# First-party tracking checklist.

Metagon Growth Starter Kit · file 4 of 7

> **Not legal advice.** This checklist helps you ask the right questions. What your business must do depends on your
> country, your industry and your setup. Check it with your lawyer or data protection officer before you change
> anything.

Ad platforms learn only from what they're told. If a sale isn't counted, the platform never learns that the ad worked,
and it looks for your next customer with less to go on.

First-party tracking means counting what visitors do on your own web address, after they say yes, instead of through
other companies' scripts. Fewer counts get lost, so you see more of what really happened after the click.

You don't need to read code to use this list. You need to know what should happen, and to test that it does.

---

## 1 · Consent comes first.

- [ ] Your site asks before it loads any tracking that the site doesn't need to work. In the EU this is usually
      required; check what applies to you.
- [ ] Saying no is as easy as saying yes: same size, same number of clicks.
- [ ] Before anyone answers, nothing that tracks for marketing has loaded.
- [ ] The choice is remembered, and visitors can change it later, for example through a link in the footer.
- [ ] The banner says in plain words what is counted and who receives it.
- [ ] Your privacy policy names the services that receive data, and it matches what actually loads on the page.

## 2 · What gets counted.

Most businesses need three to six actions, not thirty. Write yours down.

| Action | Why it matters | Where it happens | Counted today? |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Order placed, booking made or request sent | This is the money moment | Thank-you page or booking confirmation | yes · no · not sure |
| Checkout or booking form opened | Shows real interest | | yes · no · not sure |
| | | | yes · no · not sure |
| | | | yes · no · not sure |

- [ ] The real result (an order, a booking, a request) is counted, not only clicks and page views.
- [ ] Each action is counted once. Reloading the thank-you page doesn't create a second sale.
- [ ] Sales carry a value and a currency where that makes sense.
- [ ] No names, emails or phone numbers are sent to ad platforms in readable form. If your setup sends scrambled
      (hashed) contact details for matching, someone decided that on purpose and your privacy policy says so.
- [ ] No health, financial or other sensitive details go anywhere for advertising. Not even in a page address.

## 3 · Your own web address.

- [ ] Counting runs through an address you control, such as a subdomain of your own website, not only through scripts
      loaded from other companies.
- [ ] You know who runs it, where it is hosted, and who can change it.
- [ ] You have the agreements your setup needs with every company that processes the data.
- [ ] Every account (ad platforms, statistics, the counting setup) is in your company's name, not in a freelancer's
      private account.

## 4 · Test before the yes.

Open your site in a private browser window. Don't answer the banner yet.

- [ ] Nothing for marketing or ads loads. Check it in your browser's developer tools (the network tab), or ask whoever
      set it up to show you on screen.
- [ ] Now say no. Click around and send a test request or test order. Still nothing for marketing loads, and the site
      still works.

## 5 · Test after the yes.

Open a new private window. This time say yes.

- [ ] Do the main action once: a test order, a test booking or a test request.
- [ ] It appears in your own statistics.
- [ ] It appears once, with the right value.
- [ ] It appears in the ad platforms' test or diagnostics view.
- [ ] Cancel or mark the test, so it doesn't count as real revenue.

## 6 · Check the numbers every month.

- [ ] Compare counted sales or bookings with your real ones (shop, booking calendar, invoices). Write both numbers down.
- [ ] Expect a gap: people who said no aren't counted. A gap that suddenly grows usually means something broke.
- [ ] After any change to the site (a new theme, form, checkout or banner), run sections 4 and 5 again.

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## Six questions for whoever set it up.

1. What exactly do we count, and where can I see that list?
2. What loads before someone says yes?
3. What happens when someone says no?
4. Which companies receive data, and which data?
5. Who has access, and is every account in our company's name?
6. When was it last tested, and how?

If nobody can answer, that is your first finding.

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Metagon Growth Starter Kit · metagon.co/growth-program