Server-side solution ensures 100% tracking of orders across all platforms

Much data is incomplete today, partly because third-party cookies are being blocked, and Apple continually makes tracking more challenging. At the same time, accurate tracking and valid data are more crucial than ever when making business-critical decisions. That's why, in collaboration with MCB's tracking team, Helm chose to set up 100% tracking with an expanded Server-Side solution.

Helm is a family-owned and operated business with 11 physical stores and the online shop, helm.nu.

The story of Helm dates back several hundred years.
We actually have to go all the way back to the 18th century. Here, Jørgen Helm had a tannery, which in 1873 was complemented by a shop selling straps and harnesses. After World War II, the range of products changed and expanded to something similar to what we experience today, offering a wide selection of bags, suitcases, and accessories for women, men, children, and teenagers.

Today, Helm collaborates with a wide range of recognized Danish and international brands, offering bags and accessories in various looks and price ranges.

Helm is particularly known for values such as credibility, friendliness, high professionalism, and good service. There's a commitment to ensuring that every customer has a positive experience. Perhaps that's why the store is repeatedly visited by countless satisfied customers - both physically and online.

With such a broad presence, it's important to have a complete overview of orders and finances - especially when critical business decisions need to be made. And that's a problem.

In a world where collecting data becomes increasingly difficult due to greater data protection, a lot of data is incomplete. Once, you could rely on the data collected in Google Analytics, but GDPR rules, ad-blockers, browsers that don't store cookies, etc., mean that far from all conversions are tracked.

Therefore, Helm chose to set up 100% tracking with an expanded Server-Side solution developed by MCB's tracking team.

MCB's tracking setup ensures the possibility to make business-critical decisions based on a data-driven foundation

Like so many others (in fact, the vast majority), Helm experienced incomplete data, making it difficult to gain the necessary overview of, among other things, orders and finances.

This is primarily due to the gradual complexity of the tracking landscape.

It has occurred due to various reasons such as third-party cookies, which are used to a very limited extent (and soon not at all anymore), different ad-blockers, and restrictions related to privacy and GDPR. Moreover, several purchases occur outside of a webshop, for instance, via mobile payment methods like MobilePay, which closes before landing on the receipt page after a payment has been processed.

Additionally, Apple has become a barrier, introducing Intelligent Tracking Prevention on Safari browsers, causing challenges.

All of this creates problems and contradictions precisely when data is more crucial than ever before. This is relevant, for instance, when making critical business decisions and when optimally allocating the marketing budget. It's essential that various marketing algorithms are provided with the best conditions when aiming to streamline digital marketing.

Therefore, tracking today should be a focal point for anyone serious about their online business. At MCB, we also experience a higher demand for improving various tracking measures. Thus, tracking is an important area for us, which is why we have allocated dedicated resources to excel in this field.

As one out of five global top partners at Stape (the leading system for hosting and managing server-side tracking) and with the opportunity to collaborate on product development with Stape, Helm chose to utilize our solution to achieve 100% tracking.

This means that Helm has set up Server-Side tracking in the traditional sense. They bypass ad-blockers, extend the lifespans of their marketing cookies, model data for those who say 'no' to cookies, and actively use first-party data while experiencing a faster and optimized webshop.

However, there was more potential for even better data! Because with the traditional Server-Side tracking, 15-35% of all conversions are often still missing today.

MCB has developed an 'extension' to the classic Server-Side setup, ensuring that 100% of all purchases are recorded across platforms - including Google Analytics 4, Google Ads, Facebook, and other tools.

This works by directly fetching orders from Helm's CMS, Cloud, and supplementing them with orders not registered via the traditional Server-Side tracking. The supplementary orders are enriched with data (e.g., cookies). In this manner, the Server-Side tracking setup and Cloud communicate and send all purchases (with all relevant data) to the digital channels.

There is now alignment in the data, and marketing actions can be measured in accurate reports

For many, it's problematic that figures in the CMS and Google Analytics 4 don't align. This means it's nearly impossible to determine the valid measurement points for digital strategies.

Fortunately, this is something that the extension to traditional Server-Side tracking has addressed.

Digging into Helm's numbers, we can conclude that there's complete alignment between data in the Cloud and GA4. This applies to both the number of orders processed through the webshop after the tracking setup and the revenue they've generated.

This means more accurate figures are experienced, contributing to a positive development. Specifically, there's been a record of a whopping 15% more conversions that GA4 itself couldn't trace. Consequently, there's also a 17% increase in revenue.

Moreover, Google Ads have seen a significant uplift. There's been a 19% increase in conversions and a staggering 29% rise in revenue. This has significant implications for the efficiency of algorithms and consequently the overall yield from the advertising set up on Google.

Today, Helm finds itself in a significantly better place in terms of data.

They have comprehensive and accurate reports in GA4, allowing them to make more informed decisions. And their digital marketing channels now receive all attributed purchases. Consequently, the effectiveness of these channels has been significantly enhanced - especially Google Ads and Facebook, which are highly algorithm-driven.

Nicolai Hesselholdt

Tracking & Google Ads Specialist

nhe@mcb.dk

Server-side solution ensures 100% tracking of orders across all platforms

MCB's tracking setup ensures the possibility to make business-critical decisions based on a data-driven foundation

There is now alignment in the data, and marketing actions can be measured in accurate reports

We collect happy partners