If you fly regular routes, you’ll notice the same tail numbers around you. The same planes tend to fly the same routes, with changes mostly due to weather or maintenance.

What does it usually mean when a particular tail number shows up next to the plane you’re on? Nothing.

What does it usually mean when a particular visitor or cookie shows up on your website? Nothing.

So why are you obsessing about tracking every single click and sometimes considering using things like LFO cookies to follow visitors? The vast majority of the traffic to and from your website is nothing more than a giant tail number database, providing you with almost no insight about your customers.

The key is not tracking more tail numbers. It’s detecting two things: when a change occurs and when that change is significant.

What’s the best way to detect the changes? Well, you could sift through millions of rows of data. Or you could ask some real customers.