Enhanced conversions: When are they worth it, and what do you need?

Enhanced conversions add encrypted customer data, such as the email address from a form, to standard Google Ads conversion tracking. This lets Google attribute conversions even when cookies are missing. They are worth it as soon as Google Ads is a relevant channel and you use automated bidding, because better data leads to better bids.

How enhanced conversions work

When a visitor submits a form or makes a purchase, details such as email address, phone number or name are hashed with SHA-256, meaning they are turned into an unreadable string, and sent to Google. Google matches this string against signed-in Google accounts and can then attribute the ad click to the conversion. The plain-text data never leaves your website.

Two variants

• Enhanced conversions for web: The conversion happens on the website, for example a purchase or an enquiry. The data is sent when the form is submitted.
• Enhanced conversions for leads: The enquiry comes in via the website, and the deal is closed later by sales. You upload closed deals from your CRM, and Google matches them to the original click using the hashed data.

What you need

1. Working conversion tracking via Google Tag Manager or the Google tag.
2. Forms that ask for an email address or phone number.
3. Acceptance of the customer data terms in your Google Ads account.
4. A consent basis: the data may only be sent with the user’s consent and must be described in your privacy policy, in line with GDPR.
5. For the leads variant: a regular export from your CRM or an integration.

Who benefits

Especially accounts with a meaningful budget and automated bid strategies such as Maximise conversions or Target CPA. The more conversions Google can attribute, the better the system learns. For very small accounts with only a few enquiries per month, the effect is smaller, but the effort stays the same.

Typical setup mistakes

• Data is sent without consent.
• Fields are read incorrectly, for example empty values or the wrong email address.
• Nobody checks the diagnostics in Google Ads after setup.
• With the leads variant, the upload is forgotten after a few weeks.

Related reading: Offline conversions: How do closed deals from the CRM get back into Google Ads? and First-party data: What is left of tracking when cookies disappear?

FAQ

What is the difference between enhanced conversions for leads and offline conversion import with GCLID?

With classic offline import, you store Google’s click ID (GCLID) along with the enquiry and upload it later together with the deal. With enhanced conversions for leads, matching is done via hashed data such as email address or phone number, so you do not need to carry the click ID through. This is more robust if the GCLID gets lost in the form or CRM.

What happens to enhanced conversions when a user rejects the cookie banner?

In that case, no customer data may be sent to Google. In Consent Mode, the ad_user_data parameter in particular controls whether user data is sent for advertising purposes. If your banner is integrated correctly, the hashed data is automatically left out when consent is denied.

How do I check whether enhanced conversions are working correctly?

In Google Ads, each conversion action has a diagnostics view that shows whether hashed data is arriving and how well it is being matched. The figures only appear a few days after setup. You can also use Google Tag Assistant with a test enquiry to see whether the user data is included in the conversion request.

When to hand this over

• Your Tag Manager has grown over the years, and nobody knows exactly what it measures.
• You want to feed deals from your CRM back into Google Ads.
• You are unsure how the setup fits with your consent banner.

We set up enhanced conversions with clean consent handling and check the data quality. Learn more about our Google Ads management or go straight to a free initial consultation.