I recently shared a post about Google Enhanced Conversions. Google also recenly introduced a similar feature to Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Let's dive into how GA4 uses Enhanced Conversions to boost the accuracy of your conversion tracking and reporting.
Similarly to Google Ads ECs, GA4 Enhanced Conversions uses first-party data—think names, email addresses, phone numbers—that users provide on your site. This data is then hashed (encrypted) and sent to GA4. It allows GA4 to link interactions on your site directly to user accounts on Google. This means you get a sharper, more accurate view of how users interact with your ads and your site across multiple devices and sessions:
- Cross-Device Tracking: GA4 can accurately track conversions across different devices and sessions by matching user data with their Google accounts. This is especially handy since many users switch devices between sessions.
- Data Privacy Compliance: With all the hashing and encryption, your data handling complies with privacy laws like GDPR or CCPA. You're boosting conversion accuracy and keeping things tight on the legal front.
There are several ways you can implement ECs for GA4, but I recommend using the same variable that you have implemented in Google Tag Manager for Google Ads ECs and passing them via GA4 Event tags:
Linking GA4 with Google Ads? That's where Enhanced Conversions really helps. It bridges the gap between the data collected through GA4 and the bidding strategies in Google Ads, allowing for more accurate and powerful ad spend decisions.
Keep in mind, though, that Enhanced Conversions in GA4 don't immediately reflect in your reports. It takes about a month of active use to see improvements in Google Analytics and Google Ads reports.