Private browsing mode (or incognito mode) in web browsers offers users a way to surf the internet without saving browsing history, cookies, or temporary data on their devices. While there are distinct advantages to private browsing for individuals like, multiple users being able to use a shared device, prevention of some forms of Internet tracking and extension-free browsing, there are also downsides for online businesses.
Analytics Data and Loss of Tracking
Most successful online businesses are metrics-driven; therefore, inaccurate metrics that prevent or obscure accurate metrics are likely to negatively affect the operation of the business. Private browsing prevents cookies from being stored, affecting how businesses track user behavior, sessions, and conversion funnels.
Tracking user behavior and interactions on a website gives companies valuable information that helps shape many aspects of how they run their business. Private browsing causes a break in data persistence that limits customer insights into customer preferences, impacting personalization and targeting.
Remarketing, a tactic that helps businesses engage with past website or app visitors and encourages them to convert, has reduced effectiveness caused by private browsing, as businesses can't track users across sessions, leading to ineffective or lost remarketing opportunities.
Fraud and Abuse Risks
Private browsing improves individuals’ privacy but it reduces individuals’ visibility, which inherently means that the risk profile increases, i.e. the increased likelihood of fraudulent activity. Private browsing can be used to evade detection or bypass security measures, such as:
Private browsing makes identifying suspicious activities more challenging.
Marketing/Ad Attribution Impact
Marketing attribution is a methodology advertisers use to determine how marketing tactics—and subsequent customer interactions—contribute to sales, conversions, or other goals. These marketing metrics are used to identify the channels that inspire potential buyers to take action.
Visitors using private mode can cause a break in attribution chains because ads or referral links clicked may not pass referral or conversion data to analytics tools.
Another issue with private browsing is impaired ROI calculations for advertising campaigns due to a lack of or inconsistency in data.
Personalization and Usability Issues
One of the things that makes modern websites effective and enjoyable for the user is the delivery of personalized content, recommendations, and user flows that are streamlined and concise.
The above is technically enabled by the existence of persistent cookies, which are prevented from being stored (persistently) after a private browsing session ends. A user in private mode may receive generic content or offers, which could negatively impact their experience and consequently impact engagement and sales.
Authentication can also be hindered as private browsing resets sessions once the browser is closed, leading to frequent logins and potential friction for users.
How DeviceAssure Helps Website Owners
DeviceAssure can assist online businesses with reliable and consistent detection of private mode across browsers. This detection gives customers the option to:
1. Challenge the user to switch to traditional browsing to take advantage of personalization or adherence to security policy.
2. Disallow access to the site or areas that rely on cookies to function properly.
3. Bypass the logging of activities to analytics or other platforms that would introduce inaccuracies in their metrics.
4. Flag this browsing method and optionally trigger different website flows for the user, e.g. additional security steps for login/registration.
DeviceAssure flags the usage of private mode/browsing at page load, thus providing the site owner the option to tailor a customized view, trigger a new user flow or an engagement element (popup, warning, error, message), turn data capture elements off, and so forth. DeviceAssure provides valuable insight that allows better business decisions to be made in real-time and as a feed into more accurate data analytics.Conlusion
In conclusion, although private browsing offers individuals privacy benefits, it can have various implications for online businesses such as inaccurate reporting, less remarketing potential, increased fraud risks, and limited customer personalization. To lessen the impact, solutions like DeviceAssure can help website owners to detect private browsing and tailor their site's behavior. By addressing customers using incognito mode, online businesses can adapt their website for customers more effectively.