Not all conversions hold the same value. For enterprises relying on sales team closures for lead generation, an often underestimated strategy for elevating Google Ads effectiveness is through offline conversion tracking.
By inputting data from a customer database that corresponds with the online click identifier, enterprises can inform Google about which conversions led to actual paying customers. Leveraging its extensive data resources, Google can then pick common characteristics among these conversions to target similar audiences effectively.
Unlike e-commerce enterprises, where conversions are simple product sales affected only by returns and exchanges, lead-generation conversions do not result in immediate revenue upon occurrence.
The Value of Pursuing Offline Conversions
Offline conversions are gaining traction across several advertiser segments. For e-commerce, they enable consideration of factors impacting sale value, such as returns and exchanges. Lead generation enterprises (like SaaS companies and plumbing contractors) can inform Google about online conversions that translate into revenue-generating customers.
Additional benefits of implementing offline conversion tracking include the following:
- Precision in creating campaigns that align with actual business objectives, like targeting specific locations or audience segments more inclined to convert.
- Flexibility to include or exclude scenarios where conversions change post their final interaction with Google’s pixel: concluding a sale offline (e.g., through a sales representative and CRM), returns occurring within 30 days post the original sale, sales to repeat or first-time customers, and online sales not recorded by Google.
- Reduced dependency on attribution models for optimization pathway determination.
- Guiding bidding and targeting algorithms toward the most lucrative leads, leveraging historical data on keywords, demographics, devices, and time frames.
- Profit optimization through bidding based on margins and final conversions.
Understanding Offline Conversion Tracking
Setting up offline conversion tracking may present challenges, but the rewards justify the effort. Consider the following points when implementing it:
Essential Principles:
- It allows you to map your sales funnel to Google: from leads qualifying to deals closing and revenue generation.
- Basic conversion tracking must be established, with at least one conversion event.
- You have a 90-day timeframe, starting from the online conversion, to import offline conversions—failure to do so within this period forfeits the opportunity. If your sales cycle exceeds this duration, leverage available qualification data or analyze past trends to identify indicators of deal closure likelihood.
Setting Up Offline Conversions in Google Ads
There are three methods to integrate offline conversions into your Google Ads account:
SalesForce and HubSpot:
- These two widely used CRM tools offer native integrations with Google Ads.
- Once configured, you can establish rules to automatically transmit your funnel conversion events back into Google Ads as offline imports.
Offline Conversion Imports:
- Manually import offline conversion data from various sources.
- Google uses different identifiers, depending on the origin of the conversion, to match your offline conversion with its online counterpart.
- Conversions from clicks use the Google Click Identifier (GCLID).
- Enhanced Conversions are used for leads.
- Conversions from calls are tracked through importing phone call conversions.
Zapier:
For other CRMs and diverse types of customer database tools, integration is facilitated through Zapier.
Common Errors
Occasionally, when importing or synchronizing your offline conversions, errors occur or the desired performance impact is not achieved.
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Several factors contribute to these occurrences, with the most prevalent being:
- The click is too recent, typically within 6 hours.
- The click is over 90 days old, making the GCLID unreadable.
- Trying to integrate flawless conversion values or using poorly structured ones.
- Uploading conversions from one account to another.
- Lack of online conversion events to align with.
Navigating the Implementation of Offline Conversions
Setting up offline conversions requires more than merely transmitting data to Google. Here are some ideas on how paid media teams, particularly agencies, can address the challenges that may arise during the process.
Accessing Client Data
When onboarding a new lead-generation client, it’s advisable to request access to their CRM and customer data. This could involve platforms such as HubSpot, SalesForce, or any other tool that requires integration through Zapier. Additionally, explore options like call tracking, chatbots, and landing pages.
Following this, the process involves two steps:
- Ensuring that all leads are being properly captured in their CRM.
- Transmitting the qualified leads back to Google Ads.
Value-based Bidding
As a lead transitions from a prospect to a marketing-qualified or sales-qualified lead, integrate this progression as another conversion action in Google Ads. This communicates to Google that the lead has evolved into a more valuable asset.
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Here’s how you can assign values and relay them back to Google Ads:
- Attribute a primary value of 10 to the prospect and transmit it to Google Ads.
- After discussions with the client, ascertain that booking a qualifying call or consultation holds significant value. These leads are assigned a value of 30 and conveyed back to Google Ads.
- After the consultation, when the client sends out a proposal, mark it as another step with a value of 50.
- When the sales team closes the contract, use the actual revenue value if available.
As these values populate within Google Ads across several milestones, use target return on ad spend (ROAS) bidding for lead generation.
CRM Integration
There isn’t a single ideal CRM for Google Ads, as you can generally adapt to whatever platform a client uses. However, you can suggest HubSpot to clients who lack a CRM before engaging with them. HubSpot offers a highly scalable free plan that seamlessly integrates with Google Ads.
Once implemented, ensure that converted leads are directed to HubSpot or whichever CRM platform they’re using. With conversion actions established in Google Ads, synchronize these events to the advertising platform—each milestone corresponds to a specific event.
For instance, if you track phone calls, form submissions, and chats as conversion events, each action will automatically funnel the lead into the CRM with a corresponding GCLID.
Collaborating with Clients
Client reluctance to share access to tools and data can restrict an agency’s ability to achieve optimal outcomes. During the sales process, inform prospects who can handle Google Ads independently, emphasizing your focus on generating leads. However, highlight that for a focus on quality leads, certain resources will be necessary from their end.
Typically, most clients are amenable to providing the requested resources; occasionally, you may need to formalize the arrangement with a nondisclosure agreement (NDA). In general, clients prioritize profitability and are willing to cooperate, particularly considering that you handle the bulk of setup and maintenance responsibilities.
Collaborating with Client Sales Teams
When implementing offline conversions, it’s important to align with the sales team responsible for converting leads into deals.
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During the kickoff call, your aim should be to comprehend their sales process thoroughly.
- What are their touchpoints?
- How do they assess lead quality?
- What objections do they frequently encounter?
This enables you to accurately outline the offline conversion funnel, focusing on any messaging or process deficiencies. Seek opportunities to enhance close rates and subsequently share your recommendations with the team.
Effective Ways To Use Offline Conversions to Optimize Google Ads for Profitability
Implementing offline conversion tracking demands time and dedication, yet the investment yields significant returns well beyond the setup phase, once automation is in place. As Google Ads increasingly automates campaign management tasks like real-time bidding and keyword matching, the quality of data becomes important, differentiating between average and exceptional outcomes.
In today’s digital advertising landscape, offline conversion tracking serves as a tailored suit for an account, ensuring an optimal fit—the closest approximation possible.
However, the primary advantage of offline conversions transcends metrics such as CPC and ROAS. It lies in the capacity to generate a higher proportion of ad conversions requiring minimal effort, time, and expenditure to convert into revenue.
In essence, an offline conversion tracking noticeably boosts the long-term profitability of most ad campaigns.
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