There are many reasons to look for the best Hyros Alternative. But in this post, I will cover the 3 main reasons why marketers from all horizons are searching for the best Hyros Alternative.
But before we dive into the main reasons, let’s clear the grounds of any misconceptions or myths that Hyros has been spreading out on Facebook.
What is Hyros?
Hyros is an ad tracking software, that is meant to help digital marketers improve conversion attribution, and eventually their ad campaign return on investments.
Hyros is formerly known as MarketHero, which is an email marketing software claiming to be the first autoresponder to be able to track sales metrics.
Beside the fact that there are a number of email marketing platforms that can do that, i was curious to understand how an email marketing software could become an ad tracking software. And not any kind of ad tracking software!
- A tracking software that uses “AI Tracking” to improve conversions.
- A tracking software that has a “print tracking method”. (whatever that means).
- A tracking software that does a better job than Google and Facebook at attributing conversions.
By the way, I salute all those engineers out of the silicon valley that have gone through PHDs, and years of digging into data pipelines to come up with complex attribution modeling, advanced and real AI optimization modeling based on billions of data sets. You guys did a great job, but apparently, a guru called Alex Becker hired some top notch guys to do a better job than you!
Joke aside. Let’s debunk the first myth!
How does an email marketing software becomes an ad tracking software?
When you advertise on Facebook, there’s an API end point called “offline conversion API”. Essentially, it allows advertisers to tell Facebook that a customer with name, first name and EMAIL has made a purchase.
When Facebook gets the information, it cross reference the information with it’s own dataset, and if it finds the a Facebook User that matches the personal data, it will attribute the conversion, and add the user to your audience list.
When attaching to this API call, the advertising data you can collect via “utm” parameters, the conversion is attributed to your ad set.
That’s how an email marketing software becomes a “revolutionary” ad tracking platform!
Can other email marketing software become ad tracking platforms?
Sure!
Mailchimp, Drip, Active Campaigns, for example have direct integrations with Facebook.
How much do they cost? A fraction of what Hyros costs.
Myth #1: What is AI Tracking?
Beside being a big headline claim on Hyros website? Frankly, I don’t know.
What we know is that other sections of their site tell you that that Hyros is actually “feeding” Google and Facebook Pixels, so that Google and Facebook can apply their AI modeling.
Again, there’s nothing special about this, since all platforms integrated with Facebook Pixel can pass information to feed AI.
Myth #2: What is Print Tracking?
I don’t know, and quite frankly, after checking their public documentation inside out, I couldn’t find anything that explains what it means.
Sure, it sounds pretty cool to say Print Tracking! Well done to the guy that came up with that.
Myth #3: Better attribution than Facebook and Google
Hyros claims to do better ad attribution than Facebook and Google.
What is attribution?
Attribution is the act of crediting a conversion to one or several marketing channels.
So Google has 6 attribution models, and facebook has 2.
Yet, in order to attribute a conversion, one of the key interaction event is the Ad View.
What is an Ad View?
It’s when you see an ad.
You don’t necessarily click on the ad, but you might end up buying the product if you visit the merchant website directly.
- Only Google and Facebook can make that “link” between the ad view and the final purchase.
- Hyros doesn’t track ad views.
So right here, Hyros is not able to attribute the conversion to the ad view.
Shame for ad tracking platform, that claims to do a better job than Google and Facebook.
Hyros myths summary:
While Hyros has a cool sales pitch, it’s important to dig a little deeper to understand what you’re getting for your minimum $500 / month subscription, and more importantly how liable your business becomes.
The top 3 real reasons to search for an Hyros Alternative
There are plenty of reasons to search for an Hyros Alternative. Quite frankly, I stopped counting when i realized how problematic the platform was.
#1 Compliance with Privacy
Because Hyros tracks conversions with your customer’s email addresses, you are essentially forced to give up on a very important data. But that’s fine, as long as you trust the company you work with.
The problem is more about the way the data is being handled. In some of their integrations, you are required to simply pass your customer email address into a thank you page url.
What are the risks of passing email addresses in your thank you page?
- Any tracking pixel on your thank you page will be able to capture the data.
- If a tracking pixel is not part of your privacy policy, you run the risk of breaking the law.
- If “trust” is part of your manifesto, you might lose the trust of your customers.
#2 Using ETag data as a persistent tracking cookie
Etag is one of the most obscure customer behavior tracking method. Etag in general is not a well known protocol, in particular when it comes to customer behavior tracking.
In fact, eTags are not meant to be used to track customers, and i’ll explain you why.
Spoiler:
In 2011, web analytics companies like Kissmetrics, along with their customers have been sued, for using ETags to track visitors and purchasing behavior.
What is an eTag?
The
Mozilla WebDocsETagHTTP response header is an identifier for a specific version of a resource. It lets caches be more efficient and save bandwidth, as a web server does not need to resend a full response if the content has not changed. Additionally, etags help prevent simultaneous updates of a resource from overwriting each other.
In plain vanilla, ETag is a unique identifier that checks whether a device has seen a specific version of a website. If the device has seen the latest version, and requests it again, then the browser will serve the website from its cache. if the user hasn’t seen yet the version of the website, the web-server serves the website.
Why do you want to use eTag to track user behavior?
ETags are an integral part of the internet core protocol. They have been implemented in order to save bandwidth through caching. ETags can pass data about a device to a website and then simply re-issue after any subsequent requests are sent to the Web from the same device, even after cookies have been erased. This method allows tracking to renew indefinitely.
Is it legal to track users using the eTag protocol?
Ask Kissmetrics and their clients! They’ve been sued in 2011 for their use of eTag to track user behavior.
At issue are methods KISSmetrics used to track users who have deleted their cookies. The company juggled a variety of other technologies including Flash, Silverlight, HTML5 and so-called ETags in cached browser files to place and read unique identifiers.
Kissmetrics, Spotify, Spokeo, AOL, Others Sued Over Web Tracking | Wired, Ryan Singel, 08.03.2011
Is Hyros using ETag as a tracking method?
To know for sure, one would need to have access to their server logs.
But one can also assume that yes, considering what you can easily uncover from your browser requests headers
Test on Hyros website:
I’ve tested it on Hyros website, as well as on one of their famous clients. Below the request header triggered by the hyros “universal” tracking script.
- They set a Session ID based on the eTag Value.
- They set a cookie with the same ETag value.
Testing ETag persistence
- Erasing Cookies
- Blocking Cookies
- Do not track request
None of these actions had any effect on the “ETag-Cookie” persistence on my browser.
To get rid of this persisting cookie, you need to erase your browser cache.
Reason #3: Hyros pricing model
Hyros charges its customers a minimum of $500 / month. Apparently there’s a firm commitment of 6 months too.
But that’s not all!
Apparently, you are also charged a small percentage of your revenues. (not the profits, the revenues!).
Making Hyros, your business partner!
Here is the million dollar question about Hyros:
Are Hyros imaginary AI Tracking and legally questionable “Print Tracking” systems, working for you or for Alex Becker?
Simply put:
- Considering that you are charged a % of the revenues tracked through Hyros.
- Considering that you are committed to a 6 month contract.
Isn’t it in Hyros’ best interest to make you spend as much as possible?
Option #1: Win – Win situation.
Your business is thriving and your ads will perform very well, and you will turn a profit.
You and Alex Becker will do very well!
Option #2: Lose – Win Situation
Your business is not doing so well, your product doesn’t sell as well as expected, but you keep advertising.
Your revenues grow, but not your profits.
You don’t really make money, but Alex Becker still makes money of your subscriptions and your “tracked” revenues.
I know, it’s a bit far fetching, but considering Hyros reviews on Trust Pilot, and the reputation the gentleman has, it’s perhaps something you should consider before committing to Hyros.
Conclusion on why you should search a Hyros Alternative
Alex becker is a fantastic sales man. Honestly, i’ve gone through the Hyros site and their sales copy is outstanding!
But tracking is a complex business that can’t be solved with hype and “legendary” claims.
Like every major crisis, the Apple Tracking Prevention <> Facebook attribution nightmare, has brought out plenty of charlatans and gurus, making all sort of claims.
If you’re looking for a Hyros Alternative, you should check out this comparison table provided by AnyTrack.