How Soda Sense Halved their Google Ads CPA
Introduction
Soda Sense started with a simple mission: to make home carbonation healthier and kinder to the planet. They’ve found a strong following among eco-minded customers with their CO₂ Refill Club, which makes it easy to reduce waste and enjoy fresh sparkling water at home. However, as Soda Sense scaled, so did their need for precise data to drive continued growth.
Here's how Soda Sense used Littledata’s Google Ads connection to reduce Customer Acquisition Cost and optimize ad spend using Enhanced Conversions.
Challenge
As DTC brands invest more in Google Ads, many struggle with climbing Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) or Cost Per Acquistion (CPA). But many Shopify stores are unreporting their conversions to Google Ads, resulting in poor quality metrics and inefficient targeting. Client-side conversion tracking, reliant on browsers to send data, is becoming less reliable due to:
- Privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA
- The rise of ad blockers
- Ongoing iOS updates
Soda Sense was seeing significant data loss, making it difficult to track conversions accurately in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) or Google Ads. Tracking Google Ads conversions was a major blocker to scaling up Soda Sense's PPC efforts.
Key Wins
50%
drop in Cost Per Acquisition
+35%
increase in ROAS
+49%
tracked conversion value
Solution
Soda Sense implemented Littledata’s Google Ads Connection, using server-side Enhanced Conversions to send a more reliable conversion signal to Google Ads — alongside Littledata’s Google Analytics and Meta CAPI connections.
Enhanced Conversions allowed Soda Sense to send first-party customer data directly to Google’s servers, bypassing client-side tracking limitations. Unlike cookie-based tracking, Enhanced Conversions allows Shopify data (e.g. customer email, name, and address) to be matched to a Google account, ensuring accurate conversion measurement and attribution.
Benefits of Enhanced Conversions:
- Recovered Conversions: Conversions that would otherwise be missed due to client-side tracking limitations are fully captured.
- Better Attribution: Google account matching Google Ads credits the correct campaigns for conversions.
- Optimized Bidding: More complete attribuition leads to smarter bidding and higher Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
- Privacy Compliance: All customer data is collected with consent and securely hashed before transmission, keeping compliance with privacy laws.
Results
With Littledata’s server-side tracking, Soda Sense saw immediate improvements in their Google Ads performance:
- Higher ROAS + Lower CAC: Cost Per Acquisition was halved with no change to the average order value, resulting in a 35% boost to Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
- Tracking accuracy: Soda Sense achieved a 49% rise in tracked conversion value, improving campaign efficiency as their PPC efforts expanded.
- Improved Attribution: Littledata’s enriched conversion data provided Soda Sense with a more comprehensive view of the customer journey, enabling more accurate attribution and smarter marketing strategies.
Conclusion
Littledata’s server-side tracking helped Soda Sense achieve more accurate conversion tracking, halve their CPA, and improve attribution across devices and channels - all while staying compliant with privacy regulations. Soda Sense is now positioned to run more efficient Google Ads campaigns and grow with confidence.
Bonus: If you already use Littledata's Google Analytics connection, you can enable Google Ads for no additional cost in just a few easy steps right inside the Littledata app.
