We’re in the middle of an online shopping gold rush, and businesses have immense opportunities they can take advantage of.

However, in the middle of these amazing opportunities, businesses also have responsibilities around privacy and data protection. That’s where Google’s new Consent Mode settings come into play.

What is Consent Mode?

First off, let’s cover what consent mode is and how it works. It sounds a bit technical, but really all consent mode does is show you what users allow to be tracked and let you adjust your tags accordingly.

Some users are OK with analytics and cookies fully tracking, others don’t want almost anything tracked. Consent mode adjusts automatically to conform to the users’ preferences (Source: Cookie Information).

Understanding Google’s New Consent Mode Settings

For businesses in Europe, it’s especially crucial to understand that Google now complies with Europe’s TCF laws (Transparency and Consent Framework). What this means is that some tighter regulations should be followed in the EU.

If you opt out of these regulations then you get to make more decisions about Google Tags in order to streamline your advertising and analytics. Under these new Consent Mode settings, you can optimize your campaigns to make sure you’re reaching who you want to, but still remaining within the privacy and data protection of users’ choices…

If a user lets Google use cookies to advertise to them then the new Consent Mode will seamlessly adapt. If they turn down Cookies then Consent Mode will also conform but will still assess conversions with as much other available information as possible.

User privacy matters, but so do your ad conversions and insights into your target demographic. With these new changes, Google is adapting to increased privacy law while still making your online business as successful as possible (Source: Google).