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admin by admin
January 27, 2025

GA4 Consent Mode V2

How can GA4 Consent Mode V2 help charities and nonprofits?

Many charities know how important data is to understanding your audience, running successful campaigns, and showing their impact. But with privacy regulations like GDPR, how we collect and use data, it’s tough to find the right balance between gathering insights and respecting privacy. That’s where Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Consent Mode V2 can really help.

Google’s Consent Mode V2 is all about adapting to people’s privacy choices. When someone visits your site and interacts with your consent banner, this feature lets you collect data only in ways they agree to. If they accept cookies, everything runs as usual. If they don’t, GA4 doesn’t collect personal data but still provides useful insights by estimating trends with “cookieless” tracking.

How Basic Consent Mode Works
If you set up basic consent mode, Google’s tracking tools (tags) won’t load until the visitor interacts with your privacy banner. Once they give consent, the tags load and start collecting data. If they don’t, the tags stay completely blocked—no data is sent, not even their consent status. When this happens, Google relies on broad trends and general models to estimate things like conversions. It’s not as detailed, but it’s still helpful and fully compliant with privacy laws.

How Advanced Consent Mode Works
In Advanced Consent Mode, Google tags load right when someone opens your website or app, even before they interact with the privacy banner. Until the visitor gives consent ( banner), the tags send very limited, cookieless data for basic measurement. If the user agrees to share their data, the tags start sending full data. This gives you better insights than the basic version since it uses anonymous data to enhance Google’s modeling from the start.

Today, many nonprofits and charities need data to measure how their campaigns are working and where they can improve. GA4 and Consent Mode V2 help you gather insights while giving your supporters control over their data. Even if someone declines cookies, you can still get useful information through Google’s modeling tools—without breaking privacy rules or trust.

Have any questions? I will try my best to answer them..

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admin by admin
August 1, 2024

5 GA4 configurations every charity or nonprofit should make..

Let’s be honest, most charities or nonprofits don’t use Google Analytics 4 (GA4). It’s another thing they have to learn while also learning Facebook, Meta, AI, and other tools. Despite this, I am on a mission to change that. To get you started, here are 5 GA4 configurations every charity should make in every new GA4 property you create…

1. Change the data retention from 2 months to 14 months

By default, GA4 keeps user data for just 2 months, which can limit your ability to analyse the effectiveness of online fundraising campaigns. Extending this period to 14 months gives you more historical data to work with, allowing for better year-over-year comparisons and deeper insights into donor behavior.

2. Define and exclude internal traffic

Internal traffic from your own fundraising or communications team can skew your analytics data, making it difficult to accurately assess how external users are engaging with your content. By defining ( adding your IP address) and excluding internal traffic, you ensure that your data reflects only the activity of genuine visitors to your website.

3. Remove any unwanted referrals

Referral traffic can sometimes include websites you don’t want to see your traffic reports, which can distort your data and mislead you about where your visitors are coming from. By identifying and removing unwanted referrals, you can clean up your data and focus on the sources that actually drive traffic to your site.

4. Change the default session time

The default session timeout in GA4 is 30 minutes, but this might not be appropriate for every nonprofit. If your visitor tend to spend longer periods of time on your website, such as making a donation, reading in-depth reports or watching videos, you may want to extend the session time. Adjusting this setting ensures that your data accurately reflects user engagement without inflated session counts.

5. Configure domains if running multiple websites from the same GA4 property

If your charity manages multiple websites under the same GA4 property, it’s essential to configure your domains properly. This setup prevents data from being combined incorrectly, ensuring that you can accurately track user behavior across different sites while still viewing data in one place. This is crucial for charities that operate various microsites or campaigns.

Configuring these 5 settings will ensure your GA4 account is correctly set up, the data you collect is accurate and actionable for every charity or nonprofit.

If you want to learn more, I am hosting a GA4 workshop on Monday 2nd September 2024.

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