Consent categories are the foundation of your cookie banner.

Instead of asking visitors to approve every individual cookie separately, the app groups cookies into clear categories such as Analytics, Marketing, and Functional. Visitors can then decide which types of tracking and cookies they are comfortable allowing on your storefront.

When a visitor makes a choice, the app translates that decision into consent signals used by Shopify and supported third-party integrations.

This guide explains how consent categories work, where they are configured, and how they affect the storefront experience.

✅ Before You Begin

Before reviewing consent categories:

• Make sure the GDPR EU Cookie Banner app is installed.
• Ensure the App Embed is enabled.
• Create or open an existing Cookie Banner setup.
• Familiarize yourself with:
• • Content settings
  • Behavior settings
  • Cookie Scanner & Manager

📦 What Are Consent Categories?

Consent categories are groups of cookies that serve a similar purpose.

Every cookie managed by the app belongs to one of these categories.

Built-In Categories

Visitors can manage these categories through the Preferences Popup.

The selections they make determine which cookies, scripts, and integrations are allowed to run.

🔒 Strictly Required

What It Does

Supports essential store functionality such as:

• Authentication
• Security
• Checkout functionality
• Session management

Default State

✅ Always enabled

Visitor Control

❌ Cannot be disabled

Why It Matters

Without these cookies, core store functionality may stop working correctly.

Because these cookies are necessary for the operation of the website, they typically do not require consent under most privacy frameworks.

📊 Analytics

What It Does

Measures how visitors interact with your storefront.

Examples include:

• Page views
• Traffic sources
• Session tracking
• Store performance metrics

Common Integrations

• Google Analytics
• Shopify Analytics
• Visitor behavior tracking tools

Default State

❌ Disabled until consent is granted

Why It Matters

Analytics helps merchants understand how customers interact with their store while respecting visitor privacy choices.

🎯 Marketing

What It Does

Controls advertising, retargeting, and marketing-related tracking.

Examples include:

• Advertising audiences
• Retargeting campaigns
• Conversion tracking
• Personalized advertising

Common Integrations

• Meta Pixel
• TikTok Pixel
• Google Ads
• Pinterest Tag

Default State

❌ Disabled until consent is granted

Why It Matters

Marketing consent determines whether advertising platforms can collect visitor data and build audience profiles.

⚙️ Functional

What It Does

Enables optional functionality and stores visitor preferences.

Examples include:

• Language preferences
• Currency preferences
• Theme preferences
• Chat widgets
• Personalization features

Default State

❌ Disabled until consent is granted

Why It Matters

These cookies improve the visitor experience but are not required for the store to function.

💡 When Functional consent is granted, the app also synchronizes Shopify's Preferences consent state automatically.

🛠️ Where Categories Are Configured

Categories are managed in two primary areas of the app.

📄 Location 1 — Preferences Popup Content

This area controls the text visitors see for each category.

Navigate to:

GDPR EU Cookie Banner → Banner Settings → Content → Preferences Popup

For each category you can customize:

• Category Title
• Category Description

Example

Analytics

These cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our website.

The customized text appears directly within the Preferences Popup on the storefront.

🍪 Location 2 — Cookie Scanner & Manager

This area controls which cookies belong to which category.

Navigate to:

GDPR EU Cookie Banner → Cookie Scanner & Manager

Each cookie contains:

• Cookie Name
• Description
• Duration
• Provider
• Category Assignment

Expected Result

Every cookie should belong to the category that best represents its purpose.

💡 Cookies discovered through scanning are automatically categorized whenever possible, but assignments can always be reviewed manually.

🖥️ How Categories Appear on the Storefront

Visitors can manage category preferences through the Preferences Banner Type.

Enable the Preferences Banner

Navigate to:

Banner Settings → Behavior → Banner Type

Select:

Preferences

Expected Result

A Preferences option becomes available to visitors.

When selected, a popup appears allowing category-level consent management.

Preferences Popup Layout

Visitors see one row for each category.

Example

☑ Strictly Required

☐ Analytics

☐ Marketing

☐ Functional

Each category displays:

• Category Title
• Category Description
• Consent Toggle

The displayed text comes from your Content settings or active translations.

🔄 How Consent Choices Affect Tracking

When visitors save their preferences, the app applies those decisions across Shopify and supported integrations.

Shopify Customer Privacy API

Consent categories are mapped directly to Shopify's consent system.

Mapping

Analytics → analytics

Marketing → marketing

Functional → preferences

Data Sales Opt-Out → sale_of_data

This ensures Shopify and compatible apps receive accurate consent information.

Google Consent Mode V2

When Google Consent Mode V2 is enabled:

Analytics Controls

Analytics → analytics_storage

Marketing Controls

Marketing → ad_storage

Marketing → ad_user_data

Marketing → ad_personalization

If consent is denied, the corresponding Google consent signals are also denied.

Other Supported Integrations

Consent categories also control supported integrations such as:

• Meta Pixel
• TikTok Pixel
• Microsoft UET
• Pinterest

Example

Marketing Denied → Meta Pixel Disabled

This helps ensure tracking only occurs when visitors have granted permission.

🌐 Translations for Categories

Consent category labels and descriptions can be translated into multiple languages.

Navigate to:

GDPR EU Cookie Banner → Translation → Edit Language

The following content can be translated:

• Analytics Title
• Analytics Description
• Marketing Title
• Marketing Description
• Functional Title
• Functional Description
• Strictly Required Title
• Strictly Required Description
• Data Sales Opt-Out Label

Expected Result

Visitors see category information in their preferred language whenever a matching translation is available.

🛒 What Happens After Consent Is Saved

Once a visitor submits their preferences:

The App Automatically

✅ Stores consent preferences

✅ Saves session-level consent settings

✅ Updates Shopify's Customer Privacy API

✅ Enables or blocks supported integrations

✅ Records consent logs for compliance purposes

If the visitor returns later, the stored consent preferences are applied automatically.

⚠️ Important Notes

Strictly Required Cannot Be Disabled

This category is always granted because it contains cookies required for essential storefront functionality.

Functional and Preferences Are Combined

When Functional consent is granted, Shopify's Preferences consent state is also granted automatically.

Marketing Controls Advertising Integrations

Denying Marketing consent prevents advertising-related integrations from initializing.

Examples include:

• Meta Pixel
• TikTok Pixel
• Pinterest
• Google Advertising Signals

Analytics Controls Measurement Integrations

Denying Analytics consent prevents analytics-related storage and measurement tracking.

Global Privacy Control (GPC) Takes Priority

If Global Privacy Control is enabled and detected:

marketing → false

sale_of_data → false

These values override previously granted consent settings.

TCF v2.3 Changes Category Behavior

When TCF v2.3 is enabled for GDPR visitors, category selections are mapped to IAB consent purposes behind the scenes.

The visitor experience may differ from the standard category layout.

🧪 Testing Consent Categories

To verify category behavior:

➡️ Set Banner Type to Preferences.

➡️ Open the storefront in an Incognito window.

➡️ Open the Preferences Popup.

➡️ Toggle categories on and off.

➡️ Save preferences.

Expected Result

✅ Consent preferences are stored.

✅ Consent logs are created.

✅ Supported integrations respond appropriately.

✅ Blocked categories do not initialize tracking scripts.

🎉 Final Result

✅ Visitors can manage cookie consent using clear, understandable categories.

✅ Shopify receives accurate consent signals.

✅ Marketing and analytics tools respect visitor preferences.

✅ Consent choices are stored and automatically reused on future visits.

✅ Your storefront remains aligned with privacy regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, and similar frameworks.

Understanding how consent categories work makes it easier to build a transparent, privacy-focused experience while ensuring tracking technologies only run when visitors have granted permission. ✨

Updated on: 14/07/2026