Google Case Studies Airbnb improves vendor data collection to 90%, reduces tag deployment time using Google Tag Manager

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	Airbnb improves vendor data collection to 90%, reduces tag deployment time using Google Tag Manager Google

Airbnb improves vendor data collection to 90%, reduces tag deployment time using Google Tag Manager

Google

Technology Category	Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
Services	System Integration
Challenge	Airbnb, a global marketplace for accommodation listings, was facing a challenge in managing its complex tagging system. The company uses a large number of website tags, including a unique tag for each of their multiple AdWords accounts and additional tags for an array of vendors measuring different types of conversions. To accommodate the needs of various vendors, many tags had to be replicated several times. At one point, Airbnb was running 88 different audience lists and 100 different tags. The company needed a tag management system to prevent a bottleneck between the operations and marketing teams. The first solution the company tried was not successful — it required significant technical knowledge to implement tags, needed add-on tools for QA and reporting, and was too expensive. Read More
About Customer	Airbnb is a community marketplace founded in 2008 for people to list, discover, and book accommodations around the world, online or from a mobile phone. The company aims to connect people to unique travel experiences in more than 33,000 cities and 192 countries around the world. Airbnb is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company is structured with a centralized product team that collaborates on marketing projects. The company uses a large number of website tags, including a unique tag for each of their multiple AdWords accounts and additional tags for an array of vendors measuring different types of conversions. Read More
Solution	Airbnb decided to shift its tagging to Google Tag Manager. The decision was influenced by several factors. Airbnb already used several Google tools, so the team felt Google Tag Manager’s tag templates would enable a smooth integration. Also, Google Tag Manager’ extensive QA and reporting features would make it easier to locally test and deploy tags. Finally, because Google Tag Manager is a free solution, it offered a tangible benefit to the company’s bottom line. Airbnb also built a data layer to enable the company to pass custom parameters for remarketing purposes. The implementation of Google Tag Manager made it much easier and quicker for engineers to meet the needs of the marketing and operations team. The marketing team can create tags from vendors on the fly and send these to the engineering team to be rapidly implemented, usually within two hours. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management

Services

System Integration

Challenge

Airbnb, a global marketplace for accommodation listings, was facing a challenge in managing its complex tagging system. The company uses a large number of website tags, including a unique tag for each of their multiple AdWords accounts and additional tags for an array of vendors measuring different types of conversions. To accommodate the needs of various vendors, many tags had to be replicated several times. At one point, Airbnb was running 88 different audience lists and 100 different tags. The company needed a tag management system to prevent a bottleneck between the operations and marketing teams. The first solution the company tried was not successful — it required significant technical knowledge to implement tags, needed add-on tools for QA and reporting, and was too expensive.

About Customer

Airbnb is a community marketplace founded in 2008 for people to list, discover, and book accommodations around the world, online or from a mobile phone. The company aims to connect people to unique travel experiences in more than 33,000 cities and 192 countries around the world. Airbnb is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company is structured with a centralized product team that collaborates on marketing projects. The company uses a large number of website tags, including a unique tag for each of their multiple AdWords accounts and additional tags for an array of vendors measuring different types of conversions.

Solution

Airbnb decided to shift its tagging to Google Tag Manager. The decision was influenced by several factors. Airbnb already used several Google tools, so the team felt Google Tag Manager’s tag templates would enable a smooth integration. Also, Google Tag Manager’ extensive QA and reporting features would make it easier to locally test and deploy tags. Finally, because Google Tag Manager is a free solution, it offered a tangible benefit to the company’s bottom line. Airbnb also built a data layer to enable the company to pass custom parameters for remarketing purposes. The implementation of Google Tag Manager made it much easier and quicker for engineers to meet the needs of the marketing and operations team. The marketing team can create tags from vendors on the fly and send these to the engineering team to be rapidly implemented, usually within two hours.

Impact #1	Cut tag deployment from days to hours
Impact #2	Increased site speed by 8%
Impact #3	Faster launches of new programs, tools, and vendors

Impact #1

Cut tag deployment from days to hours

Impact #2

Increased site speed by 8%

Impact #3

Faster launches of new programs, tools, and vendors

Benefit #1	Tag deployment time reduced from an average of 2-3 days to just a few hours
Benefit #2	Website performance improved by 8% in terms of page load time
Benefit #3	Vendor data collection improved to 90% of conversions

Benefit #1

Tag deployment time reduced from an average of 2-3 days to just a few hours

Benefit #2

Website performance improved by 8% in terms of page load time

Benefit #3

Vendor data collection improved to 90% of conversions

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Overview

Airbnb improves vendor data collection to 90%, reduces tag deployment time using Google Tag Manager

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit