How To Implement Google Ads Conversion Tracking on Recharge

In order to deploy Google Ads remarketing and conversion tracking via Google Tag Manager tags, you need to have a data layer implemented on your Shopify store that pushes customer, product, and order data that Google Ads tags require.

If you don’t have a data layer for your Shopify store yet, then you can utilize Elevar’s data layer for Shopify. It’s a 1-click installation into your theme.

Inside your Elevar dashboard navigate to the ReCharge pre-built container.

This container has the trigger (Event – Subscription Purchase) that we will need for our Google Ads tag.

Here is the Google Ads Transaction tag in GTM that you just imported that needs your specific Google Ads Conversion Label updated:

Here is where you can find this in Google Ads:

Go to “Conversions” and either create a new conversion or go to your existing purchase conversion action.

Once you click into the purchase conversion and scroll down to the tag setup then you’ll see the conversion label similar to what’s shown in the image above.

Then just copy and paste the conversion label to the above into the Google Ads Conversion Tag in GTM.

Google Ads has a new advanced matching feature to help better match conversions with clicks (or views).

You might see a recommendation in your Google Ads account like this:

Of you’ll see it within your Google Ads conversion setting.

It’s fairly easy to enable on your account:

Option 1:

1. Follow the instructions on the Google Ads conversion tag that will walk you through a setup process here:
   
2. Enter your Store URL:
   

Then you’ll get through either of the steps below:

1. Select “Automatic Setup” > then hit “Save”
   
   In automatic setup, information entered by your customers in the selected field types on your website (for example, user email in a purchase form) will be automatically sent to Google. This data will be matched with Google data to improve your conversion measurement.Note: When using the automatic setup for the first time, Google first reviews your web traffic to check if your web page has the relevant information for this setup option to work. The review may take up to a week and Google will notify you once it is complete.

Option 2 (Client-Side):

1. You’ll be prompted to confirm the setup in GTM.
   
   Most of the time the field won’t be visible inside of a Google Ads tag in GTM for a few days. Once it’s enabled on your account you’ll see this on your Google Ads Conversion tag:
   

2. You’ll need to set up a custom variable in GTM. It’ll look like the below:

Note: The “User-Provided data” variable will only show once the feature is enabled.

3. Then connect enable the “user-provided data” option in your Google Ads Conversion Tag and associate it with your new Enhanced Conversion Data variable you created:

There are two ways to validate that remarketing tags exist and are sending data:

1. Use the GA Tag Assistant across major pages to confirm data is sent:
   • Home, collection, product, cart, checkout, purchase
2. View Google Ads tag source data inside of Google Ads account

Below are examples of valid Google Remarketing Tags look like in GA Tag Assistant.

Example using data layer data from Elevar:

Example using old, non-Elevar GTM parameters (but still work)

You will not be able to validate if the id or ecomm_prodid are the right values (i.e. SKU, product ID) from the GA tag assistant. This must be done inside Google Ads.

How to validate remarketing tag data inside of Google Ads:

Go to Google Ads > Tools > Shared Library > Audience Manager and you should see Google Ads and Google Analytics data sources. If you don’t see Google Ads (or it’s 0) then the tag is not collecting data.

From here you should get a general sense of health.

Here is example of account with errors (see the 2 issues)

Here is example without errors

If your account has errors then you’ll see the details of these errors on the next screen after clicking details.

The majority of the time it’s due to product ID in tag doesn’t match product ID in merchant center.

Example of ID mismatch warnings:

If there are mismatch warnings like this then you need to update the tags to send the right product ID. It will be easier to change this vs changing the merchant center IDs.

Your steps to do this are:

• Inside Google Ads go to Overview (top left) > Product Groups > then click on any product which will bring up a screen where you can view the product ID

See product image example in Google Ads:

• If you are unsure if it’s SKU, product ID, or variant ID then go to the product URL in browser and add .json to the URL. Then input the value from Google Ads and search for it in browser. Voila.

Things to watch out for when matching IDs:

• Lower/upper casing in your tags and product feed. Shopify_US_ is not the same as shopify_us when matching data in a tag to product feed
• Internationalization for product feeds in different countries

What Elevar Parameter Data Looks Like

Here is an example of parameter data that comes through in our remarketing tags

At the minimum we should be sending:

• id or ecomm_prodid
• ecomm_pagetype or similar
• value or ecomm_totalvalue or similar

You can click into the parameters to view more details on them and see what is being sent.

These parameters are pre-configured in GTM Suite tags. If you are using another method – like hard coding in theme or Google Shopping App – then they might be slightly different.