
What Is Fathom Analytics?
As its name suggests, Fathom Analytics is a powerful analytics software that takes the guesswork out of business decisions. Fathom allows you to analyze your data more easily and quickly to make the best choice for your company.
They have an easy-to-use dashboard that provides you with all your important data relating to your website. The best feature Fathom provides is that they don’t use cookies so you can delight in a more streamlined experience.
They use a lightweight script that loads faster and you can just like other analytics softwares, view your information in real-time and also customize your data to meet your specific needs.
You can track every visitor and have a SpamReferral list that ensures your most valuable leads are not missed no matter where your visitor is on your website.
Fathom also has an easy-to-use compliance solution for apps and websites. It creates an audit trail of all user data, helping users comply with laws such as GDPR, CCPA, ePrivacy, and PECR which whether you know about the law or not should be followed.
Learn more by reading my Iubenda – solution to making your website/app compliant review here or head straight to Iubenda’s website.
Does Fathom Analytics Collect Proof Of Consent?
The GDPR law is a regulation that has been passed to protect the personal data of EU citizens. The law came into effect on May 25, 2018.
As mentioned early Fathom Analytics is an analytics tool that doesn’t use cookies. The software gives privacy-conscious businesses the ability to track their users anonymously, without compromising their user’s privacy.
With Fathom you can feel at ease because they don’t store data on the servers. This means they won’t be violating your privacy in any way
If you are not tracking any personal data on your website with other third-party services other than Fathom Analytics then you would not have to invest and pay for a consent solution.
What this means is that you don’t have to put a cookie notice banner on your website as long as you are not using any other cookies on your website that collect personal data.
If you are using ad networks such as Google Adsense then you would need a cookie notice banner and collect proof of consent from your visitors.
Fathom Analytics Features
Fathom Analytics is a powerful data platform that helps companies make the best decisions possible, and it does so by providing them with all the information they need.
The main feature is that it provides users with a wide range of data. This includes everything from sales conversions to customer retention rates, and more.
The software always has an easy-to-use interface. This means that people can access their data in a way that makes sense for them, which can be difficult for some who are not familiar with analytic platforms.
Unlike other tools, Fathom is a single-page dashboard. All the information is on one screen which makes filtering the data that much easier.
Additional features automatically provided by Fathom include:
- Number of people currently on your website
- Content
- Referrers
- Device Types
- Browsers
- Countries
- Events
- UTMs (Urchin Tracking Module)
You also have a very unique feature called Custom Domains. This feature means all your website data is tracked and not blocked by ad-blockers.
Are you aware that other softwares available online, only provides a portion of your tracked data? This is because many software companies don’t take into account that ad-blockers prevent up to 30% of data.
Fathom has thought about this and has taken into account that by default, any website at any given time would only have around 70 percent of its data tracked meaning most website owners lose 30 percent of their data due to ad-blockers.
The worst part about this is that you as the owner don’t even realize that’s the case because the data you receive you assume is all of your data not just a percentage of it. Imagine the impact of your statistics and how you run your business if you had access and could view all your tracked data and not just a portion of it?
Luckily, you can fix this with Fathoms Custom Domains.
All you will have to do is create a Cname with your domain registrar or hosting company with the name and value they provide you with. This usually takes 15 minutes depending on the domain company you use.
By doing this simple one-time integration with Fathom Analytics, you can have 100% confidence knowing all your traffic will be tracked.
Why It’s Important To Have A Privacy-Focused Analytics Software
Privacy is an important consideration for me and should be for anyone who has an online business. That’s why I use Fathom as my site analytics solution.
It stores no personal visitor data and never tracks a visitor in any way. The data helps me understand the behavior of my visitors so I can make better marketing decisions.
Fathom is also GDPR compliant with all of the latest data protection regulations. It’s privacy-driven, not invasive, and guarantees total transparency around how it handles your data.
You won’t need to use modal windows or worry about data-mention inquiries. Nothing that you record or store from your visitors is personally identifiable.
On top of all that, they provide a shareable analytics dashboard so you can share privately or publicly with a password to your website.
This is super helpful for websites that have large teams and those members need to have access to the website.
Fathom is a good option for uptime monitoring because it doesn’t even cost anything extra. Unlike other softwares, if and when one of your websites goes down, you will immediately be notified by Fathom via email, SMS, Slack, or Telegram.
Why Google Analytics Could Be Making You Vulnerable?
GDPR has been designed to allow Europeans more control over their personal data. This is one of the toughest regulations in the world when it comes to personal data.
The French Data Protection Authority ordered three French websites to comply with GDPR. They did this not long after the Austrian Data Protection Authority made a similar decision about Google Analytics and GDPR.
The Austrian DPA has recently determined that Google Analytics violates the GDPR law. This decision echoes that of the French lead regulator CNIL who declared it to be a violation as well. This decision affects every European website.
Data privacy authorities are considering banning US-based services, companies, or providers and should find safer and more legal alternatives.
Anyone who owns a website online needs to comply with GDPR law whether they are within the EU or not.
You might be thinking, this doesn’t apply to me because I perhaps don’t live in the EU. This is not accurate.
Let’s think about it in a different way.
You live in America so your website is American based. You would still need to ensure you are GDPR compliant because you might have visitors from the EU. These visitors have different privacy expectations from those in other countries.
This means it’s worth finding out more about the law and your obligations so you understand how to protect yourself and secure your website.
Understanding how tracking software such as Google Analytics or others might be storing and transferring data is important.
Is Fathom Analytics Better Than Google Analytics?
Some people think that Fathom Analytics is better than Google Analytics because of its ease of use and powerful features. They also argue that it has a more user-friendly interface.
However, others believe that Google Analytics is the best option because it is free and has a lot more features than Fathom Analytics.
Based on the features and the data you can see, Fathom is better than Google Analytics. It not only saves you money but adheres to data privacy.
Although Fathom Analytics is a paid analytics software, they save you money from potential compliance risk fines in the future.
Putting the money aspect aside, Fathom might not have all the bells and whistles Google Analytics has but what they do have is far safer and risk-free.
Everything from Fathom Analytics is data-protected, user-friendly, law-abiding, and privacy protected. For me, that’s far more important than having a few extra features that Google Analytics might provide.
Fathom Analytics Pricing
Fathom provides a 30-day free trial to explore their software. Their prices vary depending on the number of pageviews per month.
$14/month for up to 100,000 monthly pageviews.
$24/month for up to 200,000 monthly pageviews.
$44/month for up to 500,000 monthly pageviews.
$54/month for up to 1,000,000 monthly pageviews.
$74/month for up to 2,000,000 monthly pageviews.
If you switch from monthly to yearly payments, you get 2 months free.
All their plans include Up to 50 sites included, 100% Data ownership, Uptime monitoring, No cookie banners required, Unlimited email reports, Forever data retention, Unlimited CSV data exports, Privacy law compliance, Enterprise-grade infrastructure, and Ad-blocker bypassing.
Connecting Fathom Analytics
The process is super easy. First, remove any previous analytics software if you are currently using one.
1. Signup for a fathom analytics account.
2. Download and Install the plugin by going to your website’s dashboard, clicking on “Plugin” then “Add New” and typing “Fathom Analytics”. Add your website to your Fathom account and copy the Site ID into the plugin.
3. Test that your site is tracking correctly. Open your website in an incognito window and click around. After a minute, you will be able to see your data in the Fathom dashboard.
Top Tip: Once your free trial has expired and you start to pay, Fathom Analytics also offers a setting up of a custom domain and uptime monitoring. Go ahead and set up Allowed Domains as well. If someone uses your Fathom script on their website, it will NOT be tracked in your dashboard.
Conclusion
Owning and managing a website or any online business can become very stressful, especially concerning privacy laws if you are unfamiliar with them.
Using Fathom Analytics as your data analytics software will relieve you from extra stress when it comes to cookies and GDPR.
Change can be difficult especially when you have been using different analytic software such as Google Analytics or if you are a beginner and all you have heard people talk about is Google Analytics.
Making the switch will not only serve you financially but will also give you peace of mind that there will be no hidden and unseen lawful complications in the future.
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