Googles New Leads & Sales: An Advertiser’s Tracking Dream

Google is constantly testing and changing the way their platforms are laid out. As advertisers, it seems like we’re always just trying to keep up. One of the most exciting changes that we’ve seen recently is Google’s conversion actions for leads and sales becoming more granular than ever. These conversion points give us, as advertisers a component we like to call micro-conversions. Read more on our advertising tracking tips:

What exactly are micro-conversions? 

A micro-conversion is any conversion point that is an additional step toward completing the ultimate macro conversion on each site. A macro conversion is just a fancy term to describe a goal: purchasing a product, filling out a contact form, requesting a quote, or calling for more information. 

Micro-conversions within Google’s new granular tracking system help to shed a little more insight about the end-user: who added items to their cart, who began to checkout, who subscribed, who viewed the page, and much more. 

Why are these tracking tips so important? 

Before this update, advertisers were limited to insights such as a purchase, a lead, a pageview, a sign-up, and “other”. This other option was extremely limited in providing alternative insights. These insights are shown below: 

The current update through Google allows us to see a user’s acquisition. This acquisition process is crucial to understanding how the user experience can be made better. For instance, if you look at the screenshot below, you’ll see that under the sales categories the goal is to purchase something. However, adding an item to your cart, proceeding to checkout, and ultimately subscribing are all micro-conversion points that suggest interest in a product or service. Ultimately, being able to track these micro-conversion points is a huge asset and will help us to optimize campaigns to different stages of the customer journey. 

The sales insights are only one component of this update. When it comes to lead generation, businesses can learn about the acquisition processes that individuals are going through that lead to a conversion. This might include submitting lead forms, booking an appointment, signing up, requesting a quote, getting directions, or outbound clicks. 

Your next question is probably “what are outbound clicks?” They are conversion points related to buying now or calling a phone number that will typically lead to an outbound link. 

In the end, think about what insights about your end-user matter most to your company and determine which conversion points you want to track. Take advantage of the new acquisition tracking of micro-moments to gain insights into user experience and how you can make improvements from there. These insights will assist with overall user experience, whereas lead generation can be improved through forms, and outbound clicks. Remember, never underestimate the potential of taking the time to gather insights and what they can teach us about overall improvements of sites, experiences, and user generation. If you have any advertising tracking tip questions, we’re here to help!