Demystifying Google's Consent Mode and Enhanced Conversions - All You Need to Know
If you are not already aware, Google updated their privacy policy in 2023 in order to provide further transparency and allow more users to trust the platform with their personal information. There were two major changes to this update, the first being that Google had made major revisions to sections on state data privacy laws, and the second being the research and development that is now allowing the company to use “publicly available” data to assist with their AI models.
Google is putting an end to third-party cookies which has now become known as the “cookie-less future”. Although this is beneficial for privacy and security reasons, this shift has without a doubt showcased many obstacles for marketers and businesses to ensure they are able to track users and advertise to relevant audiences.
As users are becoming increasingly aware of their data privacy rights, the challenge for advertisers is to prioritise compliance regulations without compromising our ability to drive and track conversions and audiences.
Consent Mode and Enhanced Conversions are solutions offered by Google that are currently changing the way we are approaching this delicate balance. Where Consent Mode allows businesses to adjust the behaviour of tracking based on a user’s consent preferences, Enhanced Conversions is coming in and providing us with deeper insights into the efficiency of our marketing efforts, without sacrificing user privacy, by using hashed data in a privacy-safe way.
Let’s explore how these solutions can be used to help advertisers to navigate the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing whilst considering both user privacy and optimising for maximum efficiency.
Consent Mode
What is Consent Mode?
Consent Mode allows businesses to connect their users' cookie consent status to their Google tags. Depending on the user’s choices, these tags adjust their behaviour of tracking. It is also worth noting that Consent Mode is not a physical consent banner on a website, but rather the communication that happens once users toggle their consent options within it.
The upgrade to Consent Mode v2
But, Consent Mode wouldn’t be very digital-savvy if there wasn’t a recent update, would it? Consent Mode v2, enables tracking of more precise user consent options - ad_user_data, and ad_personalisation.
How to Implement Consent Mode
If you're unsure about the correct implementation of Consent Mode v2, we have a WRP blog to guide you on verifying your setup in Google Tag Manager and effortlessly inspecting the code on your website.
Enhanced Conversions
What are Enhanced Conversions?
Enhanced Conversions is another valuable solution that is offered by Google that works hand-in-hand with Consent Mode. Furthermore, this tool aids the delicate balance between privacy regulations and achieving conversion goals. As we navigate through these regulations, Enhanced Conversions have been introduced to provide deeper insights into the efficiency of our marketing efforts.
What do Enhanced Conversions do?
Essentially, Enhanced Conversions supplement your existing conversion tags by using hashed user data to match to ‘un-tracked’ conversions in a privacy-safe way. This method allows advertisers to optimize campaigns more efficiently, boost measurement accuracy, and make more informed decisions to achieve superior outcomes. Overall, Google boasts the following improvements supported by Enhanced Conversions:
Finer conversion measurement by improved conversion observability
In-depth measurement by relieving third-party cookies reliance
Enhanced measurement of conversion paths throughout the user journey
Implementing Enhanced Conversions
Before beginning the implementation of Enhanced Conversions, it is important to ensure the following requirements are set up;
You will need to ensure you are currently using Gtag.js or Google Tag Manager which ensures you are appropriately tracking conversions.
Ensure you are utilising Google Ads as the conversion source.
Ensure customer data is submitted on the conversion page.
With the above in mind, Enhanced Conversions are implemented within your Google Ads interface, located within the Conversion Settings dashboard. Once you have located this page;
Click to open the “Enhanced Conversions” option and switch the toggle on,
There will be various options for setting up and managing user-provided data, including your Google tag, Google Tag Manager or the Google Ads API. This is dependent on how you are setting up your conversion tracking. It is worth noting that if you send enhanced conversion data in a different way to how you have already selected in Google Ads, data will not be processed.
By utilising the Google tag, Google will automatically detect user-provided data straight from your website whereas Google Tag Manager will need to be configured to collect this information before it passes through to Google Ads.
Once you have selected the option in which you want to track user-protected data, you will need to configure this tag by adding a snippet of code to your website, provided within the “tag details” option.
Once you have set up Enhanced Conversions, click save.
Note: after completing your setup, you will need to ensure your Enhanced Conversions are set up correctly by validating your implementation. Thereafter, you will be able to view the impact of Enhanced Conversions within 30 days since implementation within your reporting.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Consent Mode and Enhanced Conversions work together in order to deliver more reliable data to use for campaign optimisation. Both solutions should be implemented in order to future-proof your account measurement.
If you have any questions about Consent Mode and Enhanced Conversions, or you are looking for a PPC Agency, Paid Social help or an Amazon ads specialist please get in touch with us at hello@wrp.team
