What Happens to Visitor Identification When a Cookie Consent Banner Is Active?
When a cookie consent banner is deployed on your website alongside
the Visual Visitor tracking script, the volume of identified visitors will
typically decrease compared to a site without consent management. This is
expected and indicates proper compliance behavior.
How identification works
with an active consent banner:
· Opt-in model (explicit consent required):
Visitors must click Accept before the Visual Visitor script fires.
Only visitors who accept cookies are identified. Visitors who decline or close
the banner without accepting will not be tracked.
· Implied consent model:
The Visual Visitor configuration treats continued use of the site (e.g., scrolling or staying for
8-10 seconds) as implied consent and allow the script to fire after a short
delay, even without an explicit click.
· Strict opt-in (e.g., California CCPA / GDPR):
For sites targeting California, EU, or Canadian visitors, explicit
opt-in is required. Expect a meaningful reduction in identification volume from
those visitor segments.
Impact on your data:
After implementing a consent banner, you may see a drop in the Identified Visitors count on your dashboard. This is not a script malfunction — it
reflects visitors who did not consent. The leads you do capture are
higher-quality, consent-based contacts.
Tip:
Some customers have reported a 30-50% drop in identifications after adding a strict consent banner. If the drop is much larger (e.g., 90%+), verify that the banner is
configured correctly and that the Visual Visitor script is
not being blocked even after acceptance.
For guidance on configuring your consent banner, see "Why Is My
Tracking Script Blocked by a Cookie Consent Banner?"