The more data the better, right? Not exactly. While a responsive website design, paired with third-party data tracking can be both useful and crucial to determining performance, having too many tracking tags (known as tracking pixels) can affect your website’s performance. There is a slew of services that use tracking pixels including Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook, DoubleClick, ChannelAdvisor, and more, but being calculated in how many and which ones you use is critical for success.
Every tracking pixel you have on your site calls to a third-party service, which can slow your website load time down. The more tracking pixels you have on your site, the slower it gets. Every second added to your website’s load time is detrimental to user experience. In fact, according to Google, each additional second it takes for your website to load can mean up to a 20% drop in conversions.
In addition to slowing down your website, having too many tracking pixels collecting data can cause other issues.
Loss in Revenue
We already mentioned the risk for a drop-in conversions, but that translates to real dollars. For example, if you’re an e-commerce business that generates around $1 million in revenue each year, each second slower your site is, could lead to as much as $200,000 in lost revenue per year. Users want results fast and if your site cannot provide it quick enough, they will leave and go somewhere else that will give them the results they are looking for. Site speed may seem non-consequential, but in the long run it can be detrimental to the success of your business.
Drop in Rankings
Another repercussion of having a slow site speed is the possibility of a high bounce rate – one of the factors Google takes into consideration ranking search results. If you’ve prioritized your website’s search engine optimization, you are putting yourself at risk of dropping in rankings. Google wants to show the results of sites that best service the needs of a user. If your site has a high bounce rate due to slow site speed, Google may conclude that your site is not meeting the searchers intent and will drop your site in search results. This will lead to less traffic to your site, further lowering your conversion rate.
Hacking Vulnerability
As with anything else web-based, third-party services using tracking pixels are subject to hacking. The data collected from these services is valuable and as such, a sought-after commodity. The more third-party services used on your site, the higher you increase the potential for having your data stolen or tampered. Being cautious and selective when it comes to the companies you work with can benefit you in the long run. And knowing the security measures these companies have in place can also be an added preventative measure to take.
Further, tracking pixels collect the same data. Because having too many installed on your website can slow it down, it’s key to make sure that each one you’ve installed is doing something different. Choose the most robust service for your particular needs and cut the rest. While collecting data and using tracking pixels on your website is important, make sure you’re doing it wisely. Remember to set up your site to load pixels after the page loads and all at once. In addition, use https to secure your site and the tracking pixels on it.
If you have any questions or need advice on which services to use and how to interpret data, contact our team of experts and we’d be happy to assist in getting the most out of your marketing.