Understanding Google’s Enhanced Conversions and How They Benefit Marketers

One crucial step Google is taking in 2023 and beyond is the move toward preserving and protecting user data. Since cookies will soon be a thing of the past, marketers like yourself need to start collecting first-party data. But how can you do that? One answer is using Enhanced Conversions. 

Learn More About Enhanced Conversions

According to Google, Enhanced Conversions is a feature that helps improve the accuracy of your conversion measurements. It works supplementally with current conversion tags by securely sending hashed first-party conversion data collected from your website to Google, where the data is then sorted, tracked, and ultimately used to enhance your conversion measurements. 

Enhanced Conversions use a secure, one-way hashing algorithm to help ensure customer data privacy. The algorithm, known as SHA-256 or Secure Hash Algorithm 256-bit, creates cryptographic hash algorithms. These are hashes that are both irreversible and unique, which is why SHA-256 is used as a cryptographic security feature. 

Any time your website produces data, SHA-256 adds a hash to it. This hash turns the data into hashed data, which is then able to be matched with any signed-in Google account. From there, the data can be attributed to different ad events. For example, the attribution may show that a specific email address clicked on your ad. 

Essentially, Enhanced Conversions work in a way that maintains privacy but still tracks data from a converted visitor. The feature can identify a site visitor’s movement through the different devices used to view your ads and website, identifying multiple visits and reporting them all under the single user’s conversion. This process allows for more accurate attribution and can improve your conversion rate.

To set up Enhanced Conversions, marketers can use Google tag or Google Tag Manager.

Enhanced Conversions Example

To better understand Enhanced Conversions, let’s review this example of how a site visitor’s data can be tracked while still abiding by today’s data privacy regulations. 

1. The visitor, using a laptop at a friend’s house, logs on to check their email. Then, they start researching pet food. They see your ad, click on it, but don’t make a purchase at that time. 
2. The visitor goes home and gets on their desktop computer. They’re logged into the same Google account. They decide to visit your website again, and this time they make a purchase. 
3. Since the user had the same account connected when they researched the dog food and when they bought from you, Google is able to match up their identifying information across both devices. 
4. Enhanced Conversions files a single user for the conversion using their first-party data. 

Essentially, Enhanced Conversions tracks users whenever data can be matched up, so you don’t end up thinking multiple people visited your site when it was actually one person visiting multiple times. With Enhanced Conversions, you get an opportunity to see how many clicks or interactions it takes to get people to buy. You can use these customer-journey insights to enhance your marketing campaigns. 

The Pros of Using Enhanced Conversions 

While there are many benefits to using Enhanced Conversions, the four most notable benefits include:

-An opportunity to see users’ customer journey as they move from one device to another.
-The opportunity to collect first-party data directly from visitors.
-More reliable data analysis that can help you optimize your ads more effectively.
-Tracking conversions you couldn’t before thanks to the hashing process.

Enhanced Conversions can also help improve the clickthrough rate of your ads and help you take advantage of tools like Smart Bidding. 

With Enhanced Conversions, you get an opportunity to track conversions more effectively and accurately. You gain more accurate and actionable insights via first-party data and a better look at the customer journey and can use that information to optimize your current and future campaigns.

For example, you might notice that your emails get a ton of clicks but yield few conversions, yet your display ads generate a lot of interaction and ultimately lead to the most conversions. This information can help you reallocate your budget more effectively and help you create a strategy that aligns with how your customers really browse and purchase your products.
Enhanced Conversions also allow you to track and measure offline transactions with greater accuracy. When a user’s hashed first-party data is stored in your CRM, Google is able to match that lead data to the correct user when they convert. More importantly, this data is collected in a safe way, minimizing the security risks users face when shopping online (or buying from you). With so many benefits, this is a tool you can try in 2023 and beyond as you prepare for a cookieless future and get acquainted with Google Analytics 4.

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