Why You Should Optimise Your Cookie Consent Process

Overnight, marketers lost a huge amount of data on their users. How do we know if we are doing the right things, if we can’t see the impact of those things? We’ve seen accounts lose 90%+ of data collected on their users within the last 12 months. The significance of optimising your cookie consent policy should not be underestimated. A finely-tuned cookie consent policy doesn’t just ensure that your company is compliant General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); it helps to boost the amount of data you collect for marketing purposes, making your insights more robust and enhancing your strategic decisions.

A user-friendly and clear cookie consent banner is a starting point. However, it’s important that these banners are fully customisable, allowing you to test different variables that impact. A/B testing is a robust method to optimise your cookie consent policy, and we’ve managed to double and triple consent rates through testing. This involves presenting two different versions of your cookie consent banner to a split audience, and then analysing which version yields higher consent rates. It’s vital to only change one element at a time (such as the copy, layout, or colours), so you know what caused the difference in results. In addition, the use of analytics tools, such as Hotjar, can significantly aid in maximising A/B test outcomes.

If you are using Google services such as Google Analytics or Ads, it is essential to understand the role of Consent Mode. This feature adapts the behaviour of Google’s tags based on the user’s consent status, which is communicated from your CMP or custom implementation. If consent is denied, tags send pings, and the gap in data is filled with behavioural modelling. Consent Mode is an essential tool in compliance that can also help optimise the data you collect from those who do give consent.

Optimising your cookie consent policy will also feed into your broader marketing strategies. For example, a more substantial data set will enable more personalised and relevant email marketing campaigns, increasing their effectiveness and return on investment.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: What is a cookie consent policy? A: A cookie consent policy is a policy that requires websites to obtain user consent before using cookies that collect personal data. This policy is part of privacy laws such as the GDPR and is usually presented in the form of a banner when a user visits a website.

Q: How can A/B testing optimise my cookie consent policy? A: A/B testing can optimise your cookie consent policy by allowing you to compare the effectiveness of different banner designs or wordings. By only changing one element at a time and analysing the results, you can identify which version is more successful at gaining user consent.

Q: Is a cookie consent policy necessary for all types of cookies? A: No, a cookie consent policy is typically not required for ‘essential’ cookies that are necessary for a website to function. It is, however, necessary for ‘non-essential’ cookies that collect personal data, such as those used for tracking or analytics.

Q: How does Consent Mode work with cookie consent policies? A: Consent Mode is a feature from Google that adjusts the behaviour of its tags (for services like Google Analytics or Ads) based on the user’s consent status. It works with your Consent Management Platform to adapt data collection methods depending on whether a user has given consent. If consent is not given, tags send pings to Google instead of storing cookies.

Q: How does optimising my cookie consent policy impact my marketing strategies? A: By optimising your cookie consent policy, you can collect more data (with user consent) that can be used to inform your marketing strategies. More data can allow for more personalised and effective campaigns, such as email marketing, by providing deeper insights into your target audience.