Signals only for visitors with consent, many never decide

Area: Conversions · Updated: 5 Nov 2026 · Auf Deutsch · All articles

Symptoms

  • A signal's preview shows many persons but only a small share “with consent”; the signal stays below 50 a week.
  • In the table “Signale an Werbeplattformen”, “Ohne Entscheidung” is much larger than “Davon mit Einwilligung”.
  • A row of the signal log is “skipped” with the reason consent_declined.

Cause

  • Signals default to “Only with consent”: visitors who ignore the banner do not count.
  • consent_declined: the visitor declined in the same visit (or in another visit of the same person). A decline always wins, also over signals already waiting.

How to fix it

1. See the extra volume

  • In the dashboard: Einstellungen › Signale an Werbeplattformen › Eigene Signale › Bearbeiten (preview below the form)
  • With Claude (MCP): ad_custom_signals_preview {"project":"my-project","key":"my_signal","consent_mode":"unless_denied"}

The preview shows “Only with consent” and “also without a decision” per week side by side, plus persons without a decision, declined ones and older visits where a decline cannot be ruled out (these never count).

  • In the dashboard: No dashboard way (Whether signals without a decision may rest on legitimate interest (Art. 6 (1) f GDPR) next to § 25 TDDDG is not settled. Decide it with your data protection officer. The cookie banner and privacy policy must say openly which data goes to which platform without a decision and that “Decline” stops it; “Decline” stays as easy as “Accept”.)
  • With Claude (MCP): No MCP tool (Whether signals without a decision may rest on legitimate interest (Art. 6 (1) f GDPR) next to § 25 TDDDG is not settled. Decide it with your data protection officer. The cookie banner and privacy policy must say openly which data goes to which platform without a decision and that “Decline” stops it; “Decline” stays as easy as “Accept”.)

3. The site reports the decision to X3

  • In the dashboard: No dashboard way (“Decline” must reach X3: through the banner's storage key in the project setting (denied values), a window event or x3('consent', { analytics: false }). Without a click the SDK reports “no decision”. The browser's Global Privacy Control always counts as a decline.)
  • With Claude (MCP): setup_get_instructions {"project":"my-project","framework":"other"}
  • In the dashboard: Einstellungen › Signale an Werbeplattformen › Eigene Signale › Bearbeiten › Einwilligung › Auch ohne Entscheidung (nie bei Ablehnung)
  • With Claude (MCP): ad_custom_signals_update {"project":"my-project","key":"my_signal","consent_mode":"unless_denied"}

Built-in signals: column “Einwilligung” of the table, via MCP ad_signals_update with consentMode in the signal's override. Applies to new visits right away; earlier visits are not reported when X3 cannot tell a decline from no decision there.

How to tell it worked

  • The column “Einwilligung” shows “Auch ohne Entscheidung”; “Gesendet (30 T.)” rises over the next days.
  • A test visit without clicking the banner produces a signal, a test visit with “Decline” none.

The mode is per signal. A signal set to “Also without a decision” sends for visitors with consent and visitors without a decision, never for visitors who declined, and nothing more once a visitor declines later in the visit. Visits that only know “consent yes/no” (stored before the distinction) never count without consent.