Redeye updates IP and cookie accuracy report

Online behavioural marketing and analysis specialist RedEye has updated The RedEye Report, heralded as the definitive report on the accuracy of IP and cookie-based management information.

Leading bodies such as Forrester Research and experts such as Jim Sterne, head of the Web Analytics Association, are still highlighting the original RedEye Report as the best study in the field of cookie deletion.

The new additions to the Report aim to provide marketers with the best information in the industry in terms of understanding how they should use the online information they collect.

Mark Patron, CEO at RedEye, commented: "The issue about the accuracy of the different methodologies for tracking online activity is still raging; Comscore's recent controversial research and the subsequent challenge of both Comscore and NetRatings by the IAB show just how hot this topic still is.

"We have made some important additions to the original RedEye Report by updating the section that provides a health-check on what specific data collection types are suitable for, plus we have added new information on the impact of other recent developments, such as behavioural targeting and Web 2.0 user-generated content, on the whole area of online tracking".

The 2007 RedEye Report includes a 'What is Your Online Data Good For?' Guide which gives marketers an up-to-date best practice guideline showing them what they can do with their data, depending on what method of collection they use.

Its 'traffic light' coloured guide makes it easy for marketers to understand the benefit or each tracking methodology and the percentage error they should expect, depending on what activity they want to measure.

The advice covers measurement based on IP/browser, cookies, weighted cookies and log-ins and looks at the activities these should and shouldn't be used for, including measuring pages viewed, visits over time, paths (such as entry/exit pages), visitors and conversions and complete browser history as well as analysis of both tactical and strategic behavioural marketing activity.

The RedEye 'What is Your Online Data Good For?' Guide is available from RedEye.

Pat Gildea, e-delivery Manager, said: "Online tracking can be very complex - The RedEye Report helped me see through the smoke and mirrors and to manage our business better".

Patron added: "It's important that, rather than listening to the scare stories about the failings of cookie and IP measurements, marketers understand the benefits of each measurement methodology and what they can use them for.

"Accuracy is a vital factor when deploying behavioural marketing as a small percentage error may result in messages being sent incorrectly to a company's most important customers or prospects.

"The 2007 RedEye Report helps people to make the right decisions in order to gain a deep understanding of their customer needs and activity which, ultimately, should provide them with competitive advantage".

RedEye's customer centric approach to data capture is the most accurate method in the market today, marrying the best of IP, cookie and log-in re-identification, enabling businesses to track individual people online.

Since the recent Comscore/NetRatings debate, RedEye has noticed a significant increase in visitors to its website who are downloading the original RedEye Report.

The added value of the 2007 version will provide them with no-nonsense advice and guidance on how to make best use of the metrics that are already available.

The RedEye Report is a study into the accuracy of IP and cookie-based online management information, comparing IP and cookie-based web metrics to a known set of results.

This free report: identifies the level of inaccuracy of IP-based and cookie-based web metrics for two different websites; explains why such errors occur; recommends what decisions they can be used for.

The study examined data from two of the UK's busiest ecommerce websites, www.asda.com and www.williamhill.co.uk.

Given that more than half of all page impressions on these sites are from logged-in users, they provided a robust sample to compare IP-based and cookie-based analysis against.

The results were staggering: for example an IP-based approach overestimated visitors by up to 7.6 times while a cookie-based approach overestimated visitors by up to 2.3 times.

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