The current privacy landscape generally requires consent from the user to store and access information on a device, like when cookies are used. Consent can also be needed when processing personal data. The precise legislation that applies varies depending on the residency of the online visitor, and examples of such are GDPR/E-privacy and CCPA. Depending on the technical capabilities of the web page the user is visiting, the consent management relied upon can be implemented in different ways.

For more or less all publishers serving ads, a Consent Management Platform (CMP) with support for the Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) is implemented which makes sharing consent signals from a user possible. When it comes to advertisers and their own webpages where the actual conversion is counted, the scene is more diverse and such CMP’s aren’t always implemented. If that is the case, Bannerflow can't help that much.

In other words, if support for the TCF framework is not implemented on the site where the ad is initially served, Bannerflow cannot collect consent from the user and therefore cannot store our conversion cookie in the browser, meaning even if/when the user converts this won't be counted since there is no conversion cookie to begin with.

Counting conversions

There are three steps when counting conversions:

1. The advertiser needs to create a conversion pixel and implement it in a way that makes it possible to count the conversions needed.

2. An ad has to be served, and, if a user gives their consent, a conversion cookie is stored in the user's browser.

3. The user visits the advertisers web page and converts. The conversion script mentioned earlier will then send a conversion event including information from the cookie and the conversion data from the advertisers web page.

Consent management

Now moving on to the consent management, focusing on the last bullet above, when the conversion is counted at the advertisers web page. There are two possible ways to handle the consent:

Either the advertiser's web page has a CMP that supports the TCF in which case Bannerflow can read the user’s consent.
Or, the advertiser's web page DOESN'T have a CMP that supports the TCF, in which case Bannerflow can't read the user’s consent.

So, let’s go through these two cases.

Case 1: Advertiser's web page has a CMP that supports the TCF

1. When the advertiser creates the pixel, select the first option starting with "I have a Consent Management platform...".

2. This means that when a user visits and converts on your web page:

A popup from the CMP will let the user declare for what purposes cookies are used, why personal data might be processed, and under which legal ground. The user can also specify which vendors that they approve of.
This information is then made available for all registered vendors within the TCF.
Bannerflow will read this information before accessing the conversion cookie used to map a click or impression with a conversion.
Bannerflow respects the user's consent signal, e.g. if we don't have consent to store and/or access data on device we won't read the conversion cookie and the conversion won't be counted.

Case 2: Advertiser's web page DOESN'T have a CMP that supports the TCF

1. When advertiser creates the pixel, select the second option starting with "I collect consent when needed..."

2. This mean that when the user visits and converts on your web page:

You need to ensure that user consent to store and access data on the device.
If such consent is given, the advertiser can execute the Bannerflow's conversion pixel that will combine non-personal data from the conversion cookie and map a click or impression with a conversion.
Since there is no way for Bannerflow to read the consent information, the advertiser needs to make sure that the Bannerflow conversion script isn't executed until the user has given consent.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions!