Looking for growth?
Find your New North
Request an audit
Menu

Cases

Solving attribution issues for an existing server-side tagging setup

Case of Lebara

About Lebara

Lebara is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that provides mobile services in several countries. They are known for their focus on international calls and affordable plans.

We got in touch with their head of analytics via one of their Dutch digital marketing partners, Direct Business. They needed support with their current server-side tracking setup.

The Challenge

Lebara experienced issues with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Google Ads tracking implementation. They had tried to implement server-side tracking for GA4, but because this caused attribution issues they never used it in production.

The same ocurred when they tried to implement user_id for GA4. In Google ads they wanted to be able to measure transaction IDs per campaign. This had been set up in the past, but due to the transition towards the Google tag, all the values had become (not set).

Besides this, Direct Business, approached us to set up server-side tracking to track users across 8 interconnected domains they run for Lebara. The costs had to remain low and the setup had to be easy to manage for in-house marketers.

The Solution

Looking for growth? ▸ Find your New North ▸

Approach

With Lebara, we diagnosed the issue and provided documentation detailing the solution. After they approved it we got to work and implemented server-side tagging for GA4 and Google Ads. This allowed them to add the transaction_id as a custom variable in Google ads and to retain cookies for their maximum lifetime of 2 years.

For Direct Business we implemented a tagging server on Google Cloud Run. By using just one virtual server for all 8 sites, we have been able to keep monthly costs low. We kept GTM as simple as possible by using only 5 tags for GA4, Google Ads, Meta CAPI, Linkedin CAPI and Tiktok CAPI.

Custom event datalayer

Based on several meetings and an audit of the current setup, we made an overview of all relevant events to be measured. Based on that we created an extensive datalayer for each of the sites, for which we delivered a detailled implementation guide. The implementation of the data layer was taken care of by in-house developers of Direct Business itself, for which we provided additional support.

Measurement Protocol: Server-to-server

Because not all subscriptions are approved in real-time during a users’ session we assisted the client with a server-to-server event tracking setup. This removed the limitations of browser sessions. We used – and developed technical documentation for – the Measurement Protocol to send event requests straight to their sGTM container. That way, they can distrubute the incoming event hits to any marketing channel of their liking.

Server-side tracking training

Both the teams of Lebara and Direct Business wanted to understand the workings of server-side tagging with GTM and the Google Cloud Platform better. Therefore we provided the team with online server-side tracking training. Now they can take care of the implementation for other projects themselves, with only minimal involvement from us.

Results

The implementation led to an improvement of attribution of sales to the correct marketing channels. In part this is because the usage of user_id allows them to measure their users cross-device and cross-session. The server-side measurement for GA4 now allows them to retain a users cookie up to two years. Now their iOS users will not be seen as new visitors after 7 days.

Our tracking is now much better, we have more and accurate data. The entire process went satisfactorily.

David de Goede Direct Business

Support

After implementation, we continue to provide both Lebara and Direct Business with support. This way, we continue to safeguard and improve their tracking quality.

We’ve helped 50+ clients with server-side tracking