Consent Mode
Google Consent Mode is a technology that controls how Google tags (Analytics, Ads) behave depending on the user's cookie consent. It ensures privacy compliance without losing all tracking data.
What is Consent Mode?
Google Consent Mode (version 2) is a system that allows you to adjust Google's tracking tags based on the user's cookie choices. When a user declines cookies, Consent Mode still sends anonymized pings to Google, which are used for statistical modeling - so you don't lose all insights even if the user says no.
How does it work?
Consent Mode controls four consent types:
- analytics_storage: Permission to store analytics cookies (Google Analytics).
- ad_storage: Permission to store ad cookies (Google Ads, remarketing).
- ad_user_data: Consent to send user data to Google Ads.
- ad_personalization: Consent to use data for personalized ads.
All four are set to "denied" by default for EU/UK users. When the user gives consent via the cookie banner, the modes are updated to "granted".
Consent Mode v2 - what's new?
Google requires Consent Mode v2 to use remarketing and audiences in Google Ads from March 2024. The new fields ad_user_data and ad_personalization are mandatory. Without Consent Mode v2 you will lose access to:
- Remarketing audiences in Google Ads.
- Conversion modeling in Google Ads.
- Audience features in GA4.
Basic vs. advanced implementation
- Basic: Google tags are not loaded at all until the user gives consent. Simple, but you lose all data from users who decline.
- Advanced: Google tags are always loaded, but in a limited "cookieless" mode until consent is given. Google uses anonymized pings for statistical modeling, so you get estimated numbers for the users who declined. This is the recommended approach.
Statistical modeling
When Consent Mode is implemented in advanced mode, Google uses machine learning to estimate the conversions and sessions that couldn't be tracked directly due to lack of consent. This provides a more complete picture of your traffic and ad performance - typically 10-30% more data than without modeling.
Consent Mode in Shoporama
Shoporama has full support for Google Consent Mode v2:
- Automatic integration: Shoporama's built-in cookie consent popup automatically sends consent signals to Google via
gtag('consent', 'update', ...). - Cookie categories: Necessary, statistics and marketing - mapped directly to Google consent types.
- Activation: You enable Consent Mode in your tracking settings in admin.
- Region-specific: Stricter default settings for EU/UK users, as required by GDPR.
- DataLayer events: Shoporama sends
cookie_consent_update eventswhich can be used for advanced GTM setups.
We know online marketing in Shoporama
We've been working with online marketing ourselves for decades. As the only shop system in the country, we have spoken multiple times at conferences such as Marketingcamp, SEOday, Shopcamp, Digital Marketing, E-commerce Manager, Ecommerce Day, Web Analytics Wednesday and many more.