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Let’s not beat about the bush: there’s an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed, letting out mighty roars. Well, since we’re so fond of Disney’s animated fantasy film Dumbo and also fond of Dumbo’s idea of a soft, harmless guy, we’re taking our well-deserved poetic licence and saying there’s a bull in the digital arena that demands our attention, and it’s called Consent Mode.
Consent Mode is not just an option anymore; it’s a raging bull that needs to be taken by the horns. Failure to do so? Well, imagine standing in the arena, facing a charging bull without a strategy – it’s a wild ride that you didn’t sign up for.Â
And when we say Consent Mode is not an option anymore, we also mean that it represents a strategic imperative: a crucial upgrade all marketers need to make, posing tangible risks of losing access to audiences and experiencing a substantial setback in conversion tracking.Â
Thinking what we’re here for? Surprise, surprise: we’re going to show you how this bull looks and what’s the best strategy to convert a raging bull into a best-friend-pet, without harming anybody (animals above all, of course). Let’s see how to navigate this new evolving landscape and transform Consent Mode from a formidable force into your favourite strategic ally.
What’s new: Digital Markets Act
Cue the spotlight on the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a regulatory matadòr reshaping the competition landscape. Approved by the European Commission in November 2022, it’s set to bring about a seismic shift in the digital realm.
Empowering the Underdogs
DMA stands as a beacon, designed to level the playing field for smaller players in Europe. It charges headfirst into the arena, scrutinising major market influencers, with the aim of fostering innovation and fair competition.
The DMA Timeline:
- November 2022: Regulatory approval by the European Commission – the DMA enters the digital arena, challenging the established order
- May 2023: The bull begins its charge as the consultation period kicks off, testing the resilience of the digital fighters
- March 2024: The grand finale, as the DMA regulations come into effect, reshaping the battlefield of digital competition
In this regulatory bullring, Google emerges as a formidable matadòr, gracefully navigating the challenges posed by the DMA. Bestowed with the title of the gatekeeper, Google takes centre stage, wielding the Consent Mode as its trusty cape – an essential tool in this grand digital bullfight.
Imagine Google as the masterful matador orchestrating strategic manoeuvres in the face of regulatory challenges, with Consent Mode as the trusty cape, deflecting potential obstacles and ensuring a triumphant display of digital prowess.
What a brilliant use of an image, isn’t it? Well, we’re still the smartest performance marketing agency around, folks – it should be no surprise *content creators sassily looking at their nails*. Jokes aside (yes, sure), let’s go back to business!
What’s Consent Mode?
In the heart of the digital bullring, Google faces a formidable duel: ensuring every advertiser on its platforms secures the bull’s-eye: user consent. The consequence of failure is a drop in conversions that could throw advertisers off balance in their quest for optimisation.
The Technical Bullfight
- Consent collection: Google, much like a matador skillfully avoiding the bull’s horns, must ensure advertisers meet stringent consent standards in Europe. It’s a dance where precision is key
- Conversions drop: Absence of consent is the proverbial charging bull, a force that significantly reduces conversions and disrupts the finely tuned rhythm of campaign optimisation
To address these challenges, Google mandates a strategic manoeuvre for advertisers in Europe – collect and transmit consent values to Google platforms for automatic verification. This intricate choreography is orchestrated through the Consent API, the tech-infused cape wielded by the matador.
Consent Mode: A Technical Weapon
Enter Consent Mode, a digital matador’s weapon that doesn’t just solve problems; it’s a high-tech solution powered by machine learning, strategically designed to navigate the unpredictability of the digital bullring.
- Machine learning mastery: Consent Mode, much like a seasoned matador anticipating every move of the bull, leverages machine learning algorithms to compensate for lost conversions. It’s the calculated dance of data recovery
- Optimisation: Its primary objective is to choreograph the optimisation prowess of campaigns, transforming setbacks into opportunities for growthÂ
Mandatory March 2024Â
As the digital landscape evolves, Consent Mode transforms from an optional feature to a mandatory requirement for advertisers on Google’s platforms, effective March 2024.Â
Consent Mode: Risks, Rewards, Strategies
The absence of Consent Mode is like an uneven arms race: would you enter an arena blindfolded, running a daring venture into the unknown? (If the answer is yes, you might need some help). Of course, nobody would – at this point, we said that so many times, but repetita iuvant (sorry it’s our all-Italian classy inclination in making use of Latin quotes, sometimes it just pops out).Â
Risks without Consent Mode
- Audience limitations: Operating without Consent Mode restricts both the ability to utilise any audiences and to capture new EEA users
- Strategic setback:Â
The absence of Consent Mode hinders audience utilisation, making it impossible to populate or use remarketing audiences
Benefits with Consent Mode
- Enhanced data precision: Embrace modelled data within Google Platforms to mitigate the 30-60% data loss when users opt out of tracking
- Optimised analytics: Elevate reporting, attribution, and bidding strategies to achieve unparalleled precision
A Tale of Two Options
With Consent Mode soon to become mandatory, Google provides two options for advertisers to choose from, depending on their strategy and privacy approach:Â
- CONSENT MODE CORE: Tracking only consented users
- CONSENT MODE ADVANCED: Send pre-consent anonymous pings
As the digital plot thickens (woooh), the choice between these options becomes a strategic decision, influencing the narrative of your digital journey. Let’s delve into the nuances of each, exploring the twists and turns that Consent Mode introduces into the grand storyline of your digital strategy.
REACH OUT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT CONSENT MODE
Consent Mode CoreÂ
- Tracking only consented users
The Core Version of Consent Mode tracks only consented users, sending parameters to Google and allowing you to utilise all Google platforms
- Use industry benchmarks to improve your reporting and performance
With Consent Mode Core, Google will use industry benchmarks to model your data and adapt it to the consent behaviour of your users
- Your new standard for consent control
Consent mode is integrated with all major CMPs and you can use it to improve the quality of control and documentation of your solution across all platforms
Consent Mode Advanced
- Send pre-consent anonymous pings
With the advanced implementation, you can send pre-consent anonymous pings to Google platforms, which will be used to model your data and adapt your performance
- Improve performance and bidding
The main purpose of Advanced Consent Mode is to use the pre-consent pings to improve the performance of bidding algorithms
- Pre-consent pings are processed in Europe
Pre-consent pings sent to Google are processed in dedicated servers in Europe, no user identifiers are collected and the data is not available for reporting, only optimisation
Picking the right One
Choosing between Consent Mode options demands more than a decision; it’s a Sherlock Holmes level deduction (how grandiose). Dive deep into your user consent flow and data collection setup – the clues to unlock the perfect choice. A strategic decision is the key to complying with the Google advertisers’ requirements set for March 2024.
BUT – this blog post is already slightly too long (please don’t tell our bosses, they didn’t notice) so brace yourselves as we delve deeper into each option, providing an insider’s guide on making the right choice for your unique needs.
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If the anticipation is too much to handle (we get it!) and you want to start addressing the elephant – erm, sorry Dumbo – the bull in the arena right now: