Google Analytics Opt-Out is a non issue

On March 18, Google announced plans to provide an opt-out mechanism to protect the browsing actions of web surfers when navigating on Google Analytics enabled properties.

There’s been a lot of chatter and speculation since ranging from questions about easing US government usage of online behavioral metrics  to whether other web performance trending companies will follow suit. And online marketers are wondering how this will hinder their measurement of web traffic. It’s a non-issue, and here’s why:

1. It’s software based
   According to the announcement, the utility will be provided via web-browser plug-in. That will require some sort of download and configuration. Sure, it won’t take a gearhead to click the new (assumed) “Hide My Actions” icon, but that’s the type of heavy lifting that “Grandma” can barely manage.
   On each newer browser version (major & minor), Google will need to maintain compatibility. New plug-ins are neat on the first day, but lose interest fairly soon. How often do you get that pop-up about plug-in upgrades when loading Firefox? After a while, the honeymoon of a new (and barely used) plug-in totally wanes and I simply skip or unclick to eliminate the annoying upgrade message. I have no empirical data on this other than my own desire to get on to the browsing experience versus patching plug-ins, but my assumption is that most others do as well.
2. Google has already demonstrated that nobody cares
   On March 11, 2009,  Google rolled out enhancements to allow users to control the types of ads served to them from AdSense partners. This included a method to control the types of categories of adverstisements served, as well as a complete opt-out option for Doubleclick cookies (browser plug-in based). The preference process was completely controlled from an Ad Preferences Manager page.
   By the Ad Preferences Manager has received little use. Nate Anderson recently wrote that only “tens of thousands” of visitors manage preferences on the site weekly. That’s barely a pimple compared to the gobs of traffic Google receives globally. Andeson goes on to discuss the actual behavior of Ad Preference Manager users, “Compared to the number of people who choose to opt out entirely, four times more people merely edit their categories, while ten times more people do nothing at all.”
   Wow.
3. Guess what? YOU don’t care about the motivated “Opt-Outers”
   They aren’t your core audience; adding bias and noise to your current traffic evaluations.  The cloak and dagger types already scream “don’t contact me, I’ll contact you”, much like the retail shopper who darts from the salesperson before they can say “Hi! How can I help you?”
   They use anonymizing email addresses and fill out contact forms in a half-pregnant manner. They are in pursuit of free software, free whitepapers, free…you get the point.
   And if this panicky bunch is important to your conversion process, you’ve already got your work-around for conversion…the “free-trial, no credit card, no names required” sign-up method.
4. And that’s actually a good thing..a native filter for more accurate traffic evaluation
   So you now have a prescreening for these conspriracy theorists who are meaningless in your pursuit of meaningful analysis of paying customers who want to have a relationship with you.
   That is, unless you’re an IP Anonymizing solution, in which case you really want to capture those behavioral patterns…Which then is the antithesis of what you’re promoting and whoah..paradox.
   So let the less than 1% (if that) fall from your measurement. I say good riddance.And when the fee-based competitors to Google Analyics use the announcement to hype the new value of their services, (since they’ll still capture everyone’s activity), remember that. It’s a big non-issue and no reason to stop using GA.