Case Study: How Optimised Conversion Tracking Helped Increase Revenue by 38%

At Swanky, our dedicated data and analytics team works to streamline data processes for all our clients. Ultimately, this allows everyone greater visibility and understanding of customer behaviour, unlocking the ability to make data-driven decisions confidently.

We worked with an award-winning and science-forward wellness brand to support its ecommerce growth. Data was a core area that the brand wanted to address, as the team wasn’t confident in the reporting available to them.

Consequently, we worked on fixing the old data tracking, implementing a new system, and optimising it for the brand’s needs. This case study will walk through the problems we faced, how we solved them and the impact of trustworthy data tracking on this health and wellness brand.

The challenge

In tandem with our data services, the company leveraged our paid marketing services. However, when we launched the first search campaign it became evident that the client’s Google Ads account had a number of issues requiring immediate solutions.

These included:

• Conversion tracking errors – All hits being sent to Google Ads servers were being rejected and an error code was displayed. This meant that no conversions were being properly tracked.
• No remarketing – Due to the tracking issues, no remarketing or conversion events were being captured by the Google tag, regardless of how tracking was configured. This severely limited the ability to optimise campaigns and retarget potential customers.
• Reinforcing GDPR compliance – The site’s privacy setup was at risk of not being in compliance with GDPR regulations.

In combination with other issues, these led the client being unable to trust the data available to them and confidently make data-informed decisions.

The solution

Outlined below are some of the steps we took to create and implement a comprehensive data solution for our client.

1. Ensuring GDPR compliance

We worked to align the brand’s privacy solution with Shopify’s Customer Privacy API, ensuring that customers were only tracked when explicit permission was given.

2. Creating a secure Google Ads account

Once our team identified the specific issues causing conversion data to be blocked on the Google Ads account, we opted to set up a new account. This isn’t a typical course of action, but was a necessary step for the brand to regain control of its marketing data.

We were able to ease this migration process by utilising Google Ads Editor to import previous campaign structures into the new account.

3. Updating the data tech stack

Littledata

In case of absent Google Ads events, we implemented Littledata to the client’s ecommerce tech stack. This creates a backup tracking system to ensure GA4 events and conversions are always tracked.

Polar Analytics

All clients leveraging our growth services gain access to Polar Analytics, our data and analytics platform of choice. We used Polar to validate the success of our actions by comparing different attribution models against the figures being reported in Google Ads.

4. Enhanced tracking implementation

Our data and analytics team installed custom tags in the checkout scripts for reliable conversion tracking.

Further improvements to enhance data tracking

Once solutions were in place on this account, we looked at how the brand could gain further value from its data and analytics.

For example, we identified that the product data feed required improvement to make sure that a) Google would serve PMax ads correctly and b) organic shopping performance was optimised. Native Google and YouTube sales channels were being used to sync products from Shopify to Google Merchant Centre (GMC). Whilst this is a great starting point, it offers limited flexibility for growth.

As an alternative, more scalable solution, we migrated the data to Multifeeds. This tech stack solution enabled us to send accurate product data to Google’s shopping feed.

Moreover, Multifeeds allowed us to map Shopify data to the product feed and provide specific parameters that were relevant to this vertical, such as the cost-per-unit measurement. This allows customers to see exactly how much it costs per 100g and compare it with similar products in GMC.

We conducted a thorough review of product taxonomy to ensure products were being displayed alongside similar products. We also optimised product titles and product descriptions, helping new customers quickly understand the product they are viewing.

Swanky’s approach to conversion tracking

We understand that data underpins ecommerce success and therefore, that optimised and accurate performance tracking is vital for any online store.

With this in mind, we constantly monitor the performance of our tracking tag to provide the highest quality of data for Google Ads. We do this by monitoring the goal in Google Ads, ensuring that enhanced conversions are being recorded and that Google consent mode is active.

In addition, we check that there is full coverage of enhanced tracking data being sent to Google Ads. This allows us to be confident that encrypted customer data is always valid.

The results of optimising conversion tracking

By tackling the technical tracking issues, ensuring GDPR compliance and rebuilding the brand’s Google Ads account, we were able to restore the team’s trust in its data and improve paid advertising performance.

When comparing the two months following Swanky’s work, with the same period the year before, we saw:

• a 38% increase in YoY revenue;
• search campaigns achieved a 9x Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), up by 1400% since Swanky’s involvement; and
• the number of new customers acquired increased by 24% YoY.

Work with data experts to improve conversion tracking

By taking a holistic view of these data challenges and implementing a comprehensive conversion tracking solution, we not only turned around the site’s immediate performance but also set the brand up for sustained success in the highly competitive health and wellness market.

If you want to be more confident in your ecommerce data and empowered to make more informed data-driven decisions, start a conversation with our team today.