For years, third-party cookies have been essential for gauging user behaviour, particularly in measuring conversions crucial for powering digital advertising campaigns. However, as browsers like Chrome phase out support for third-party cookies, more conversions on websites are going unnoticed. Enhanced conversion tracking is Google’s response to ensure accuracy in data to improve ad performance. Without this, existing conversion tracking is expected to worsen as Chrome aims to eliminate all third-party cookies by year-end.
The Effects of Third-Party Cookie Deprecation
Before these changes began, most of the conversion events on a website could be tracked through an analytics tracking platform. We are already starting to see significant gaps in conversion data that can be collected in this way, resulting in problems with modelling and inhibiting the ability to draw meaningful insights and conclusions from data. AI modelling was introduced to help fill these gaps. However, unobserved conversions will continue to grow as the cookie deprecation continues.
Ensuring accurate conversion measurement is critical for a thriving digital advertising strategy. Consequently, Google has been compelled to explore alternative solutions for accurately tracking user behaviour without third-party cookies.
Enhanced Conversion Tracking – Durable Measurement
Enhanced Conversion Tracking is a solution developed to improve the accuracy of your conversion measurement whilst recovering lost conversions. It achieves this by collecting and sending hashed user-provided data from your website. The feature uses a secure one-way hashing algorithm called SHA256 on your first party customer data, such as email addresses, before sending to Google.
The benefits of this include:
- Increased Conversion Observability: Recover conversions that are lost due to browser changes
- Improved Modelling: Conversion modelling is more accurate as a result of increased observability
- Improved Bidding: More data provided to our bidding and attribution models for learning
Whilst enhanced conversions will make a massive improvement, there are still unobserved conversions happening on your website.
Offline Conversion Tracking is The Ultimate Solution
Offline conversions leverage your Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) to send conversions directly to your Google Ads account alongside a Google click ID. This ensures 100% accuracy of your conversion data. If a gclid is visible in your CRM, you can be sure that this has sent a conversion to Google Ads.
Unbound can take it even further. Offline conversion tracking allows us to trigger conversions when certain actions are taken in your CRM.
Example: Peggy enquires via your website form. There is a gclid attached to her submission indicating she arrived on your website and form from a Google Ads click. Peggy’s lead is updated to a sale in your CRM by a member of your sales team. This triggers a Closed Sale conversion in Google Ads which includes the revenue made from the sale, thus allowing the accurate attribution of conversions to marketing efforts. This means you can clearly see the impact of your marketing investment.
The ultimate goal of your advertising is to find users that convert to revenue. So what better data to import into Google Ads than a closed deal?
Ensure you are using enhanced conversions correctly and to enquire about offline conversion tracking to supercharge your conversion results.
Talk to our friendly team about enhanced and offline conversion tracking for your business.
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