This week’s PPCChat session, hosted by Julie F Bacchini, covered a wide range of questions related to conversion tracking. Participants discussed the different types of conversion actions that can be tracked in PPC campaigns, different methods for tracking conversions, and the challenges that can arise with conversion tracking.
Q1: What types of conversion actions are you currently tracking in your PPC campaigns? What method do you use to track the conversions (Google Analytics 4, Google Ads, third-party tool, etc.)?
I’m going to start with primary actions (i.e. the ones that count): 1. Calls over 180 seconds 2. Calls from the website 3. Form-fills 4. Check-out 5. Start Trial (lower value) 6. Paying customers (higher value with enhanced conversions) 7. Chats (mostly legal) @navahf
Contact form submissions and free trial sign-ups as primary Conversion. Then other actions such as webinars and newsletter sign-ups as secondary Conversions. GA4 is what we use & they provide a deeper level of performance analysis via their CRM reports. @marketingsoph
Since I am a lead gen PPCer, my accounts track form fills and phone calls as conversion actions. I’ve been using the Google Ads conversion tagging rather than importing from Analytics for a while in anticipation of GA4 being a mess. @NeptuneMoon
When it comes to social ads, I’m a little more forgiving on conversions because they need so many for their algorithms to function. the core ones are still there. I tend to default to #GA4 events when there’s at least 60 days of trusted data. Otherwise, add network. @navahf
Primary conversions should be 10000000% trustworthy. I tend to test the validity of conversion tracking with secondary actions as well as tracking little steps (like add to cart). @navahf
It depends on the account. We do a lot of ecomm so revenue & transactions are the biggies. For a few clients that have very long buying cycles, we track micro conversions and assign them values based on historical CVR & AOV. @selley2134
I handle lead gen clients. But calls/forms are meaningless in and of themselves. I import 3rd party conversions manually. Paying clients. @ppcClickShark
Depends on the client but the focus is whatever the macro conversion point is so lead, purchase, download of whitepaper etc. We use GTM to set up the events and then Analytics from there. @adwordsgirl
We have not heard anything about Google’s “one conversion tag to rule them all” either… Remember when they talked about that at GML? Not a peep on that even with GA4 taking over. @NeptuneMoon
We historically used UA goals and with the migration to GA4, we have set up GA4 conversions… However the majority of the GA4 properties I’ve seen are having attribution issues, which makes the data source unreliable Therefore, we’re opting for website tracking. @C_J_Ridley
Most of my clients are focused on lead gen or B2B, so we mainly track Form Submissions & Phone Calls (if relevant). Methods kinda vary depending on the website/client, but historically we’ve tried to use imports from Google Analytics when possible (or the GAds tag) @adclarke10
Q2: Have you encountered any issues with conversion tracking lately? If so, on which platforms and what did you do to try to solve it?
The whole UA not sunsetting even though they had a doomsday clock caused issues for a couple of clients (not great that it was a Friday) but other than that I think GA4 actually made us clean up conversions better than they were. @selley2134
Only when clients redevelop their sites without telling us and remove the GTM container. @adwordsgirl
Yes, GA4 seems to be showing funny data, with organic mixed with Google / CPC within the Paid Search Channel Group We’re opting for Website conversion tracking directly into our ad platforms to allow us to better understand the last click conv volume. @C_J_Ridley
We’ve had a lot of teething issues whilst switching to GA4. Unfortunately, this has been due to our clients’ internal teams handling setting up tracking & their lack of knowledge/quality checking. It’s so difficult when you can’t just fix them yourself! @marketingsoph
Almost all my “glitches” have been ecomm related. For the most part, it’s discrepancies in the shopping platform vs #GA4 vs the ad network reported conversions (vastly underreporting on the Google side). My suspicion is that this is a privacy compliance issue. @navahf
My clients are having issues with conversions being double-counted. They are using GA4 to sort that out. @TheMarketingAnu
Like others mentioned, GA4 has some discrepancies compared to what shows in each ad platform. We’ve seen this impact Social in particular, like LinkedIn. @adclarke10
Some of this is due to clients setting up GA4 incorrectly (or still troubleshooting), so I provide the numbers we can & then ask what they see on their end to try to figure out what’s most accurate. Also trying to get CRMs integrated with platforms where we can. @adclarke10
Q3: Do you find some platforms are better at or easier to track conversions on? If so, which are better and worse and why?
I am very comfortable with GTM and like the debugging possibilities there. So I like tracking through GA and then importing. @selley2134
Shout out to @MSFTAdsSupport and their amazingly trustworthy conversion tracking <3 I’ll also say I really like #google’s #LocalServiceAds because of how clear-cut the conversion tracking is. #facebook conversion tracking is torture but we do what we must. @navahf
If I’m being honest, I’ve only really used GTM & analytics so I can’t answer the question. I’ve always found it easy to implement and use so I’ve never had to think about another platform. @adwordsgirl
I like to default to Google Analytics data, mostly bc that’s what clients tend to refer to as their main source of truth. Especially true if I know/trust the people who did the GA implementation. On the flip side, there always seems to be a discrepancy with FB & LI. @adclarke10
The lack of external goal import for Microsoft Ads is annoying Meta Ads is one that is always widely different to other data sources GA4 is a mess Google Ads was the best imo, I’m not sure now. @C_J_Ridley
Q4: What are the biggest roadblocks you encounter when it comes to properly tracking PPC conversions in 2023? How do you handle those situations?
A lot of clients have cross-domain conversion paths and use iframes, Talk about adding another level of complexity! I miss the old days of simple thank-you pages. @marketingsoph
It often starts with issues on the client side of things. Either with getting codes in the proper places/working correctly. But I think we are only at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to attribution getting blown up from what we are used to seeing/getting. @NeptuneMoon
Some clients are still having trouble getting pixels onto their sites! It’s more common than you would think and especially with GA4 rolling out. @beyondthepaid
Clients who put every widget known to man on their website to try to get conversions. All Iframes of course. @adclarke10
I do my best to set up all the tracking to start with and show them that many of the widgets aren’t producing quality leads and start to slowly remove them. Very rarely do clients just trust that it’s a problem from the beginning. @selley2134
Biggest roadblock – the proper implementation of the tags on the site. From the emails I’ve seen with my teams – those have been the biggest questions. I handle it by leaving it to our solutions experts. I’ll confuse everyone by trying to give any advice. @TheMarketingAnu
I have also seen client accounts that have 20+ primary conversion actions. This is rarely needed and usually muddles the whole issue. @beyondthepaid
Custom set-ups where developers refuse to collaborate and we get stuck making the same asks forever. Everything else is conquerable through testing and client communication. I’ll also give a shout-out to customer support for most landing page tools. @navahf
The GA4 switch & making sure that data is accurate has been a struggle for some clients. Cookie consent banners & privacy updates have also impacted if conversions are attributed properly (or if they fire at all). @adclarke10
Also not having access to a client’s CRM, Analytics, or other platforms makes it hard to get the full picture on my own. I try to combat this by talking about lead quality/volume on every call. “What do you see on your end”, “Do those numbers align internally” etc. @adclarke10
Q5: With Apple potentially stripping out UTM parameters as early as Q4 2023, including Google and Facebook ads parameters, how do you plan to capture conversions that should be attributed to ads?
GBraid and WBraid! These already got introduced and just require configuring your GTM. @navahf
Not that attribution has ever been super great, but it has been perceived as quite accurate up until now. And that is our issue to unwind as tracking will continue to get more difficult/less reliable. Consent mode is not something US searchers understand. @NeptuneMoon
Scream into my screaming towel! @TheMarketingAnu
Time will tell as far as how much data loss we will face. Facebook had a huge ruling against them and sharing data amongst their properties this week in the EU and how they use data to target ads. We need to prepare for way less attribution availability. Now. @NeptuneMoon
Honestly with all the GA4 tracking I haven’t had a chance to look at this yet, so will be curious to see everyone’s answer. @selley2134
Tbh I don’t really have a solution in mind yet, so interested in other answers here. Maybe test landing pages that are only used for paid channels, so if someone converts on the page we know it only could have come from us. Not easily scalable tho (esp for SMBs). @adclarke10
PPCChat Participants
- Navah Hopkins @navahf
- Sophie Logan @marketingsoph
- Julie F Bacchini @NeptuneMoon
- Derek Mollins @ppcClickShark
- Ameet Khabra @adwordsgirl
- Shaun Elley @selley2134
- Chris Ridley @C_J_Ridley
- Ashton Clarke @adclarke10
- Anu Adegbola aka PPC Live UK founder @TheMarketingAnu
- Melissa L Mackey @beyondthepaid
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