Data Collection Strategies

PixieHog provides three configurable data collection strategies to send events from your store to PostHog. These strategies are designed to meet different business needs while helping merchants respect customer privacy.

Additionally, merchants can enhance privacy controls by combining any of these strategies with PostHog’s Property Filters App, enabling fine-grained control over the data sent to PostHog.

PixieHog also leverages Shopify’s Customer Privacy API to retrieve customer consent preferences, ensuring your store respects customer privacy choices.

Data Collection Strategies

1. Anonymized

• Overview: Sends events to PostHog without any customer-identifying information, regardless of the customer’s consent status.
• Features:
  • Anonymized event data.
  • Customer consent is not required to track events.
  • Designed with privacy considerations in mind.
• Best For: Merchants who want to prioritize customer privacy and avoid processing any personal data.

2. Identified by Consent

• Overview: Sends events to PostHog without customer-identifying data by default. If a customer provides consent (e.g., via a cookie banner), events will include customer information. If consent is later withdrawn, the app anonymizes future tracking by assigning a new distinct_id.
• How It Works:
  • Uses Shopify’s Customer Privacy API to check consent status before attaching customer data to events.
  • Dynamically adjusts event tracking based on consent changes.
• Features:
  • Tracks anonymized data unless explicit consent is granted.
  • Dynamically adapts to consent changes:
    • Customer information is included only with explicit consent.
    • Returns to anonymized tracking if consent is revoked.
  • Previously collected customer data remains intact unless manually addressed.
• Caveat:
  • Previously collected customer data is not automatically deleted when consent is revoked.
  • Merchants using this strategy should implement their own process to manage and delete customer data as needed.
• Best For: Merchants seeking actionable customer insights while respecting consent preferences, with a process in place to manage data responsibly.

3. Identified

• Overview: Sends events to PostHog with customer information attached, regardless of the customer’s consent status.
• Important Note:
  • This strategy is not privacy-compliant on its own, as it ignores customer consent preferences.
  • However, merchants can combine this strategy with PostHog’s Property Filters App to manage or exclude sensitive data fields, providing greater privacy control even when customer-identifying data is included.
• Features:
  • Customer data is always included in event tracking.
  • Can be adjusted to filter out sensitive data using Property Filters.
  • Does not rely on the Shopify Customer Privacy API for consent management.
• Best For: Merchants who need detailed customer analytics and are implementing robust privacy safeguards, including the use of Property Filters and data deletion processes.

Enhancing Privacy with PostHog Property Filters

To add an extra layer of control and privacy, you can combine any of these strategies with PostHog’s Property Filters App. This feature allows you to:

• Exclude specific properties (e.g., sensitive data fields) from being sent to PostHog.
• Anonymize or transform specific data before it is stored in your analytics.

How to Use Property Filters

1. Visit the PostHog Property Filters Tutorial for step-by-step instructions.
2. Configure filters in your PostHog account to exclude or adjust sensitive properties as needed.
3. Combine Property Filters with any of the data collection strategies for a more privacy-conscious analytics setup.

By leveraging Property Filters, even the Identified strategy can be adapted to reduce privacy risks, making it more suitable for merchants who handle sensitive customer data.

Choosing the Right Strategy

• Privacy-First Approach: Use Anonymized to avoid processing personal data altogether.
• Balanced Insights: Use Identified by Consent to track data responsibly, provided you implement a process for handling customer data (e.g., deletion upon request).
• For Advanced Analytics: Use Identified for detailed customer tracking and combine it with PostHog Property Filters to exclude or anonymize sensitive data fields.

Merchant Responsibilities

While our app helps you respect customer privacy, merchants are responsible for:

1. Ensuring Compliance: Select a data collection strategy that aligns with your store’s privacy policies and legal requirements.
2. Managing Customer Data: Implement processes to delete customer data from PostHog if consent is withdrawn or a deletion request is received.
3. Enhancing Privacy: Use PostHog’s Property Filters to manage sensitive data and align tracking with your privacy goals.
4. Testing in Safe Environments: Use the Identified strategy carefully, ensuring filters and safeguards are in place for customer data.