Consent Mode

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 preferences. When a user opts out of cookies, Consent Mode still sends anonymized “pings” to Google, which are used for statistical modeling—so you don’t lose all your insights even if the user says no.

How does it work?

Consent Mode manages four types of consent:

• analytics_storage: Permission to store analytics cookies (Google Analytics).
• ad_storage: Permission to store advertising 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 grants consent via the cookie banner, the statuses are updated to “granted.”

Consent Mode v2 — What’s New?

Google requires Consent Mode v2 to use remarketing and audiences in Google Ads starting in March 2024. The new fields ad_user_data and ad_personalization are mandatory. Without Consent Mode v2, you’ll 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’ll lose all data from users who opt out.
• 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 figures for users who declined consent. 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 could not be tracked directly due to a 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 fully supports Google Consent Mode v2:

• Automatic integration: Shoporama’s built-in cookie consent pop-up automatically sends consent signals to Google via gtag('consent', 'update', ...).
• Cookie categories: Essential, analytics, and marketing—mapped directly to Google’s consent types.
• Enablement: You can enable Consent Mode in your tracking settings in the admin panel.
• Region-specific: Stricter default settings for EU/UK users, as required by the GDPR.
• DataLayer events: Shoporama sends ` cookie_consent_update` events, which can be used for advanced GTM setups.