A study from Princeton University has recently grabbed our attention. The study suggests that hundreds of firms are tracking every keystroke made by visitors, and this technique known as session replay, is used by companies to gain an understanding of how customers use websites.
With obvious privacy concerns in play, it is worth bearing in mind that is definitely overhyped, but companies should let people know if they are tracking keystrokes, mouse movements and scrolling behaviour, so that this information is not being collected without the user’s knowledge.
We took the initiative to review the websites of the top 50 semiconductor companies and see whether any of them are using these tools. Out of 50 only 3 were shown to be using tracking software: Samsung, Nuvoton and Micron.
SessionCam, Clicktale and Hotjar were revealed to be the most popular of the tracking software in the semiconductor industry. We did wonder whether, by tracking these results, these companies are actively improving their websites as most companies in our industry don’t feel they need to use such tools.
Although we don’t think it is a major privacy issue, many believe it is. The question left to ask is does tracking your customers every movement on your website benefit you by helping you improve? Or is it really just an invasion of privacy? Why not let us know your thoughts on this issue?
