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Case study / Privacy-first analytics platform

SignalMap

A privacy-first analytics product for founders, startups, and small agencies that turns minimal browser signals into practical next steps instead of another dashboard to interpret.

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Cookie-freeTracking

Page views, events, conversions, and campaign data are collected without cookies.

Edge-firstIngest

A Cloudflare Worker validates and normalises events before they reach storage.

ActionableRecommendations

Rule-based prompts turn patterns into the next useful change.

Development journey

From raw traffic to a product that points to the next move.

Flat18 treated SignalMap as a signal-design problem. The product had to collect the minimum useful data, keep identity ephemeral, and turn that data into guidance a founder can act on without decoding the dashboard first.

01 / The problem

Analytics could show volume, but not the next move.

Founders can see visits, sources, and conversions, but they still need help deciding what to change this week.

02 / The product shape

We kept the signal pipeline deliberately thin.

The browser tracker records page views, events, conversions, UTMs, and a daily rotating anonymous session hash. A Cloudflare Worker handles ingest, Neon Postgres stores aggregates, and the Vue 3 dashboard keeps the read fast.

03 / The decision layer

The UI answers one question and then steps back.

Overview, Pages, Sources, Campaigns, Journeys, Recommendations, and Tracker Code each solve one job, so the product feels like guidance rather than another BI tool.

Product surfaces

Designed around the moments where analytics usually get noisy.

Each surface has one job: reduce noise, keep context, and make the next decision obvious.

Overview

Keep the first read simple.

Traffic, conversions, and the top source sit together so founders do not start with a chart maze.

Pages and sources

Separate page demand from traffic quality.

Pages show what people read. Sources show where they came from. Together they make attribution useful instead of decorative.

Campaigns and journeys

See what a campaign actually changed.

UTMs, campaign groups, and first-step paths make it easier to spot which visits are worth keeping.

Recommendations and tracker code

Make the next step and the install obvious.

Plain-English recommendations point to the change, and the one-line tracker keeps setup friction low.

Live activity
Journey map
Pages view
Campaigns view
Recommendations

Why it works

SignalMap stays narrow on purpose. Aggregate-first storage keeps the dashboard fast, the daily rotating session hash avoids persistent identifiers, and the recommendation layer stays explainable because it starts from rules rather than hidden scoring.

Live betaDiagnosis: volume without clear actionSolution: edge-first signal pipelineOutcome: quicker, explainable decisions

SignalMap was shaped as a privacy-first analytics product from the start. The job was not to collect more data. It was to collect the minimum useful signal, keep identity temporary, and present recommendations a founder can act on without a translation layer in between.

Problem found

Most analytics tools show traffic volume, but stop short of telling teams what to change first.

Flat18 diagnosis

The product had to stay privacy-first, fast, and opinionated about the signal that actually matters.

Solution shipped

We connected the browser tracker, edge ingest, aggregate views, recommendation rules, and dashboard surfaces into one system.

Customer value

Founders get a quicker read on what happened and a clearer steer on what to do next.

What Flat18 handled

  • Defined signal.js as a lightweight tracker for page views, events, conversions, and attribution data
  • Shaped the browser, worker, and database path so the hot route stayed thin
  • Designed the information architecture around Overview, Pages, Sources, Campaigns, Journeys, Recommendations, and Tracker Code
  • Kept the weekly reporting tone readable for founders who do not want a metrics lecture

Key capabilities

  • Page view, event, and conversion tracking
  • UTM campaign attribution
  • Visitor journey mapping
  • Live activity view for recent events
  • Country and device breakdowns
  • Rule-based recommendations with AI-ready extension points
  • Privacy-first architecture with no cookies and no persistent identifiers

Stack

Browser trackerCloudflare WorkerNeon PostgresVue 3Aggregate queriesRule-based recommendationsWeekly reporting

Need analytics that reads like advice?

Flat18 can turn minimal signal into a clearer product with the right tracker, data model, dashboard, and reporting flow.

Chat with usEmail hello@flat18.co.uk

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