Enhanced Conversions for Google Ads with WooCommerce – How to setup?
What is this article about?
As third-party cookies become obsolete and browser technology undergoes frequent changes, several vendors now provide alternatives for measuring conversions or complete user journeys without relying on cookies. Google’s solution, known as Enhanced Conversions, is specifically designed to measure conversions alone, rather than entire user journeys. You can read more about this feature in the Google Ads Help Center.
This article focuses on configuring Enhanced Conversions using WooCommerce and GTM4WP.
WARNING!
This guide doesn’t consider whether you’re utilizing a Consent Management Platform (CMP). The steps to ensure the privacy of your measurement setup often rely on your chosen CMP. Reach out to your CMP’s support team for assistance. Remember: just because you are using a cookieless solution, you might be still required to obtain user consent.
How does Enhanced Conversions work?
By employing this method, you can incorporate user identifiers collected as first-party data in your conversion tracking tag. Google can then utilize these identifiers to link a user’s paid ad click with the conversion action occurring on your site.
As you’ll observe, we are sharing personal data with Google, and therefore, even though the data will be encoded before sharing, you may need to obtain consent from your user before proceeding. This article won’t guide you on setting up enhanced conversions exclusively for consented users, as the configuration relies on the operation of your Consent Management Platform (CMP).
When a user clicks on a Google ad, Google can verify if this user has an active logged-in Google session in the same browser, storing the ad click information in the user’s Google profile without utilizing any cookies. If the ad directs the user to your website, they can navigate through your pages, and if needed, complete a conversion—typically placing an order (a purchase conversion action) in WooCommerce.
Enhanced Conversions mandates the inclusion of personal data from the converting user in the conversion tag. You must send at least the email address, and if possible, include the phone number, first and last name, and zipcode (postcode). This enhances Google’s chances of locating the corresponding user in its profile directory.
It’s crucial to note that sensitive data, such as email addresses, phone numbers, and names, undergo encoding in the browser before transmission to Google. You can also provide the encoded values directly if you prefer not to rely on the conversion tag’s encoding mechanism. The encoding employs the widely accepted SHA265 algorithm, ensuring that the data remains secure. Hashing, a specific form of encoding, ensures that the encoded data is consistent for a given input but cannot be decoded into the original data.
Why is this important?
This process is significant because it guarantees that Google doesn’t acquire new data while tracking conversions on your website. If the submitted email address isn’t present in Google’s profile directory, Google won’t have access to the email address of this unknown user. Only if the email address exists in Google’s directory can they encode the same email address and compare the encoded data. In the event of a match, Google identifies an existing data point without gaining access to the actual data.
How to setup Enhanced Conversions in your Google Ads Conversion Tag?
This guide assumes that your Google Ads conversion tracking is already configured, at a minimum, using your conversion ID, label, and order value. The inclusion of cart tracking and other advanced options is not necessary for Enhanced Conversions to function.
Step 1: Prepare the necessary Google Tag Manager variables.
Import the container template linked in the GA4 setup guide’s 1st step. Make sure to import the latest .json file if you downloaded it earlier.
After the import, you will see new variables in your Google Tag Manager container prefixed with “Order Data -“
Step 2: Create a new User-Provided Data variable
This variable is intentionally excluded from the container template since you must make a decision regarding the customer data you are comfortable sharing with Google when a purchase conversion occurs. At a minimum, the email address must be shared. The more additional data you can provide, the higher the likelihood that Google can identify the origin of a conversion without relying on cookies.
- Select Manual Configuration
- Select the appropriate imported variable in each row of the form. You might omit some rows except for the Email row
Step 3: assign this new variable to your Google Ads conversion tag
Open your existing Google Ads conversion tag that measures your WooCommerce purchase action:
- Turn on the checkbox next to Inclulde user-provided data from your website
- Select the variable created in the previous step
- Save your changes in the tag
Publish your container changes and you are done!