In today's privacy-conscious web environment, websites need a way to manage user consent for data collection. Google Consent Mode helps achieve this by integrating with your consent banner and adjusting the behavior of Google tags (like Google Analytics and Ads) based on user choices.
Here's a breakdown of Basic and Advanced modes, along with their impact on data collection and modelling:
Basic Consent Mode:
- Simpler Setup: Easier to implement, requiring minimal configuration. This makes it a good choice for those who are new to consent mode or prioritise a quick and easy solution.
- Limited Functionality: Data collection only occurs when users explicitly grant consent. This can significantly limit the amount of data you can gather about your website visitors.
- Conversion Modelling (Limited): Estimates conversions for users who don't consent, but lacks in-depth user behaviour insights. Conversion modelling can be helpful for understanding the overall effectiveness of your marketing efforts, but without user behaviour data, it's difficult to identify areas for improvement.
Advanced Consent Mode (Recommended):
- Greater Control: Define specific behaviours for tags based on consent states (granted, denied, pending). This granular control allows you to tailor data collection to your specific needs and comply with data privacy regulations more effectively.
- Preemptive Loading: Google Tags load before the consent banner appears, improving data capture potential. This means you can potentially collect some data even before users make a decision about consent.
- Enhanced Modelling: Enables both conversion modelling (estimating conversions) and behavioural modelling (understanding user behaviour patterns) even with limited consent.
- Conversion modelling uses existing data to estimate conversions for users who don't consent. This provides a more complete picture of your marketing funnel's effectiveness.
- Behavioural modelling analyses user actions to create user profiles and understand browsing patterns (helpful for website optimisation). By understanding how users interact with your website, you can personalize their experience and improve conversion rates.
How Consent Mode Affects Analytics with Non-Consenting Visitors
Scenario 1: Basic Mode - No Consent
- Limited data collected. This means you'll have a significant blind spot in your website analytics, making it difficult to understand user behaviour and optimise the website effectively.
- Conversion modelling offers a basic estimate of conversions, but lacks user behaviour details. While conversion modelling can provide some insights, it's a blunt instrument compared to having rich user behaviour data.
- Having ‘Basic Consent mode’ means that you have blocked your tags/SDK by default. This setup allows the advertiser to transmit no data to Google prior to user interaction with the consent banner.
- Analytics reporting will have significant data gaps, making it difficult to understand user behaviour and optimise the website.
- With the Basic implementation of Consent mode, no data is collected at all for un-consented users, not even consent status. Google tags are completely blocked from firing, meaning that network requests are blocked from being made to Google. No HTTP communication is established.
- More data collected through "cookieless pings" (a method for sending limited data without traditional cookies). While cookieless pings don't provide the same level of detail as user consent, they can still offer valuable insights into user behavior.
- Having ‘Advanced Consent mode’ means that the Google tags load when a user opens the website or app. The tags load the Consent mode API and do the following:
- While consent is '’denied’', the Google tags send cookie-less pings that contain functional and aggregate/non-identifying information.
- Wait for user interaction with the banner and update consent states.
- Only when a user grants consent to data collection, Google tags send the full measurement data.Enables conversion modelling and behavioural modelling (to a lesser extent than with consent).
- Advanced mode with cookieless pings can provide a more comprehensive picture of user behaviour, even without full consent. This allows you to make more informed decisions about website optimisation and marketing strategies.
- With an Advanced implementation of Consent mode, tags/SDK will adjust to respect user consent choices.
Choosing the Right Consent Mode
- Basic Mode: Ideal for a quick and easy setup or if you prioritize user privacy and only need basic conversion insights. However, be aware that you'll be sacrificing valuable user behaviour data.
- Advanced Mode: Recommended for a more comprehensive understanding of user behaviour, even with limited consent. It offers greater control and flexibility for data collection and modelling, allowing you to tailor your approach to your specific needs and privacy regulations.
Additional Considerations:
Usually, Advanced Mode requires more technical setup compared to Basic Mode. If you're not comfortable with the code, you may need to consult with a developer to implement it. However, this is not the case with Secure Privacy where we support Advanced Consent Mode out of the box! In case you want to customise the default behaviour - follow the respective articles here in the Knowledge Base.
Always comply with relevant data privacy regulations (like GDPR) when collecting user data. Regardless of the consent mode you choose, it's crucial to be transparent with users about how you collect and use their data.
By understanding the nuances of Basic and Advanced Consent Mode, you can make an informed decision that balances user privacy with your website's analytics needs.
Need Further Assistance?
For additional assistance, please reach out to our support team at support@secureprivacy.ai.For any urgent or systemic escalations related to Google Consent Mode, please contact our designated point of contact: Andrew Sidorkin. We aim to address these escalations within one business day.