In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, safeguarding user privacy and staying compliant with data regulations surrounding website and marketing data is a paramount concern for businesses. The importance of properly maintaining website data cannot be understated, especially for marketing teams whose objectives are often at odds with legal obligations and internal data privacy policies.
In this blog post, we’ll explore how Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) and Google Consent Mode work together to ensure data compliance, protect user privacy, and maintain data integrity, all while empowering your marketing efforts.
What is a Consent Management Platform (CMP)?
A Consent Management Platform (CMP) is your key to achieving data privacy compliance and maintaining the integrity of your website analytics and digital advertising data. It’s the guardian that ensures your data collection practices align with regional privacy regulations and user consent.
But what does a good CMP actually do? Here’s a quick breakdown:
Legal Compliance:
With data privacy laws becoming more stringent globally, a properly implemented CMP can ensure your website adheres to data privacy regulations, shielding your business from potential legal repercussions and preserving customer trust.
Reducing Data Loss:
Standard consent management website banners typically result in only ~30% opt-in rates*, resulting in significant data losses.
Many users ignore cookie banners, while only ~12% actually opt-in to being tracked*. As a result of these low opt-in rates, if your CMP is configured to only allow tracking after a user accepts “all cookies”, your data losses could be as high as 90%.
A CMP that integrates with Google Consent Mode mitigates this issue by intelligently adjusting tracking based on user preferences, minimizing data loss.
Customized Consent:
CMPs offer customized consent workflows, making consent requests more user-friendly. A better user experience can result in higher opt-in rates, enhancing your data collection capabilities.
Precise Control:
CMPs provide fine-grained control over data collection, ensuring data is gathered only for approved purposes, bolstering transparency.
Enhanced Analytics & Improved Audience Targeting:
CMPs that work with Google Consent Mode offer more accurate data analysis, even from users who reject certain tracking methods. This valuable data supports algorithmic advertising, like Google Ads and YouTube, enhancing campaign optimization and targeting.
Ad Revenue Boost:
Upgrading your CMP to a solution that integrates with Google Consent Mode can significantly boost ad revenue by improving ad targeting and data-driven decision-making.
What Should I Expect After I Implement a Consent Management Platform?
Without Google Consent Mode
Our clients who have implemented a CMP in the last several years have recorded 30-90% declines in data collected in Google Analytics. This number tends to be higher in European countries and lower in North America.
Websites who deploy a CMP that classifies analytics and marketing tools as a non-essential cookie (recommended in most jurisdictions) can expect significant disruptions to any reporting based on website analytics, a decrease in advertising ROI due to Google Ads optimization challenges, and often limitations on integrating website and CRM data (HubSpot & Salesforce).
With Google Consent Mode
Implementing a CMP that integrates with Google Consent Mode will minimize your data losses and maintain your ability to use Google Analytics for reporting. Since data losses are modelled, the impact on Google Advertising is minimized. There will likely still be some loss of data even with GCM implemented.
What exactly is Google Consent Mode?
Google Consent Mode is a tool provided by Google that helps you manage user consent for the types of data you collect on your website.
Consent Mode allows you to adjust how Google services like Google Analytics and Google Ads behave based on whether a visitor has given their consent for data tracking. Essentially, it ensures your website respects user privacy and data protection regulations by only collecting and using data from those who have agreed to it. It then uses non-personally identifiable information sent to Google Analytics to model behavioural and conversion data from users who asked not to be tracked.
Google Consent Mode helps you stay compliant and build trust with your website visitors, while still benefiting from valuable data insights for your business. Without implementing Google Consent Mode with your CMP, you can lose all the data from users who do not accept tracking.
How Does Google Consent Mode work?
Behavioural Modelling
Google Consent Mode predicts user behaviour on your website, even when explicit consent for data tracking is not granted. It leverages past user actions to make educated guesses about their preferences, maintaining personalization and user experience.
Conversion Modelling
This feature helps you understand how user interactions contribute to conversions without relying on individual-level tracking data. It allows you to attribute conversions to specific marketing efforts or user actions in a privacy-compliant manner, optimizing your marketing strategies.
Consent Management Platforms that Integrate with Google Consent Mode
Here’s a list of CMPs that seamlessly integrate with Google Consent Mode:
- A/S
- Commanders Act
- Consentmanager
- Cookie Information
- Cookiebot (Cybot)
- CookieYes
- Crownpeak
- Didomi
- iubenda
- LiveRamp
- OneTrust
- Osano
- Sourcepoint
- Termly
- Usercentrics
In short, choosing a CMP with Google Consent Mode integration is a strategic move for maintaining data compliance while enhancing analytics. This partnership builds trust, ensures compliance, and empowers more effective marketing campaigns.
Embrace the power of consent management platforms and Google Consent Mode to take your data management to the next level and secure your business’s digital future.
If you need help navigating the complexities of business website analytics for marketing, get in touch.
