Consently — Help & Guide

Add a theme-matched cookie-consent banner to your Shopify store — GDPR & CCPA and Google Consent Mode v2, no code needed. Full compliance is free.

What Consently does

Consently shows visitors a clear cookie-consent banner with Accept, Reject, and granular Preferences. Until a visitor consents, tracking stays blocked: Consently sets Google Consent Mode v2 to “denied” by default and uses Shopify’s Customer Privacy API, so analytics and marketing tags only run after the visitor agrees. It honors Global Privacy Control, records each choice (anonymized — no personal data), and matches your theme out of the box.

Getting started

  1. Install Consently from the Shopify App Store and open it from Apps in your Shopify admin.
  2. Turn the banner on. From the app’s Home page, click Enable the banner — this opens your theme editor to App embeds. Toggle Consently on and click Save.
  3. Match your brand. In the app’s Banner settings, pick the layout, accent color, and wording (see below).
  4. Test it. Open your storefront in a private/incognito window with fresh cookies — the banner should appear. Accept, Reject, and Preferences should all work and persist on reload.
The banner is delivered as a Shopify theme app embed, so there’s no code to paste and nothing to maintain in your theme. Turning the embed off removes the banner instantly.

Choosing what the banner looks like

Open Banner in the app. Settings are grouped so you can make it yours in a minute — leave a color blank to inherit your theme default.

Consent categories

Consently groups cookies into standard categories — Analytics, Marketing, and Preferences — plus always-on Necessary cookies. Clicking Preferences opens a clear pop-up where each category has an on/off toggle and expands to a plain-language description of what it does, so visitors can accept or reject each one individually. You choose which categories to offer in the app’s Banner settings.

Blocking trackers before consent

Consently doesn’t just show a banner — it holds trackers back until the visitor agrees:

One honest limit: a tracker hardcoded high in your theme’s <head> can execute before any app (including Consently) loads — no client-side consent app can catch that one. For those, use the data-consently tag above, or route the tracker through Shopify’s Customer Events. Everything loaded normally on the page is covered.

Cookie Scanner

The Scanner page lists the third-party trackers Consently has detected loading on your storefront, grouped by category. It’s built from real visits — open your storefront (browse a product, view the cart), then refresh the Scanner page to see what was found. Use it to confirm what’s running and to spot anything you want to add to your block list.

Regions & when the banner shows

You can show the banner to everyone, or only to visitors in regions that require consent (EU/EEA/UK for GDPR, California for CCPA). Consently detects the visitor’s region and, in Reject-by-default (GDPR) regions, keeps tracking off until they consent. In notice-style (CCPA) regions it can show an opt-out instead. Set your mode in the app.

Google Consent Mode v2

Consently sets Consent Mode defaults to denied before your tags load, then updates them to granted the moment a visitor accepts. This means Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads respect the visitor’s choice automatically — no extra tag setup needed for Google-managed tags.

Global Privacy Control (GPC)

If a visitor’s browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, Consently treats it as a request to opt out of sale/sharing and reflects that in the consent state automatically — helping you meet CCPA/CPRA expectations without the visitor doing anything.

Analytics

The app’s Analytics page shows monthly banner views, accepts, and rejects, so you can see your consent rate at a glance. Records are anonymized — Consently logs the choice and region, never personal information.

Multi-language banner (Pro)

On Pro, turn on Auto multi-language (Banner settings → Languages) and Consently automatically translates the standard banner text — buttons, category names, and the default title/message — into the visitor’s browser language across 10 languages (German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, Swedish, Danish, Finnish). Any custom text you write is shown to English visitors.

Download your consent log (Pro)

On the Analytics page, Pro users can Download consent log (Excel) — a formatted spreadsheet of the full anonymized proof-of-consent record (timestamp, region, action, the per-category choices, and a consent-notice version — no personal data) that auditors and data-protection authorities may ask for.

Plans & usage

Compliance is never paywalled — the whole consent experience works on Free. Pro adds auto multi-language and the consent-log Excel export, and removes the small credit link. Upgrading is one click through Shopify’s secure billing, and you can cancel anytime from the Plans page.

Frequently asked questions

Does Consently make my store GDPR and CCPA compliant?

It provides the core technical requirements: a compliant consent banner, per-category choices, recorded consent, and consent signaling to Google Consent Mode v2 and Shopify’s Customer Privacy API so tracking only runs after consent. You’re still responsible for your own privacy policy and for how you configure it, but Consently handles the consent mechanics.

Do I need to edit my theme code?

No. The banner is a Shopify theme app embed — flip it on and it works, with no code to paste and nothing to maintain. Turning the embed off removes it instantly.

Will it block my own analytics and pixels?

Yes. Google and Shopify-managed pixels are gated through Consent Mode v2 and the Customer Privacy API, and Consently auto-blocks common third-party trackers (Meta, Klaviyo, TikTok, Hotjar, and more) until consent. Any hardcoded tracker can be held by tagging its script type="text/plain" data-consently="marketing". Everything fires once the visitor accepts the matching category. (See “Blocking trackers before consent” above for the one head-of-page limit.)

Can visitors change their choice later?

Yes. Consently shows a small “Cookie settings” reopen control so visitors can revisit the banner and update their preferences at any time.

Is any personal data stored?

No. Consent records are anonymized — the choice and region are logged, not personal information.

Need more help?

Email support@dropfeed.io — we typically reply within 1–2 business days.

← Back to Dropfeed