Understand the real impact of ITP on your Google Ads performance and reporting

In a guest post by Mitra Muehlman, challenges and solutions surrounding accurate revenue attribution in the context of Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) are discussed, particularly its impact on e-commerce businesses and their reliance on web analytics like Google Analytics. The introduction of ITP with iOS 13 and Safari 13 in 2019 significantly shortened cookie lifespan, complicating the ability to track customer journeys and attribute revenue accurately, especially affecting Safari users who often generate higher per capita spending. The post highlights a real-world case where an e-commerce client switched from Google Analytics to a custom solution combining ITP-compliant, first-party cookies and Snowplow analytics, resulting in more accurate attribution and a record-breaking sales season due to better-informed ad spending decisions. The analysis illustrates that Google Analytics began underreporting attributable revenue post-ITP implementation, leading to a misinformed marketing strategy unless complemented by a robust, integrated data solution.