We are thrilled to introduce an exciting update to VWO that enables all our customers who have strict privacy requirements. You can now route all requests originating from VWO SmartCode to your own server, which can then be proxied to the VWO server. This feature grants you full control over the data sent to the VWO server.
In today’s data-driven landscape, safeguarding sensitive information is paramount. Typically, when a user visits a website integrated with VWO SmartCode, personal data such as IP addresses and browser details are transmitted to the VWO server. Based on this information, the VWO server responds with instructions on which test or variation the visitor should experience, and the corresponding code is executed on their browser. VWO, in general, classifies all information and never stores any personally identifiable information (PII), such as email addresses, passwords, etc. without anonymizing it.
However, if you want to build an additional layer of security and control over your data,
with our latest update, you can now route these requests to your own server before they reach VWO, ensuring the highest level of privacy for your enterprise.
Key advantages of routing requests to your server
1. Exercise full data sovereignty and the highest privacy standards
By directing all VWO SmartCode requests to your server, you exercise complete data sovereignty. This means you maintain exclusive ownership and control over your visitors’ or users’ information. Enjoy the peace of mind that comes from following the highest privacy standards.
2. Mitigate ad blocker disruptions
Ad blocker plugins and extensions have become widely prevalent, often impeding the smooth functioning of most marketing tools, including VWO. By routing requests to your own domain, ad blockers are unable to differentiate the calls between your own website calls or the ones made to proxy data to VWO. Now you can experience uninterrupted optimization and experimentation, without compromising on user privacy or sacrificing valuable insights.
Implementing the reverse proxy feature with VWO
Integrating this feature into your enterprise infrastructure is quite simple and seamless, and it needs some engineering help. Begin by placing the VWO SmartCode within your website’s head tag. Next, replace the default “https://dev.visualwebsiteoptimizer.com” domain with your own server details, employing either a sub-domain-based proxy approach or a path-based proxy approach.
You can choose between these two approaches based on your preferences. The path-based proxy requires no creation of new sub-domains and is easier to configure. On the other hand, the sub-domain-based proxy isolates the proxy from the main service and can be routed to different servers from DNS, providing finer control over traffic distribution.
- For a sub-domain-based proxy approach, replace “https://dev.visualwebsiteoptimizer.com” with any sub-domain of your main domain, such as vwo.mydomain.com.
- For a path-based proxy approach, replace “https://dev.visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/” with your main domain followed by a path, for example, https://mydomain.com/vwo/.
After implementing the SmartCode on your website, configure your server to reverse proxy the requests to “https://dev.visualwebsiteoptimizer.com.” Ensure that you set the host header as your own domain and define a custom header as X-Forwarded-Host, using your own domain. The custom header can also be a path, offering you flexibility in implementation. You can read more about Reverse Proxy Methodology at VWO or contact support.
Now you can elevate your enterprise’s privacy standards and establish a reputation as a responsible custodian of customer data with VWO’s latest privacy enhancement. This update enables you to experience unparalleled control, compliance, and peace of mind as you optimize your websites for enhanced user experiences while prioritizing privacy.
Excited to know more?
This is now available for all VWO plans, including Starter (Free), Growth, Pro, and Enterprise. It is available for VWO Testing, VWO Personalize, VWO Insights, and VWO Web Rollouts for all customers. To learn more and set it up in your VWO account, please check out our knowledge base article.
For any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to support@vwo.com
