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2. A person with long black hair and dark skin, wearing a white shirt and gray pants, lounges on the floor next to a black cat, while a circle graph measures online interactions, like shopping and messaging.

You are reading part 2 of the 3-part digital marketing playbook. Jump to Activate insights to drive growth or Build more meaningful customer relationships.


A person puts a key into a keyhole embedded in an online video. Insight: Putting people in control of their data increases brand trust, positive responses to ads, and perceived ad relevance.

Case Study: Square improves conversion measurement securely with server-side tagging.

Approach

Square builds tools that empower businesses and individuals to boost their economic potential. Recent regulatory changes affected the company’s data quality, hindering its ability to acquire new business and optimize campaigns. Using server-side tagging, a feature of Google Tag Manager 360, it was able to keep customer information secure, improve conversion measurement, and gain more control over its data.

Results

This initiative improved Square’s ability to measure conversions by 46%.


Insight: 17% average increase in conversion rate for YouTube for Action by companies that adopt enhanced conversions for web.

For example, marketers can allow site tags and user-provided data to improve their measurement with a feature called enhanced conversions for web. This feature creates a more accurate view of how people convert after engaging with your ads than is possible with site tagging alone. Companies that adopt it see a 17% average increase in conversion rate for YouTube for Action.1

Insight: 3.5% increase in conversions for advertisers who used target CPA with enhanced conversions.

Here’s how it works

By sending hashed, user-provided data from your website to Google, which is then matched to signed-in Google accounts, enhanced conversions allow sales originating from Google Search and YouTube to be attributed to ads in a privacy-safe way.

This, in turn, provides more observable data to strengthen conversion modeling, while giving you the comprehensive data you need to measure conversion lift, understand the incremental impact of your advertising, and help you better optimize campaigns with Smart Bidding.

Case Study: Maison MRKT lowers cost per acquisition by 70% with enhanced conversions.

Approach

Digital marketing agency Maison MRKT already had implemented Google tags for many clients and wanted to test enhanced conversions for web. The brand worked with Google to develop a step-by-step guide for enhanced conversions on Shopify. By the end of the second quarter of 2022, Maison MRKT was able to update its measurement for about 60% of all active clients.

Results

Maison MRKT compared primary KPIs for the first and second quarters of 2022 by analyzing clients that used enhanced conversions and clients that did not. For clients that activated enhanced conversions, Maison MRKT saw a 91% lift in return on ad spend (ROAS), a 70% decrease in cost per conversion, and a 16% increase in overall conversion rate.


Case Study: Consent Mode helps Air France lift conversions and accurately measure performance.

Approach

Air France needed a way to preserve its media profitability while respecting user privacy choices. Working with its Google account team and its media agency Performics, the airline implemented Consent Mode. This allowed it to adjust how Google tags behave based on the consent status of its users. It also enabled sustainable measurement by allowing Google to model for gaps in conversions when users don’t consent to cookies.

Results

With Consent Mode live, Air France saw a 9% average uplift in conversions across its European markets. These modeled conversions are also essential for optimizing Air France’s Google Ads campaigns and enhancing reporting and bidding capabilities.


6% average increase in conversions for advertisers who switch to a data-driven attribution model.

Wherever possible, we directly integrate conversion modeling into Google’s ad products. You’ll find this modeled data in your conversions reporting column and gain AI-powered insights into sales you otherwise might have missed due to platform restrictions that limit the use of third-party cookies or other identifiers. These integrations increasingly pay off for advertisers. Those who switch to a data-driven attribution model from a non-data-driven attribution model typically see a 6% average increase in conversions.2

Learn the fundamentals of conversion modeling in this Google Ads tutorial.

Measure customer interactions accurately-8v2

Google Analytics 4

In an evolving privacy and technology landscape, marketers have to rethink their approach to measurement or risk losing the insights they’ve come to rely on. Google Analytics 4 is designed with privacy at its core to provide a better experience for marketers while protecting the privacy of end users. It gives businesses more comprehensive and granular controls along with advanced machine learning to help bridge any gaps in your data.

Migrating to Google Analytics 4 requires planning, so we’ve prepared a step-by-step guide and a Setup Assistant that we recommend you consider when approaching this task.

Case Study: McDonald’s Hong Kong serves up a 74% ROAS increase with Google Analytics 4.

Approach

When McDonald’s Hong Kong wanted to gain more insights into its high-value customers and maximize ROI, it turned to Google Analytics 4 to measure and analyze online purchases. Then it applied those insights within a Google Ads App campaign, hoping to boost engagement with target ROAS bidding. (Target ROAS is now known as Maximize conversion value with an optional target ROAS.)

Results

McDonald’s Hong Kong increased conversion value by 668%, while reducing cost per acquisition (CPA) by 53% as compared to target CPA.

Measure customer interactions accurately-10v2

User expectations for privacy continue to grow, and updates, such as last year’s rollout of Apple’s ATT framework on iOS, have made app measurement more complex. To be set up for long-term success, marketers should prioritize privacy-focused app measurement solutions, such as on-device conversion measurement available through the Google Analytics for Firebase SDK.

On-device conversion measurement

On-device conversion measurement is a new privacy-preserving measurement solution that retains and improves your observable data, enhancing conversion modeling and reporting accuracy. It works by matching user interactions with app ads to app conversions without allowing user-identifying information to leave a person’s device. Any user or device data from your app is linked to third-party data solely on the user’s device.

Learn how the solution and the set-up process work in this webinar and developer guide.

Google Analytics for Firebase SDK

Add the Google Analytics for Firebase software development kit (SDK) to your Android or iOS app to get powerful cross-platform measurement capabilities that help you understand how your users engage with your app and to optimize your App campaign attribution, reach, and performance.

When you implement the Google Analytics for Firebase SDK, you unlock benefits for App campaigns, like on-device conversion measurement, audience management, and target ROAS bidding. Additionally, adding the SDK will automatically register your app for Apple’s SKAdNetwork attribution so you can measure “first-open” conversions.

Case Study: Vinted achieved 128% more in-app actions on iOS after switching to Google Analytics for Firebase.

Approach

Vinted, a European marketplace for secondhand clothing, wanted to drive more in-app actions and optimize its cost per in-app action, particularly on iOS. To achieve this, the brand implemented and began bidding on conversions from Google Analytics for Firebase.

Results

Vinted achieved 128% more in-app actions on iOS compared to its existing measurement solution, increased installs by 92%, and decreased the cost per engagement by 22%. Additionally, Google Analytics for Firebase helped Vinted increase scale and achieve deeper funnel events.