Legislation and practices related to cookies and privacy are changing rapidly. At iAdvize, we help you to better understand these constraints and make our solution evolve to allow you to support your visitors in an optimal way, while remaining within the framework imposed by the law. We are always on the lookout for changes in usage and technical solutions, so this article is updated regularly!

1. Legislation and web practices

Reminder: a cookie is a small file deposited on the hard disk of an Internet user by his browser when he visits a website. This file stores information for future use. 

In 2020, the CNIL (French national commission for information technology and civil liberties) adopted guidelines and a recommendation about  "cookies and other tracers", followed in 2021 by a series of articles on the same subject. These actions aim to give Internet users a better control over their data during their browsing; in particular, Internet users must give their consent to the use of cookies by the site they are visiting.

In 2022, to better respect the privacy of Internet users, the most widely used browsers (Mozilla, Safari, Chrome in 2023) will no longer support "third party cookies", which are able to track Internet users from domain to domain, generally for marketing purposes. Only "first party cookies", deposited only in connection with the site's domain, continue to function.

Whether the cookies are "third party" or "first-party", Internet users must always consent to their deposit by the site they are visiting, unless it is absolutely essential to the proper use of the site. The CNIL specifies that continuing to browse the site does not mean consent. 

2. The iAdvize cookie

iAdvize only needs one cookie for the conversation to take place: iadvize-SID_NUMBER-vuid, which was previously a "third-party" cookie. From January, 2023, it will become a first-arty cookie (you can make the switch and join the beta by reaching your usual contact at iAdvize). This cookie has two functions: 

• targeting visitors according to the criteria of your engagement strategy
• tracking the conversation itself with iAdvize

The data stored by this cookie for a domain is kept for 12 months.

Aligned with legislation and browser practices, the iAdvize cookie is a "first party" cookie by default,  associated with the domain on which it is used for each website. No change is required for sites that previously used it as a third-party cookie. As with other services associated with your site, consent is generally required from visitors. 

In line with legislation and new browser practices, the iAdvize cookie is a "native" cookie by default, associated with the domain on which it is used for each website. No modification is necessary for sites that previously used it as a third-party cookie. As with other services associated with your site, users are generally required to give their consent.

3. Cookies and data stored in the browser

This section summarizes how iAdvize uses cookies and what data is collected about your visitors.

3.1. How does iAdvize use cookies?

• You install the iAdvize tag on the pages of your website, which allows the activation of the main iAdvize cookie
• in the iAdvize administration, you set up your conversation strategy, including targeting rules
• iAdvize analyzes the behavior of visitors to present them with notifications, according to the parameters set by these targeting rules
• the main iAdvize cookie allows the conversation to take place (continuity of the conversation between pages, memorization of the conversation history)
• 2 other cookies can be used to track transactions.

3.2. The list of our visitors' cookies

3.3. What does iAdvize do with the data it collects?

• iAdvize uses cookies to store information in the browser of visitors to a site, solely for the purposes mentioned above.
• iAdvize uses only the cookies mentioned above, and does not use any external libraries that may deposit other cookies.
• The information collected is limited to a unique, anonymized visitor ID and to the data that our users wish to be stored in iAdvize, whether transmitted automatically or entered by a user (such as a visitor's first and last name or contact details).
• Only iAdvize and authorized users have access to this information. It is not shared with any third party, and iAdvize does not resell any data.

More information on iAdvize and cookies in our article dedicated to consent from the chatbox.

3.4. Continuity of conversation for "multi-domain" projects

Since third-party cookies were phased out in 2024, iAdvize can no longer reliably link visitor identities between domains. While this is good news for privacy in general, it means that multi-domain clients need to add a query parameter to their pages to maintain conversation continuity between websites that don't share a top-level domain.

4. What does iAdvize do with the collected data?

• iAdvize uses cookies to store information in the browser of site visitors, solely for the purposes mentioned above

• iAdvize uses only the cookies mentioned above, and does not use any external library that may deposit other cookies

• The information collected is limited to a unique, anonymized visitor ID and to the data that our users want to keep in iAdvize, whether automatically transmitted or entered by a user (such as a visitor's first and last name or contact information)

• Only iAdvize and its authorized users have access to this information. It is not shared with any third party, and iAdvize does not sell any data