Are You Struggling with Privacy-Compliant Google Ads Performance?
The digital marketing landscape is experiencing a massive transformation as privacy regulations grow stricter and third-party cookies become obsolete. According to Kantar’s 2025 research, strong brands can command prices up to twice as high as competitors—but proving marketing’s impact on profitability requires accurate measurement. Consumers now demand greater control over their personal data, forcing marketers to rethink their strategies. In this evolving environment, brands must find ways to deliver personalized experiences while respecting privacy—a challenge that Decathlon Switzerland, Blackroll, Butlers, and Redcare Pharmacy have successfully navigated using Enhanced Conversions and Consent Mode.
Enhanced Conversions, a privacy-compliant measurement solution, allows businesses to track conversions accurately by hashing customer data instead of relying on invasive tracking methods. This technology ensures compliance with stringent data protection laws while improving campaign performance. Decathlon Switzerland’s case study demonstrates how adopting these tools led to a 42% increase in Google Ads investment and significant conversion uplifts. As marketers grapple with these changes, the lessons from these brands provide a blueprint for balancing privacy and performance.
I. Decathlon Switzerland’s Marketing Challenge
Decathlon Switzerland faced a critical challenge: growing its market share in the competitive sports and fitness sector by 50% within three years while boosting online sales. However, Switzerland’s strict data protection laws and the introduction of cookie banners disrupted traditional tracking methods, creating gaps in performance measurement. Without accurate data, justifying marketing budgets became increasingly difficult, as internal stakeholders questioned the ROI of digital campaigns.
The inability to track conversions reliably meant Decathlon couldn’t optimize its ad spend effectively. Search and video campaigns lacked visibility into which strategies drove sales, leading to inefficient budget allocation. The marketing team needed a solution that complied with privacy laws while delivering precise conversion insights. Enhanced Conversions emerged as the answer—a technology that hashes customer data to match conversions without compromising user privacy. By implementing this alongside Google Consent Mode, Decathlon bridged the measurement gap and regained confidence in its digital strategy.
II. Implementation of Enhanced Conversions
Decathlon Switzerland’s implementation of Enhanced Conversions became a pivotal moment in enhancing its marketing effectiveness.The technology works by securely hashing first-party customer data (e.g., email addresses) when users log into their Google accounts and complete a purchase. This anonymized data is then matched with Google’s user database, allowing conversions to be tracked without exposing personal details. The process ensures compliance with privacy laws while providing accurate in Google Ads campaign attribution.
Beyond Enhanced Conversions, Decathlon integrated Consent Mode, which dynamically adjusts tracking based on user consent preferences. If a visitor declines cookies, AI modeling fills in data gaps, ensuring no loss in measurement accuracy. The integration of these tools resulted in a 3.12% rise in search ad conversions and a boost of over 50% in video ad performance. With clearer ROI insights, Decathlon not only achieved its 15% annual growth target but also secured approval for a 42% budget increase in Google Advertising—proof that privacy-friendly measurement can drive business growth.
III. Results and Performance Impact
The outcomes of Decathlon’s Enhanced Conversions deployment were revolutionary. Conversion rates for search ads rose by 3.12%, while video ads saw a 50%+ increase—a clear indicator of the technology’s effectiveness. Additionally, the adoption of Consent Mode contributed a further 4% uplift, reinforcing the value of combining multiple privacy-centric solutions.
These improvements enabled Decathlon to exceed its annual growth targets and confidently scale its Google Advertising budget by 42%. The capability to showcase measurable ROI quelled internal doubts regarding digital marketing expenditure and set the company on a path to long-term success. Other brands, like Blackroll and Butlers, have replicated this success, with Blackroll achieving a 41% increase in tracked sessions and Butlers boosting conversions by 28%. These cases underscore a crucial lesson: privacy compliance doesn’t hinder performance—it enhances it.
IV. Comparative Industry Success Stories
Decathlon isn’t alone in leveraging privacy-friendly measurement tools. Blackroll, a fitness equipment retailer, implemented Google Consent Mode to model user interactions where cookies were declined. This led to a 41% surge in tracked sessions and a 31% increase in desktop transactions, which are crucial metrics for optimizing Google Ads performance. Similarly, Butlers adopted a dual-tracking system using Google Tag Manager, improving conversion rates by 28% and accelerating data updates by 3x. Topkee’s remarketing strategy exemplifies this by leveraging TTO-attributed user behavior data to segment audiences and deliver personalized ads, increasing conversion rates by over 70%. Our TM settings also offer flexible tracking, allowing marketers to customize rules based on ad sources, media, and campaign goals, ensuring data-driven precision without violating privacy norms.
Another standout example is Redcare Pharmacy, which combined Enhanced Conversions with a Customer Data Platform (CDP) to optimize Google Ads targeting. An 11% reduction in customer acquisition costs and a 35% boost in return on ad spend (ROAS). These success stories highlight a common theme: integrating first-party data with AI-driven tools like Consent Mode and Enhanced Conversions not only ensures compliance but also drives efficiency and scalability in marketing campaigns. Topkee’s advertising report analysis provides actionable insights through periodic ROI, conversion, and budget performance reports, enabling real-time optimization of bids, keywords, and ad content. The keyword research and creative production services further ensure campaigns remain relevant and engaging, combining AI-driven content generation with competitor analysis to align with shifting consumer expectations.
V. Key Takeaways for Marketers
The experiences of Decathlon, Blackroll, Butlers, and Redcare offer actionable insights for marketers navigating the privacy-centric era. First, balancing privacy and performance is achievable with tools like Enhanced Conversions and Consent Mode, which provide accurate measurement without compromising user trust. Second, first-party data is invaluable—brands that integrate CRM, CDP, and Google’s measurement stack gain a competitive edge in targeting and personalization, enabling more effective audience segmentation and ad optimization in Google Ads.
Future-proofing marketing strategies requires agility. As regulations evolve, marketers must continuously adapt their tech stacks to stay compliant while maximizing ROI. The brands that thrive will be those that view privacy not as a limitation but as an opportunity to build deeper, more transparent customer relationships.
Topkee’s expertise aligns with these industry benchmarks through its comprehensive Google Advertising services, designed to enhance campaign efficiency and scalability. Their TTO tool enables centralized management of multiple ad accounts, facilitating precise data tracking and automated conversion synchronization—critical for optimizing attribution models. Additionally, Topkee’s TM settings offer advanced customer tracking, surpassing UTM capabilities by customizing rules for ad sources, media, and creative goals, thereby refining targeting accuracy. For businesses prioritizing data-driven remarketing, Topkee’s attribution strategies leverage TTO to segment users based on behavior, delivering personalized ads that increase conversion likelihood by over 70%.
Conclusion: Privacy as a Growth Enabler
Decathlon Switzerland’s success proves that privacy and performance aren’t mutually exclusive. By embracing Enhanced Conversions and Consent Mode, the company turned regulatory challenges into growth opportunities, achieving higher conversion rates and securing increased Google Ads budgets.
For marketers, the message is clear: privacy-friendly measurement is no longer optional—it’s essential. Brands that invest in these solutions today will be better positioned to thrive in a cookieless future. If you’re ready to explore how Enhanced Conversions can transform your campaigns, consult a Google Ads specialist to tailor a strategy for your business.
