Whether you know it or not, chances are you interact with thousands or even millions of pixels every day. However, savvy marketers know that pixels can be used for much more than just watching cat videos. Pixels are the smallest units that make up a digital screen – that means the computer, laptop, or smartphone you're reading this on right now. If we think of a computer screen like a brick wall, each brick represents one pixel of a screen. Pixels are incredibly small and cannot generally be seen by the naked eye, but these little boxes can store bits of code that provide crucial data for retargeting campaigns, conversions, ad tracking, and much more.
Tracking pixels are small bits of code that are embedded into a transparent 1x1 pixel graphic within the code of a webpage. By placing a small text file onto a visitor’s browser, they can report a variety of data points about a visitor. Think of a tracking pixel as a window marketers can use to look through to see what their website visitors are doing. One main benefit pixels have over cookies is that cookies store information in a user’s browser, while pixels send the information directly to servers.
Everything from the operating system the visitor used to the time they clicked or visited, and even their activities on a website during a session, can be tracked using pixels – making them very highly flexible and versatile for marketers. Finally, because pixels are essentially invisible to users looking at a screen, they provide a unique platform for marketers to gather information without disturbing the user experience.
Here are a few of the many uses for tracking pixels:
So far, all of these benefits seem to make a pretty good case for using tracking pixels on everything you can. After all, knowledge is power, right? But before you jump into the deep end with tracking pixels, there are a few things you should probably consider first:
Don't let their tiny size fool you. Tracking pixels are an incredibly powerful aspect of any digital marketer’s toolkit. However, they are not without their drawbacks. The murky waters of individual privacy concerns, new legislation, as well as technological barriers are all conspiring to make it more difficult for digital marketers to use pixels or any other personal tracking technologies in the future. Fortunately, B2B marketers have other options than pixels if they want to get all these benefits while maintaining their ethical obligations to their website visitors. If you’d like to learn more about some of these options, check out our article: The B2B Marketer’s Guide to the Third-Party Cookie Apocalypse.