Why is analytics only numbers / quantitative data to you? I've used services like HotJar that record the interactions of the user on the site or app which is qualitative analytics at scale, and it helped me identify how the user was actually using the product. I wouldn't not call this analytics simply because it's not numbers driven.
Why would you need consent to track anonymous data from users, without sharing the data to 3rd parties? What's the difference between recording an event "clicked_purchase" and displaying the click event in a graphical way, as a recording or heatmap?
Do you know of any legal document mentioning this, that storing the clicked element is allowed, but not the click position? They can be both used to run the business and improve the product, thus being in the "necessary" category.
Of course not. And unless I'm in the EU, I don't need it (and even then, not really, HotJar can be made GDPR compliant). HN will definitely balk at me saying that, but understanding UX is much more important than whatever philosophies one has about not tracking users. Because if you don't understand UX, there's no point to the debate about tracking vs not tracking users, because you won't have any users in the first place.
