It has never been more important to understand who your potential customers are. As the industry shifts towards focusing more on consumer data privacy, it’s getting harder to track and measure prospective buyers.
As an agency, we’re staying ahead of the curve so that our clients can succeed despite the coming impact.
We recently attended a company-wide training session with our partners at Google to discuss the future of privacy-centric measurement. This post will cover how you can explore unique implementations of Google’s Enhanced Conversion Tracking protocols.
Don’t know where to start? Send us a message to discuss what this means for the future of your business.
What is enhanced conversions?
Enhanced conversions is a feature that can improve accuracy when it comes to measuring conversion. It supplements existing conversion tags by sending hashed first-party conversion data from your website to Google in a way that still protects user privacy.
The feature uses a secure one-way hashing algorithm called SHA256 on your first-party customer data before sending to Google. The hashed data is then matched with signed-in Google accounts in order to attribute your campaign conversions to ad events, such as clicks/views.
Simply put: Say goodbye to Observed conversions, and hello to Modeled conversions based on hashed data.
Implementation
There are 3 approaches to implementation: manual (preferred), automatic tag based, and API. Once implemented, Enhanced Conversions will start working immediately, however, 60% of data can be missed if Enhanced Conversions is not applied correctly. We can help you with this.
The next generation of Google Analytics – GA4 (Google Analytics 4) has been rebuilt to include more capabilities, including predictive modeling, attribution, and LTV modeling. Once implemented, it will take 12 months of data for features to accurately model. Speaking of which…
First Party Data is Priority #1
About 80% of advertisers depend on third-party cookies. Without them, those advertisers will need to find a new way to reach their customers and prospects online. User’s behavioral and browsing data will be limited. If you depend on third-party cookies it will be significantly harder to personalize ads, A/B test, and gauge attribution.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: There is nothing more valuable than owning your first party data. Whether you have been in business for years, or are just beginning your digital journey, now is the time to evaluate what this data means to your holistic ecosystem. Enhanced Conversions will capture all email addresses, including non-gmail addresses, but keep in mind that only conversion data will be recorded.
Plan for the Future Today
Google announced that third-party cookies will be deprecated by the end of 2022, or early 2023 at the very latest.
This industry-wide change is not going away, and we encourage you to be proactive today so your business has time to adapt to new industry standards and best practices. There’s a lot to be done, so if it seems overwhelming, schedule a meeting with one of our experts today.
Glossary:
Third party cookies: Third-party cookies specifically are created and placed by websites other than the website you’re visiting. Some common uses include cross-site tracking, retargeting and ad serving.
First party cookies: First-party cookies are generated by the host domain. They are usually considered good because they help provide a better user experience. These cookies enable the browser to remember important user info, such as what items you add to shopping carts, your username and passwords, and language preferences.
For an example, let’s say you visit a website called learn.com. Any cookies put on this website by learn.com would be first-party cookies. Any cookies put on learn.com by any other site, like a social media site or an advertiser, would be third-party cookies.
Identity Resolution Providers: The process of matching identifiers across devices and touchpoints to a single profile — helps build a cohesive, omnichannel view of a consumer, enabling brands to deliver relevant messaging throughout the customer journey.
Cross-site tracking: The practice of collecting browsing data from numerous sources (websites) that details your activity
Retargeting: Using search activity to retarget visitors with visual or text ads based on the products and services for which they’ve shown interest
Ad-serving: Making decisions regarding the ads that appear on a website, deciding when to serve these ads, and collecting data (and reporting said data including impressions and clicks) in an effort to educate advertisers on consumer insights and ad performance.