Enhanced Conversions Setup

Enhanced Conversions improve Google Ads conversion measurement by sending hashed first-party data alongside conversion events. This enables Google to match conversions that would otherwise be missed due to cookie deletion, cross-device behavior, or ad blockers. In well-implemented accounts, you can recover 15–30% of previously unmeasured conversions.

This recipe is a complete end-to-end setup guide. For context on how Enhanced Conversions works technically, see Enhanced Conversions.

Before you start

You need:

• Google Ads account with at least one active conversion action
• GTM installed on your conversion page (thank-you page, checkout confirmation, etc.)
• Access to the page where conversion data is rendered (to add the dataLayer push)
• The user’s email address (minimum), phone number, or name and address

Step 1 — Enable Enhanced Conversions in Google Ads

1. Go to Google Ads → Tools & Settings → Measurement → Conversions
2. Click on your primary conversion action (e.g., “Purchase”, “Lead Form Submit”)
3. Click Edit settings
4. Expand Enhanced conversions
5. Toggle Turn on enhanced conversions to ON
6. Select GTM as the implementation method
7. Save

Note your Conversion ID (format: 123456789) and Conversion Label (format: AbCdEFghIJklMNop) — you will need these in GTM.

Step 2 — Push user-provided data to the dataLayer

On your conversion page, push the customer’s data that they provided during checkout or form submission:

dataLayer.push() conversion

Push on the thank-you page. Include all available user-provided fields — more data = better match rate.

<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];

  // Clear ecommerce if this is a purchase
  window.dataLayer.push({ ecommerce: null });

  window.dataLayer.push({
    event: 'conversion',
    // Standard conversion data
    transaction_id: '{{ order.id }}',
    value: {{ order.total }},
    currency: '{{ order.currency }}',

    // User-provided data for Enhanced Conversions
    // Pass raw (unhashed) values — GTM hashes them
    enhanced_conversions: {
      email: '{{ order.customer_email }}',
      phone_number: '{{ order.phone }}',  // E.164 format: +12125551234
      first_name: '{{ order.billing_first_name }}',
      last_name: '{{ order.billing_last_name }}',
      street: '{{ order.billing_address }}',
      city: '{{ order.billing_city }}',
      region: '{{ order.billing_state }}',
      postal_code: '{{ order.billing_zip }}',
      country: '{{ order.billing_country }}'
    }
  });
</script>

Only include fields that were actually provided by the user. Do not pass empty strings or placeholder values — they reduce match quality.

Step 3 — Create the User-Provided Data variable in GTM

1. In GTM → Variables → New

2. Variable type: User-Provided Data

3. Provide the following fields:

   Email (required as minimum):

   • Select variable: create a new Data Layer Variable
   • DLV name: enhanced_conversions.email
   • Name: DLV - EC email

   Phone number:

   • Select variable: DLV - EC phone → enhanced_conversions.phone_number

   Name:

   • First name: DLV - EC first_name → enhanced_conversions.first_name
   • Last name: DLV - EC last_name → enhanced_conversions.last_name

   Address:

   • Street: DLV - EC street → enhanced_conversions.street
   • City: DLV - EC city → enhanced_conversions.city
   • Region: DLV - EC region → enhanced_conversions.region
   • Postal code: DLV - EC postal_code → enhanced_conversions.postal_code
   • Country: DLV - EC country → enhanced_conversions.country

4. Name the variable: User-Provided Data - Enhanced Conversions

5. Save

Step 4 — Create the Google Ads Conversion tag

1. In GTM → Tags → New

2. Tag type: Google Ads Conversion Tracking

3. Configure:

   • Conversion ID: your Google Ads Conversion ID
   • Conversion Label: your conversion label
   • Conversion Value: {{DLV - value}}
   • Currency Code: {{DLV - currency}}
   • Order ID: {{DLV - transaction_id}}
   • Enhanced Conversions: toggle ON
   • User-Provided Data: select User-Provided Data - Enhanced Conversions

4. Create a Custom Event Trigger:

   • Trigger type: Custom Event
   • Event name: conversion

5. Set trigger to the Custom Event trigger

6. Name tag: Google Ads - Conversion Tracking (EC)

7. Save and publish

Tag Configuration

Google Ads - Conversion Tracking (EC)

Type

Google Ads Conversion Tracking

Trigger

Custom Event - conversion

Variables

User-Provided Data - Enhanced ConversionsDLV - valueDLV - transaction_id

Step 5 — Verify with Tag Assistant

1. Install the Google Tag Assistant Chrome extension

2. Visit your thank-you page in Tag Assistant’s test mode

3. Check that the Google Ads Conversion Tracking tag fires

4. Click on the tag to expand its details

5. Look for the Enhanced Conversions section — it should show:

   • A green checkmark if user data was received and hashed
   • The hash values (you will see SHA-256 strings, not the original data)
   • Match indicators for each field

6. In Google Ads → Conversions → [your conversion] → Diagnostics, look for “Enhanced conversions detected” within 24-48 hours

Step 6 — Monitor performance

After 7-14 days:

1. Go to Google Ads → Conversions
2. Check the Enhanced conversions column — this shows how many conversions used enhanced data for matching
3. Compare the total conversion column before and after implementing EC — you should see an increase

Phone number formatting

Google requires E.164 format for phone numbers. Your checkout form likely collects numbers in other formats. Normalise before pushing:

function normalizePhone(phone, countryCode) {
  // Remove all non-digit characters
  var digits = phone.replace(/\D/g, '');
  // Add country code if not present
  if (countryCode === 'US' && digits.length === 10) {
    return '+1' + digits;
  }
  if (!digits.startsWith('+')) {
    return '+' + digits;
  }
  return '+' + digits;
}

// In your template:
enhanced_conversions.phone_number = normalizePhone('{{ order.phone }}', '{{ order.billing_country }}');

Test it

1. Complete a test checkout or form submission on your site
2. On the thank-you page, open GTM Preview
3. Verify the conversion event fires in the Summary pane
4. Check the Google Ads tag is in Tags Fired
5. Expand the tag details — the Enhanced Conversions section should show hashed data
6. In Google Ads, wait 24-48 hours and check Diagnostics

Common gotchas

Email is blank. If the user object does not have an email address at the time the page renders, enhanced_conversions.email will be an empty string or undefined. Google requires at least one valid data field for the match to work. Guard the push with a check: if (!orderEmail) { delete enhancedConversions.email; }.

Phone is not in E.164 format. Common issue: forms collect (212) 555-1234 but the push sends 2125551234 without the country code. Match rates drop significantly with malformed phone numbers.

Enhanced Conversions is marked as “inactive” in Google Ads. This usually means the tag has not fired recently, or the implementation was detected but the data format is incorrect. Use Tag Assistant to verify the hash data is being sent.

Enhanced Conversions Technical background on how Enhanced Conversions works.

Offline Conversion Import For conversions that happen after the ad click.