Analytics.js OneTrust Wrapper

This guide to Segment’s Analytics.js OneTrust wrapper contains context about which configurations might cause data loss, steps you can take to remediate data loss, configurations that minimize data loss, and a guide to expected wrapper behavior.

For questions about OneTrust Consent and Preference Management behavior, see the OneTrust documentation.

For questions about the Analytics.js OneTrust wrapper, see the @segment/analytics-consent-wrapper-onetrust repository.

OneTrust consent banner behavior

The OneTrust consent banner has three key UI configurations that control how the banner and consent preferences behave:

• Banner display: If the banner should be shown or not when a user lands on your webpage
• Banner closing: If the consent banner should automatically close when the user takes an action on your webpage
• Consent model: If the status is automatically set to true or false for all categories
  • Opt-In: The user, by default, does not consent to all categories (except those that you deem to be mandatory). The user is required to select categories that they consent to share data with (or, “opt-in” to data collection)
  • Opt-out: The user, by default, does consent to all categories. The user can choose to select categories that they do not consent to share data with (or, “opt-out” of data collection)

You can set the banner display and banner closing settings to create a banner implementation that is either:

• Mandatory: A user must interact with a banner before they access your site
• Optional: A user does not have to interact with a banner while they access your site. The banner is always present as your end users navigate through your site, disappears after a user takes an action, like clicking or scrolling, or is never shown to your users

Some combinations of banner behaviors and consent models may lead to a possibility of data loss in your downstream destinations.

Possibility for data loss

Segment has evaluated a combination of banner behaviors, consent models, and load orders to be at either a low or medium possibility of data loss.

Low

Segment assesses some behaviors to have a low possibility of data loss because Twilio Segment Analytics.js and third-party device mode libraries are loaded only after the user has provided their consent (for consent banners a user must interact with to use your site) or your site assumes that a user consents (if you set your cookie banner on your site to be optional and never displayed to a user).

Medium

Segment assesses some banner behaviors, like those that always remain as a user navigates your site and those that disappear after a user action like clicking or scrolling, to be at a medium possibility for data loss and noncompliance.

• Compliance Risk: Once device mode libraries are loaded they cannot be unloaded when the user revokes consent to their mapped categories. Note: Not unloading the third-party library poses a risk only if the third-party library is collecting data in addition to collecting Segment events.
• Possibility of data loss: Once Segment loads, if the user consents to additional categories that map to device mode libraries, then these new libraries will not be loaded until the next time that Segment loads, like after a page reload. This may result in data loss.

To minimize the possibilities for data loss:

• Set up cookie banners that either must be interacted with in order to use your site, or are set to be optional and never displayed to a user, with the assumption that users rarely go back to update consent preferences
• If using cookie banners that either always remain as a user navigates your site or disappear after a user action, like clicking or scrolling:
  • Use fewer device mode libraries. This way, all data flows through Twilio Segment and you can respect an end-user’s consent preferences using Consent Management
  • Regularly audit your device mode libraries. Audit your device mode libraries to confirm they are not capturing data themselves
  • Add logic to do a full page refresh when the user’s consent to categories associated with device mode libraries changes. This will help unload the device mode libraries completely

Segment library desired behavior

Banner behavior	Cookie banner	User interaction with webpage	Segment loads	Possibility of data loss
Mandatory	Displayed on page load	Required to access webpage	After user action	Low, until a user changes their preferences
A banner that always remains as a user navigates your site	Displayed on page load	Not required to access webpage	With page load	Medium
A banner that disappears after a user action, like clicking or scrolling	Displayed on page load	Not required to access webpage	With page load	Medium
A banner that is optional and never displayed to a user	Not displayed on page load	Not required to access webpage	With page load	Low, until a user changes their preferences

Scenarios where you might experience data loss

You might experience data loss if a user navigates away from a landing page before providing their consent or doesn’t interact with a consent banner on a website that uses an opt-in consent model. The following tables outline common scenarios that your users might encounter and information about the degree of data loss you can expect for each scenario.

First time users

Return users

Expected wrapper behavior

The following table explains how Segment’s OneTrust wrapper works with different configurations of consent categories and destination behaviors.