Hieggelke: Cookie rejection is a more serious issue. Rejection refers to visitors blocking cookies from ever being set on their machines, as opposed to deletion, which happens at some point after the individual has visited a site. Cookie rejection immediately affects the accuracy of all metrics rather than causing a gradual decline in the accuracy of reports spanning weeks or months.

iMedia: What are the most important distinctions between third- and first-party cookies?

Hieggelke: First-party cookies are blocked at a much lower rate than third-party cookies, estimated to be 1-4 percent of visitors. First-party cookies provide benefits to consumers such as saving passwords or shopping cart contents, and some sites require them to operate properly, meaning they are both blocked and deleted at a low, even negligible, rate. As a result, analysis based off first-party cookies is much more accurate. Another important distinction between first- and third-party cookies is the entity serving them: the site the visitor chose to visit serves their own first-party cookies, while third-party cookies come from an outside entity (advertising networks and hosted web analytics vendors). Third-party cookies, such as those served by advertising networks, can allow tracking visitors across multiple, unrelated sites, and this is what has both consumers and technologies like web browsers and anti-spyware solutions targeting them.

iMedia: How many organizations have adopted WebTrends first-party cookie solution and what improvement have they experienced?

Hieggelke: While WebTrends software customers numbering in the thousands have always been able to use first-party cookies, we've had nearly 600 organizations using WebTrends On Demand move to our first-party cookie solution since we introduced it in late May. We've seen customers eliminate cookie rejection as a cause of concern virtually overnight, going from 15-20 percent third-party rejection to less than 1-4 percent for first-party cookies.

Not only are they able to recognize more visitors as either new or repeat, some have experienced a more than 50 percent gain in revenue attributed to campaigns as they now have the foundation necessary to better track deferred campaign conversions -- those conversions that happen at some point after the initial campaign response and website visit.

Plus, since first-party cookies are both blocked and deleted at a much lower rate due to the benefit they provide to consumers, marketers are now in a much better position to track visitors' behaviors over time to fuel segmentation strategies, retention programs and cross-selling and up-selling efforts.

iMedia: What's the difference between WebTrends approach to using first-party cookies and competitors?

Hieggelke: WebTrends patent-pending technology is easy to implement as it utilizes a "true" first-party cookie, the cookie the customer is already serving. Many competitors use a different approach, commonly referred to as "cookie masquerading." This is where the vendor essentially "tricks" the web browser into thinking the site is serving a true first-party cookie. In reality it is the vendor's cookie masked as a first-party cookie through cloaking techniques that require businesses to hand-over management of their SSL and domain name certificates, raising both security concerns and costs.The first-party cookie approach WebTrends uses is offered at no charge within its standard solution and includes automated methods to setup and maintain first-party cookies and to migrate historical third-party data to new first-party cookies.

iMedia: Why do some web analytics competitors still not acknowledge cookie rejection and deletion as an important issue?

Hieggelke: Despite the multitude of organizations providing research that indicates cookie blocking and deletion is a growing issue, some web analytics vendors downplay the importance. While I can only conjecture as to why, some solutions literally can't see the problem for themselves. If a web analytics solution can only sessionize visits using a cookie, which as a standard is often a third-party cookie, then it won't track visitors at all who block their cookies. They simply won't know that 13-28 percent of their traffic is missing. Finally, many hosted web analytics vendors are only able to utilize masqueraded first-party cookies, which are an extra cost to their customers and require implementation and ongoing management from the vendor.

iMedia: What is your advice to marketers who want to ensure accurate, reliable web analytics?

Hieggelke: As a best practice, marketers should use their own first-party cookie in data collection and analysis efforts. The ability to do this shouldn't pose a monetary or security-oriented cost to businesses. It's marketers fundamental right to have the most accurate information possible to inform their business strategies and optimize their results.

iMedia: What trends are happening in online marketing and what impact does the cookie issue have?

Hieggelke:There's huge growth in online advertising as more brand advertising dollars move online. The industry is captivated by the online marketing opportunity due to the tremendous measurability the web offers in relation to other channels and the ability to actively communicate with customers and become more relevant in their marketing efforts. We believe more awareness about the cookie issue will cause more marketers to think about the importance of transparency in their marketing efforts, helping to foster better relationships with consumers. Additionally, a deeper understanding and appreciation of how metrics are calculated and the best practices used to create and leverage them will help marketers become more sophisticated in their measurement and optimization efforts.

iMedia:Do you think that consumer education about cookies is necessary? If so, what needs to happen in order to get consumers to change their attitudes toward cookies?

Hieggelke:Cookies are most certainly misunderstood by the typical Internet user. There needs to be more education that takes place by the vendor community and associations, and businesses must strive for as much transparency as possible in their marketing efforts. Serving their own first-party cookie rather than an outside third-party's is a good first step toward transparency as well as more accurate information. Businesses also need to explain to visitors what cookies are, what they are used for, and possibly in the future offer some incentives through web site functionality or rewards programs that encourage consumers to keep their cookies.

Brent Hieggelke, Vice President of Corporate Marketing for WebTrends Inc. is responsible for all WebTrends marketing efforts including overall strategy, demand generation, and brand awareness, to web site operations and public relations. Brent is also the author of "Winning on the Web: The Executive Pocket Guide to Smarter Marketing" which has been requested by more than 25,000 marketing executives. Brent also sits on the Associate Member Board of the Internet Advertising Bureau and heads up the Marketing Committee of the Web Analytics Association.