• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 9, 2023

The North Face made changes based on consumer behavior and the way people searched on its website after using Google Tag Manager to measure and act on its first-party data. This led to an increase in revenue, product changes and strategic marketing decisions. 

The global brand frequently looks at how consumers search for items on its website, but also found it important to understand what consumers look for in each market and optimize the experience to those preferences.

“We’re measuring all the little pieces of information that someone would be interacting with on our website,” said Ben Dvorsky, senior product manager, omnichannel consumer journey at North Face. “Our gear is a part of someone’s journey as they are exploring.”

The North Face tagged its website with Google Tag Manager 360 and measured it with Analytics 360. This gave the company a way to tell what people queried, such as the length of a coat, or length of the sleeves on a shirt, because tagging helps marketers successfully measure and understand how websites and campaigns performs. It measures conversions and enables the collection of first-party data.

The vernacular of what people search for is important -- and it changes year to year. People used to type in the search engine they wanted a winter coat, according to North Face. Then it switched to winter parka, and then winter puffer. Then a few years ago, out of nowhere, people started searching for midi parkas.

The midi parka became a new search term for something North Face already sold. But the company wouldn’t have known unless it analyzed the search words on the site using Google’s Tag Manager and Analytics 360.

This information led North Face to add “length” to filter options. Then it renamed one of its products to “midi parka,” because that’s what consumers searched for on the site. The change drove a 3X increase in conversions and revenue because people could find the products.

By tagging everything on their site, down to the product and page level, North Face marketers made better strategic decisions. The company says it became 32% more efficient in its cost per clicks.

Instead of guessing on forecasts of next season’s sales, marketers used data. Google Tag Manager gave North Face marketers the confidence to make strategic changes.