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Restricting Access To Your Website Can Kill Your Business
By Richard Hearne
Expert Author
Article Date: 2009-08-17
Here's a classic case of cookie sniffing gone really terribly wrong. I allow 1st party cookies in Chrome, and the only restrictions I've made are to on 3rd party cookies. Here's what I get when I go to www.virgin-atlantic.com:
Virgin Atlantic No Cookies Warning
Online Privacy Is A Growing Concern
There's no doubting that people have become far more conscious of their privacy online. It seems not a day goes by without some news story about how technology often infringes on privacy, and most people take more action these days to protect themselves.
I've changed my cookie settings in Google Chrome. I explicitly restrict how third part cookies can be used. I did so after reading Google's own guidelines on how to opt out of Doubleclick's tracking cookie:
Third Party Cookie Options In Google Chrome
Virgin Atlantic Sniffing The Wrong Cookie
I assume Virgin Atlantic are sniffing out the Doubleclick Cookie, and because I've restricted 3rd party cookies, they seem to think I cant use their website. Of course this would be a reasonable response if I didn't accept
any cookies, but my browser should have no problems using their site to purchase my flight (I doubt the DoubleClick cookie is a show-stopper).
If virgin-atlantic.com checked their own cookies they'd see them alive and well, but right now they're potential turning customers away, and I imagine losing valuable sales, all because of Doubleclick.
For reference here's what I get in FF (where Doubleclick still follows me around):
Virgin Atlantic homepage with 3rd party cookies
No better way to kill sales and conversions than by blocking users from accessing your site. Hopefully Virgin-Atlantic.com will fix this ASAP.
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About the Author:
Richard Hearne is the founder of Red Cardinal, a dedicated search marketing consultancy. A frequent contributor to Google's Webmaster Group, Richard regularly advises clients on Internet marketing strategy and Search Engine optimisation campaigns. Richard's thoughts and research can be found on his search marketing blog.
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