When Less is More: Fathom Analytics Review
KSM Web Design values your digital privacy. That’s why we use Fathom: cookie- free and GDPR compliant website analytics. Fathom is trusted by banks, governments and companies of every size. Find out why we use it below.
Why Consider Fathom?
Some reports state Google tracks close to 80% of all web traffic. Google Analytics is one of these free products. It helps you track the traffic of your website and the behaviour of your visitors.
Google Analytics enables you to review and analyze statistics on your website. You can use the analytics and data to achieve an increase in page views, clicks or purchases. In exchange for this free analytic tool, Google has a free hand on the user data it collects from your website.
Google Analytics is a powerful business tool. But is the same functionality available without the baggage of data risks and potential legal trouble?
In January 2022, the Austrian Data Privacy Authority ruled it illegal to use Google Analytics in the EU. This is due to the transfer of user data to US servers. This issue of data privacy is becoming an ethical and legal consideration for businesses all over the world.
Enter Fathom Analytics: A Privacy-Focused Web Analytics
Fathom is a new player in the web analytics arena. Starting in 2016 their goal was to create a simpler, less intrusive analytics tool. How does it maintain web visitor privacy?
- Fathom doesn’t use cookies. They don’t track or store personally identifiable information about any visitor to your website. The codes assigned to unique visitors are purged from their systems every 48 hours;
- EU users are routed to EU servers;
- Statistics gathered from your web visitors are not made available or sold to third parties. The aggregated data remains secure on the Fathom servers;
- Upon cancellation of subscription to Fathom, all data is deleted immediately and permanently. The website owner may opt to extract this data prior toaccount closure;
- Fathom Analytics has a strong “privacy-first” culture. They are very conscious of compliance with various data privacy laws worldwide. Their analytics tool is GDPR, CCPA and PECR compliant.
Does It Stack Up in Analytics?
Google Analytics has a complicated user interface. Its voluminous report options are challenging to generate and interpret. Is the extra money you might earn worth the Google Analytics expert? And the degree in computer science to interpret the report?
Fathom prides itself in providing a streamlined, user-friendly analytic dashboard. It provides useful and actionable information. Fathom is not only suited to small businesses. Big brands and established institutions such as IBM, Github, banks and governments use Fathom. This is a testament to the effectiveness and reliability of their tool which collects less data.
It is important to note that Fathom bypasses ad blockers so it can track all web traffic to your sites. 43% of internet users install ad blockers so tracking tools like Google Analytics are unable to collect their information.
This is a significant amount of data to be missing when performing site analytics. Through Fathom’s custom domains you get a full picture of your website traffic and visitors behavior. Without ever compromising their privacy.
You also have control over what data is captured from website visitors. You can block IP addresses and/or countries, or whitelist certain domains. Fathom filters out bots and DDoS attacks.
Better Site Visitor Experience
Do you enjoy pop ups? Because Fathom doesn’t have cookies tracking website visitors, there is no need for cookie banners and consent forms. Pop ups detract from the user experience. They remind your customer that their personal information will be stored and used by third parties.
Because the Fathom script is very lightweight (1.6KB vs 45.7KB of Google Analytics), it allows your website to load faster. Ironically Google rewards and prioritizes optimized and faster websites. That’s a plus not just for user experience, but also for search rankings.
More Functionality with Less Effort
Fathom allows you to share analytic dashboards or make them public without requiring other users to set up Fathom accounts. Simply share the URL (and provide the password) to provide access to others. You can set up automated email reports, share with colleagues or clients.
You can even set up uptime monitoring of your websites. You can receive notifications through email, text message or Slack.
Future Proof
Fathom Analytics’ privacy-focused and streamlined tool may be the future of website analytics. Subscriptions start at $14 monthly to monitor 50 sites for up to 100k page views. This seems like a small price to pay to protect user privacy and minimize legal risk while still leveraging top-notch web analytics to grow your business. We use this for almost all of our websites as it is such an excellent tool for such a reasonable price.
