Ok, sure. That lets me strike Google Analytics from the list. And of all the vendors on that list, Google is the one I distrust the least. The reality is that

Ok, sure. That lets me strike Google Analytics from the list. And of all the vendors on that list, Google is the one I distrust the least. The reality is that to compete, we need to measure changes to our product, we need to buy advertising, and we need to track the efficacy of our marketing spend. Each of these tags drives value for someone in the organization. Yes, we could create our own A/B testing tools and get rid of Optimizely or build an in-house ad server to handle conversion tracking. But the truth is, those things cost time, money, and software engineers, all of which are in short supply. As we scale up, we have found opportunities to make things first party but we can't (and shouldn't) attempt to rebuild every third party service on our own. In aggregate, I have no doubt that these tags negatively impact the end customer experience. But going scorched earth isn't the answer. Implementation of a tag manager, careful monitoring of front-end performance, and diligent review and removal of unneeded tags is the balanced approach.