Cookie consent

In the EU and the UK, a site may not store anything on a visitor's device, or share their visit with an ad network, until they agree. Consent mode makes the UTMCAP tag wait for that "yes".

You turn it on per site, so a store selling into Europe can wait while a lead page for US visitors carries on as before.

This page explains what the tag does. It is not legal advice. Whether you need consent, and for whom, is a question for your own lawyer.

#Turn it on

1. Open the site in Tag Manager and press Edit.
2. Under Cookie consent, tick Wait for the visitor to accept cookies.
3. Choose what happens before they accept (see below), and save.

It takes effect within a minute. You do not need to publish.

#Connect your cookie banner

Your banner tells the tag what the visitor chose. Call this when they accept:

utmcap.consent(true);

And this when they refuse, or take back a yes they gave earlier:

utmcap.consent(false);

If your banner runs before the UTMCAP tag has loaded, set this instead, before the tag:

window.utmcap_consent = true; // or false

A "no" is honoured on every site, even one without consent mode.

#Before the visitor accepts

You choose one of two things.

#Record visits and goals, without cookies

The default.

• Nothing is stored on the device: no cookie, no local storage.
• Visits, page views and goals, including WhatsApp and call taps and store events, are still recorded in your UTMCAP reports, with a shortened IP.
• No ad pixel loads: no Meta, TikTok, Google or image pixel.
• No conversion for that click is sent to an ad network through the Conversions API or any other upload. It shows as skipped: no consent.

There is one limit. Without a cookie, a second page cannot tell which ad the visitor came from unless the click ID is in its address. Goals on that page are still recorded, but without a campaign.

Carry the click ID to my other pages fixes most of this. The tag adds ?cid= to links to your own pages, so the next page still knows the click. The ID then shows in the address bar, and a link the visitor copies and shares carries it too. It stops once they accept, because the cookie does that job from then on.

#Record nothing

The tag does nothing until the visitor accepts. No visit, no page view and no goal is recorded. When they accept, the page they are on is recorded then.

#When the visitor accepts

Everything works as it does on a site without consent mode:

• the cookie is saved, so later pages and return visits are linked to the ad;
• the pixels load, and page-view pixels fire straight away;
• conversions are sent to the ad networks you connected.

A conversion that arrives later, such as a postback from a network the next day, is sent or skipped on what the visitor said last.

#When the visitor changes their mind

utmcap.consent(false) after a yes deletes the tag's cookie, stops the pixels, and stops conversions for that click being sent from then on.

#What consent mode does not change

• Clicks on your UTMCAP links are recorded on our servers when they happen, before the visitor reaches your page and before any banner appears.
• Postbacks from networks are recorded as usual. Only sending them on to an ad network depends on what the visitor said.
• Conversions your own server signs are recorded as usual.