Cookies

Commercial content | New Customers Only | 18+

What are cookies?

A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. It enables the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as login, language, font size and other display preferences) over a period of time, so you don’t have to keep re-entering them whenever you come back to the site or browse from one page to another.

How do we use cookies?

A number of our pages use cookies to remember:

• your display preferences, such as contrast colour settings or font size
• if you have already replied to a survey pop-up that asks you if the content was helpful or not (so you won’t be asked again)
• if you have agreed (or not) to our use of cookies on this site

Also, some videos embedded in our pages use a cookie to anonymously gather statistics on how you got there and what videos you visited.

Cookies are also stored by Europa Analytics, the corporate service which measures the effectiveness and efficiency of the European Commission’s websites on EUROPA.

Enabling these cookies is not strictly necessary for the website to work but it will provide you with a better browsing experience. You can delete or block these cookies, but if you do that some features of this site may not work as intended.

The cookie-related information is not used to identify you personally and the pattern data is fully under our control. These cookies are not used for any purpose other than those described here.

Do we use other cookies?

Some of our pages or subsites may use additional or different cookies to the ones described above. If so, the details of these will be provided in their specific cookies notice page. You may be asked for your agreement to store these cookies.

How to control cookies

You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish – for details, see aboutcookies.org. You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site and some services and functionalities may not work.

Google Analytics

_ga (2 years)

_gid (24 hours)

These cookies are first party, persistent cookies, which are used to collect information about how visitors use our website. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the website. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the website, where visitors have come to the website from and the pages they visited. We use the information to track user behaviour and to help us improve our website.

_ga and _gid cookies are used to differentiate you from other users of our websites, which will help us to provide you with a better experience when you browse our websites and allow us to improve our websites.

Although these cookies do not contain any personal information about you specifically, if you choose to fill out any form on our website or decide to login, then we will link your personal information (including but not limited to what operating system you are using, IP address, cookie information, a timestamp of  when the cookie was first placed on your device, and clickstream information) to the browsing information associated with these cookies on your browser.

Read Google’s overview of privacy and safeguarding data

_gat_UA-111267861-2 (1 minute)

Regarding _gat_UA-XXXXXXXX-X, this is a first party, persistent cookie which does not store any user information. It is just used to limit the number of requests being made to the service doubleclick.net – a service for displaying advertisements on websites made by Google.

The exact cookie identification varies according to the website.

Clicky

There are up to ten (10) unique “first party” cookies and one (1) “third party” cookie that Clicky will install on a web browser when you view a site with the tracking code (“Code”) installed.

“First party” cookies are created by the Code and hence are tied to the web site domain. “Third party” cookies are set via HTTP headers by Clicky tracking servers and are tied to Clicky tracking domain(s).

Most cookies can be disabled, as explained at the bottom of this section.

Note: “[site_id]” below represents the unique numeric ID that every registered site is assigned on Clicky. It will always be a number, such as “123”.

• _jsuid: This is a random number that is generated by the Code the first time you visit a web site with the Code installed. Its sole purpose is to better identify you as a new and unique visitor to a web site. This cookie is sent to Clicky for every event logged. The value of this cookie will also be set as a third party cookie with the name of “cluid”, if such a cookie does not exist. The purpose of the third party cookie is for web sites with multiple domains and who want to track visitor sessions across multiple domains, which is not possible with first party cookies. These “uid” cookies are set to more or less never expire.

• _eventqueue: This cookie stores an array of mouse events that can’t be guaranteed to be logged to Clicky servers before the current page is unloaded. The purpose is to store these events in a queue so on the subsequent page view, these events can be processed and logged. This is a session cookie so it will expire when you leave our web site.

• _custom_data_[key]: This cookie only gets set if we are using the custom data tracking Whenever you set custom data for a session, it is put in a cookie so every time you come back to the in the future, the same data will get attached to your new session, even if you don’t login or follow whatever process was used to originally declare these variables. Note: Each piece of data attached has a ‘key’ and a ‘value’, so each unique key will be its own cookie. For example, _custom_data_email or _custom_data_username. This cookie is set to more or less never expire. This cookie can be disabled by setting the sticky_data_disable tracking option.

• _referrer_og: This cookie stores the external referrer for you, so that on future visits the same referrer will be attached to their sessions. This cookie expires after 90 days but will be set again or updated on future visits if you arrive at the site from a link on another site, whether or not it’s the same referrer. When this cookie is updated, the expiration date is reset to 90 days from the time of the new visit. This cookie can be disabled by setting the sticky_data_disable tracking option.

• _utm_og: This cookie stores dynamic (UTM) campaign variables, so that on future visits the same campaign data will be attached to their sessions. This cookie expires after 90 days but will be set again or updated on future visits if you arrive at our site with campaign data in the URL. When this cookie is updated, the expiration date is reset to 90 days from the time of the new visit. This cookie can be disabled by setting the sticky_data_disable tracking option.

• _first_pageview: This cookie is set on the first page view of a session. It is used to make the Clicky tracking code more efficient, so certain processes are only run on your initial page view. It expires after 10 minutes.

• heatmaps_g2g_[site_id]: This cookie tells the tracking code whether or not to log data about where you are clicking on a site to send back to the Clicky servers and use that data to generate a heatmap report of clicks on that page. If cookies are disabled, heatmap data cannot be logged. This is a session cookie so it will expire when you leave the web site.

• unpoco_[site_id]: The Code sends “pings” when you sit on a single page. This allows the Service to more accurately track “time on site” values. Because this feature uses a lot of extra bandwidth, it requires a paid account. For non-paid accounts, this cookie is set to tell the Code not to send these pings. This cookie expires after 1 hour but will be set again upon future visits by the same visitor.

• no_tracky_[site_id]: When a site stops using Clicky, it is quite common for the web master to leave the code installed, which is against the Terms of service. For high traffic sites, this can use a lot of extra bandwidth and CPU resources on our servers. This cookie is set whenever data is sent in for a site that is disabled. It tells the tracking code to stop sending data. This cookie expires after 1 hour but will be set again upon future visits by the same visitor, until the Code is removed from the offending web site.The “no_tracky” cookie is also set for some types of visitor filters that can be configured by us. For example, if a filter is created to only log data from visitors in Canada, then this cookie is set for all visitors in other countries, to save resources.

• clicky_olark: This cookie gets set if the Olark chat is being used in combination with Clicky. It contains Olark’s unique ID information for the visitor. This cookie is sent to the Service, which is needed in order to initiate the chat process within Spy. This is a session cookie so it will expire when you leave the web site.

Cookies can be disabled by the following the instructions at http://clicky.com/help/custom#cookies_disable.

Please note: There are two exceptions to disabling cookies, both related to saving Clicky resources. The “unpoco” cookie will always be set for non-premium sites to minimize requests to Clicky servers, and the “no_tracky” cookie will always be set for disabled sites who leave the code installed, and for some types of visitor filters, as mentioned above. These are essentially session cookies (they expire after 1 hour). Most countries that have strict cookie laws do allow session cookies as long as they are not used to track visitor activity (which is exactly the point of these cookies, to send either less data or no data to our servers).

Hotjar

When someone visits hotjar.com, standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns are collected. This is done to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is collected in a way which does not personally identify anyone.

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

Cookies set by the Hotjar script:

Visual Optimizer

VWO uses cookies to run tests and to track user information. The cookies keep track of the variation you have viewed and help to serve you with the same variation; track goals you have completed; and determine whether you are part of a test.

VWO uses the following cookies to track users and test information:

• _vis_opt_exp_EXPERIMENT_ID_goal_GOAL_ID: This cookie is generated when a goal is created.
• _vis_opt_test_cookie: This is a temporary session cookie generated to detect if the cookies are enabled on the user browser or not.
• _vis_opt_exp_EXPERIMENT_ID_combi: This cookie is generated when you reach a particular combination. This cookie ensures that you see the same variation that you saw on your previous visit to the page.
• _vis_opt_exp_EXPERIMENT_ID_exclude: This cookie is generated when you are excluded from a test.
• _vis_opt_exp_EXPERIMENT_ID_split: This cookie is generated during a Split URL test.
• _vis_opt_s: This cookie detects if you are new or returning to a particular test.
• _vis_opt_out: This cookie indicates that you are not part of the test. This cookie is valid for 10 years.
• EXPERIMENT ID refers to the ID of the test, and GOAL ID refers to the ID of the goal.
• _vwo_uuid: This cookie generates a unique ID for every visitor and is used for the report segmentation feature in VWO. It also allows us to view data in a more refined manner. If a test is running on multiple domains, we will notice test-specific UUID values.
• In the _vis_opt_exp_EXPERIMENT_ID_combi cookie, the Control always has the value of 1, Variation #1 always has the value of 2, Variation #2 has the value of 3, and so on.

Maxmind ip localisation

The Services use “cookies” and similar technologies, including HTML5 local storage. A cookie is a file stored on your device that may be used to identify you as a unique user by storing certain personal preferences and user data. MaxMind uses cookies and other technologies to identify your device, identify authorized users of the MaxMind Account Portal, track affiliate referrals, complete online purchases through MaxMind’s shopping carts, and similar Services monitoring activities.

MaxMind may also use web beacons, small graphic images or other web programming code (also known as “1×1 GIFs” or “clear GIFs”), which may be included in our web pages and e-mail messages. Web beacons may be invisible to you, but any electronic image or other web programming code inserted into a web page or e-mail can act as a web beacon. Web beacons or similar technologies may be used for a number of purposes, including, without limitation, to count visitors to the Services, to monitor how users navigate the Services, to count how many e-mails that were sent were actually opened or to count how many particular articles or links were actually viewed.

MaxMind may also use embedded scripts in connection with the provision of its Services. “Embedded scripts” are programming code designed to collect information about your interactions with a website, such as the links you click on, and may assist us in providing information used to provide the Services. The code is temporarily downloaded onto your device from the MaxMind web server, our customer’s web server, or a third party service provider, is active only while you are connected to the website containing the embedded script, and is deactivated or deleted thereafter.

Piwik

_pk_id (2 years)

_pk_ses (24h)

Matomo.org uses cookies to help Matomo.org identify and track visitors, their usage of Matomo.org websites, and their website access preferences. Matomo.org visitors who do not wish to have cookies placed on their computers should set their browsers to refuse cookies before using Matomo.org’s websites, with the drawback that certain features of Matomo.org’s websites may not function properly without the aid of cookies.

A/B Tasty

The AB Tasty solution requires 2 cookies to be placed in the browser of users subjected to tests.

ABTasty

This cookie sends all test data (visitorID, test and variant IDs, timestamps).
It has a lifespan of 13 months.

ABTastySession

This cookie allows us to identify a unique session. It allows us to determine that a new session has begun for a given user. It lasts for the length of the session.

The solution includes the possibility of modifying cookies’ length of validity. For this, go to Advanced settings, then go to Cookies.

If you do not wish to participate in tests, they can opt-out by adding the “#abtastyoptout=1” parameter at the end of the URL of the site in question.

For example:
http://www.abtasty.com/#abtastyoptout=1

Using this parameter creates a cookie in the browser in order to store the opt-out information.
Other than cookies, the AB Tasty tag stores the list of URLs visited locally in the browser via LocalStorage and SessionStorage. This storage allows us to perform complex visitor segmentation.

For AB Tasty, using cookies ensures that the solution can function correctly and guarantees that the tests carried out are reliable by recognising you as a unique visitor each time they visit (remembers that it is the same visitor without actually knowing who it is). In particular, the cookies log which version of the test you are using, with the sole purpose of being able to direct you back to the same version during future visits. This system allows us to avoid causing behavioural differences and consequently lead to misleading results. Under no circumstances do these cookies store any information that identifies visitors.

All the results obtained are compiled and remain fully anonymous. The results focus on user browsing and behaviour: number of visitors, visits, numbers of pages viewed and other information required to measure the performance of each webpage version during a test. They are used to improve the ergonomics and content of the sites visited. The AB Tasty solution uses “first party” cookies, i.e. they are set by the URL of the website using the AB Tasty service.