Maximizing Marketing Performance with a Connected 1PD Strategy in GMP

The further we get into 2024, the closer we get to 3P cookies disappearing from Google Chrome. On top of that, there is ever intensifying privacy regulation combined with consumers’ increased desire for personalization. This creates an immense challenge for marketers who must continue to deliver high-performing advertising campaigns, but with seemingly fewer insights and capabilities.

Fortunately, advertisers who use the Google Marketing Platform (GMP) will find that they have access to many cookieless features and measurement technologies that can help preserve performance and drive growth - especially when used together as part of an integrated 1PD strategy.

This post will explore four of those solutions – Enhanced Conversions, Google Analytics 4, Consent Mode, and Google Tag.

We’ll look at how they maximize performance by leaning into and expanding marketers’ 1PD, and how they can be integrated into the wider Google ecosystem to transform your marketing for a successful 2024 and beyond.  

Enhanced Conversions

Let’s start with Google’s Enhanced Conversions (EC). EC is a vital tool for your agile response to 3P cookie deprecation and for meeting users’ expectations for personalization while still respecting their privacy.

My last blog post explained how EC supplements conversion events with user-provided 1PD, empowering marketers with more accurate conversion attribution and enabling more effective bidding in Google’s advertising platforms. It fills in gaps in attribution when other identifiers aren't available, providing complete and accurate media performance insight without sacrificing user privacy.

For all these reasons and more, EC is a natural way to get started leveraging 1PD. However, EC isn’t restricted to just your 1PD. Once EC is implemented, you can use it to supplement your conversion events with data gathered from other sources, such as your CRM and media platforms. This enables even more accurate conversion attribution and better bidding in Google advertising platforms.

Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is another important Google solution for the 1PD future. GA4 is the latest generation of GA, an enterprise-ready analytics tool tailored to measure traffic and engagement across both websites and apps. And it’s been built from the ground up to respond to a changing marketing and regulatory landscape.

At the heart of GA4's capabilities is advanced modeling to provide additional insights into traffic and conversions, providing stable access to meaningful data volumes. Using cookieless modeling and advanced privacy controls, GA4 preserves data quality without sacrificing user privacy.

GA4 is also a key generator of 1PD, and it offers direct integrations with GMP and Google Cloud's Big Query. This means that you can use GA4 data directly in GMP audience and bid strategies, fueling performance with your own 1PD.

You can learn more about GA4’s robust capabilities and its important role in a privacy-focused world in our GA4 guide. If you’ve already migrated to GA4, check out our post-migration checklist for even more advanced ways to integrate GA4 across GMP.

Advanced Consent Mode

Next, we’ll discuss Consent Mode. Consent Mode relays your users' consent status regarding cookies or app identifiers to Google. Tags then adjust their operations accordingly to ensure compliance with users' preferences.

There are two versions of Consent Mode – original and Advanced Consent Mode. We’ll focus on Advanced Consent Mode given its added benefits for a 1PD world. Most notably, Advanced Consent Mode ensures the usability of analytics data in Google tools by filling in where observable data is not available, and by providing insight into traffic and conversions in a privacy safe way. This increases your access to 1PD and helps maximize insights and analysis.

Advanced Consent Mode is also critical to a connected 1PD strategy in GMP as it provides marketers with stable, comprehensive data for using GA4 data in GMP activations such as AI-driven PMAX in Ads, conversion optimization in SA360, and maximize conversions bid strategies in DV360.

Google Tag

Last, but not least, let’s cover the Google Tag (gTag). I would be remiss if we didn’t address gTag because although it is not a robust platform like the other solutions covered in this post, it plays a critical role in a successful 1PD strategy in GMP.  

At its core, gTag simplifies website management by providing a single tag for integrating various Google products and services such as Google Ads, Google Analytics, Campaign Manager, Display & Video 360, and Search Ads 360. It allows you to securely collect 1PD across your entire Google measurement stack, making it a vital part of a strong 1PD collection plan.

There are also some serious risks with NOT implementing gTag, most notably around data accuracy and completeness. gTag enables more precise conversion measurement, particularly in situations where cookies are unavailable, and facilitates the recovery of conversions you could not otherwise observe. Not using gTag can result in inaccurate or incomplete data, leading to missed opportunities for optimization and growth.

Foundations for Success

EC, GA4, Consent Mode, and Google Tag are just a few ways that marketers can build strong 1PD foundations and prepare their organizations for signal loss, but they certainly aren’t the only solutions or considerations.

In addition to leveraging Google’s cookieless features and tools in GMP, marketers should also thoroughly and strategically evaluate their data collection and management, as well as their technology and tools above and beyond GMP. This will ensure you have a full picture of your current practices and what needs to be transformed for long-term media and marketing success.

Looking for Additional Resources?

Explore more resources from Acceleration on 3P cookie deprecation, 1PD collection and activation, and durable Google solutions:

• Run, Don’t Walk: Prioritize Enhanced Conversions to Futureproof Conversion Measurement & Drive Long-Term Performance
• In The Know Series: How to Prepare for a Privacy-Focused Future with GA4
• Google Analytics 4 Post-Migration Checklist
• 3P Cookie Deprecation & CM360: Strengthen Your Data & Drive Performance
• Making Digital Maturity a Reality with GMP & GCP

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