Achieving GDPR compliance, implementing a secure consent management platform, and transforming data into actionable insights

About The Project

cog

Industry

Charity

consumer-market

Service

Data Visualisation
Digital Analytics

Technology 

Technology

Data Studio
Piwik Pro
GA4
BigQuery

About the Client

Drinkaware proudly wears the badge of the UK's leading alcohol charity with the mission of reducing alcohol harm within the UK. This is made possible through the education they offer through campaigns and digital services providing information and guidance to the public. Their services also expand to government and industries as they work to provide advice with evidence collected through their independent research and evaluation.

Business Challenge

As organisations like Drinkaware made the shift from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), they were faced with the challenge of losing the continuity of data when transitioning from UA to GA4. Strategic decisions could not be made based on historical data, which required insights from before the migration to GA4 occurred.

Beyond saving raw data from a legacy analytics platform, Drinkaware were also looking to increase their adherence to privacy regulations through their cookie compliance and consent. The alcohol charity wanted to build upon the trust of their users with transparency on the way they handle data while having the means to utilise their historical data to make effective and informed decisions moving forward.

Project Highlights

Cookie Control
Consent Management Platform
Data Studio Dashboard
Data Continuity
SA Tracking
Results

Cookie Control

For a full audit and cookie GDPR compliance to be attained for Drinkaware, we had first to validate the existing cookies on their website. The next step was categorising them into necessary, preference, statistics and marketing cookies and identifying where their cookies were being fired. 

Once this initial stage was completed, we began migrating all cookies into a new consent management platform and implementing a cookie banner for Drinkaware.

Consent Management Platform (CMP) Implementation

Implementing a new consent management platform for Drinkaware was essential given their charity status and their data-sensitive sector. Piwik Pro is a platform for organisations with sensitive data due to its compliance with the highest security sectoral standards and regulations. 

As a fully integrated tag manager and consent manager, Piwik Pro allows Drinkaware to have a central place to access and manage their marketing stack compliance and ensure privacy compliance for their users. The anonymous tracking feature also means that Drinkaware has access to session statistics for all visitors and visitor data when consent is given. 

Drinkaware can track and use cookies, such as preventing Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks and generating statistical data on how a visitor uses the website. 

Implementing a new platform will likely have a few challenges along the way. Drinkaware entrusted us with supporting them with the initial implementation of Piwik Pro and extending our support services as they continued to become familiar with the new platform and began to harness its data and consent capabilities.

Data Studio Dashboard

Following the successful implementation of the new consent management platform, Drinkaware wanted to view its data in a way that would maximise its potential in furthering its organisation's objectives. 

Utilising our data visualisation services, Drinkaware tasked us with making this possible. We concluded that a Data Studio Dashboard would be the best solution based on Drinkaware's requirements. 

Drinkaware required a page for each of its products. This included their website, digital tools, app and all top-level landing pages. The landing pages consisted of their homepage, tools landing page, facts landing page and advice landing page. In around four weeks, we delivered these assets for Drinkaware, enabling them to access interactive dashboards and empowering them to understand their data quickly and turn it into actionable profits. 

We updated Drinkaware's dashboards in the coming months to reflect their latest events, including the addition of the following metrics to the dashboards:

Search vs Chatbot:

  • In this instance, we had already added how many conversations are initiated in the dashboard, so we just needed to add the searches

Social share numbers:

  • Email social share numbers
  • Total social share numbers

Page feedback:

  • How many star ratings does Drinkaware get 
  • The top 3 best and worst pages 

Average star rating:

  • Their dashboard already included a list of all pages and their score, but Drinkaware wanted to have an average percentage across all pages

For their app:

  • Goals completed (DFD goals)

By updating their dashboards, we created an even more detailed picture for Drinkaware,  elevating their ability to use their data to make informed decisions based on what they can visualise in their dashboard.

Data Continuity & Strategic Decision-Making

In facilitating the transition to GA4, our analytics team implemented strategic measures to ensure data continuity for Drinkaware. Recognising the potential loss of data associated with the 'sunset' of Universal Analytics (UA), a strong backup solution was required. 

The utilisation of BigQuery, a high-performance database, established a secure repository for Drinkaware's Universal Analytics data. This integration with BigQuery not only provides a safeguarded archive but also lays the groundwork for streamlined reporting, guaranteeing that historical data remains both accessible and actionable for the purpose of strategic decision-making.

The BigQuery GA4 backup, implemented by our analytics team, now stands as a powerful bank of raw, granular data. Drinkaware can now uncover emerging trends and quantitatively measure the impact of their campaigns. Drinkaware’s analytical ability has improved drastically, with the tools to navigate a successful future of data-driven decision-making.

Custom Tool Tracking

One area of Drinkaware’s site that they wanted to improve metric visibility of was their self-assessment tool. Our analytics team started by identifying pages which needed virtual page views and established naming conventions. This process ensured a smooth update without altering the data layer. 

Once this was established and agreed, it was then implemented via Google Tag Manager (GTM), offering a flexible approach without requiring intricate data layer changes. The analytics reporting of the self-assessment tool was the tested rigorously using the GTM debug on a page-by-page basis which ensured accuracy and allowed for any adjustments proipr to deployment.

Once validated and approved, the tracking solution was integrated into GA4 and set live.

“Everyone at Drinkaware are so happy with the impact we’ve seen from working with CTI Digital marketing; you have added so much value to our business.

The way that the team has managed to turn around the Google Ads Grant account. This is exactly what we wanted from a strategic partner; everyone in the team at CTI Digital is really approachable and able to add value to Drinkaware.”

Sarah Dyer-Hall, Director of Digital, Data and Tech, Drinkaware

Results

Throughout our work with Drinkaware, we have successfully ensured full audit and cookie GDPR compliance, introducing a robust consent management platform alongside data studio dashboards. Beyond implementation, our continued support throughout the process has fully empowered Drinkaware to leverage its new data tools. This empowerment extends to centralised data management and visualisation, maintaining security and privacy compliance. As a result, Drinkaware now seamlessly drives its organisation forward, gaining quick access to actionable data and accelerating informed decision-making.