Google AdWords Conversion Tracking Best Practices

Google AdWords Conversion Tracking

Ultimately tracking up to the final sale or transaction is what our clients are most interested in, but in order to get there, we need to start by tracking Google AdWords conversions to get there. Oftentimes, there are multiple conversions that take place on every customer journey, but they all start as a lead before they become a new won opportunity.

This Google AdWords Conversion Tracking Best Practices resource is designed to highlight and summarize practices that allow advertisers to better track leads.  The most common practices for Google AdWords Conversion tracking are defined below:

Form Submissions

• Quote Submitted/Request for Proposal Submitted - This can have various names, but this is tracking that is Google AdWords conversation is set up for your primary call to action on your microsite or landing page. This information usually contains at least the prospects contact information such as a name, email address and phone number as well as additional information through a message or selectable options.
• Contact Form Submitted - If your microsite or landing page has a separate contact form that is not your primary offer this type of conversion is added to distinguish the way you collect leads.  Tracking these two items distinguishes purchase intent and helps determine what stage of the buying cycle the prospective client is in. This can also be used as your primary call-to-action depending on your campaign and strategy.

Phone Call

• Phone Call Clicks - This conversion is used to track when a user clicks on your phone number button or phone number hyperlink. As described in our blog here, we recommend focusing on phone call leads because they result in direct prospect interaction. Using a third-party service, you can enhance this reporting by being able to see who call, the duration of the call and whether the call was answered amongst other data. Using a direct line to a person rather than a main line with menu otions is also preferred as it create less friction for the prospect and helps mitigate dropped calls.
• Call from Ads - These are phone number clicks that happen at the ad level (not on the microsite or landing page) through the use of a call extension. Sometimes it makes strategic sense to run call-only ads that can be used to track this type of conversion. Third-party call tracking can also be used on these types of conversions.

Email

• Email Marketing Opt-in - These conversions can be used at the top of the funnel for "colder" audiences. If your microsite of landing page has an email marketing offer used to entice the visitor to exchange their email address for a lead magnet we want to track this separately as this user is typically a colder lead. Cold leads are typically in their early research stages prior to making a decision or are not familiar with your brand, product or service. An email only or name and email conversion can offer a prospective customer something valuable in exchange for their email information.
• Email Clicks - this type of conversion can be used to track a visitor clicking on an email hyperlink from your microsite or landing page. When the user clicks on an email hyperlink their default mail software will load and automatically populate the to field as well as the email subject. It will be up to user complete and send the email, and he or she would have the ability to modify the title before clicking send. These type of visitors may have a unique situation that they want to explain, or would rather just do it via email, instead of a call or contact form submission, so we want to ensure we don't miss out on counting and tracking these type of opportunities. We suggest using a dedicated email that is linked to your CRM for these types of conversion.

The conversion tracking methods listed above are tried and tested best practices. This Google AdWords resource is not an all-inclusive guide as each sales funnel and marketing strategy is different. Other forms of conversions based on event tracking and other factors can also make sense depending on your overall strategy, industry, and business model.  If you have any questions feel free to set up a complimentary call with a digital marketing strategist. Click here to get started now.