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Are you lost with your conversions?
In paid advertising, conversion is the ultimate goal, and naturally, it is the final step in the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) process.
As such, learning how to measure conversions with Google Ads metrics is an important lesson for all PPC managers.
Let’s show you how it’s done.
Google Ads defines a conversion as:
“An action that is counted when somebody interacts with an ad (e.g. when they click a text ad or view a video ad), and then they take an action you have defined as valuable to your business, such as making an online purchase or a phone call to your business from their mobile phone”
From that, we can deduce that a conversion is not solely limited to online purchases. Indeed, conversions can take many forms.
With such varying criteria, it can get a little complicated at times. But before we explore that, let’s find out just why conversions matter. Why should we measure conversions?
Essentially, conversions are the return on investment (ROI) for your spending. It’s absolutely imperative that you track this if you are to have any hope of gauging true performance of your campaign.
Moreover, only by tracking ROI can you look for ways to improve it. Multiple factors affect your return, and Google Ads provide enough campaign data for you to discover:
By digging into the metrics, you can find all these answers, which begs the question:
Which metrics should you measure for conversions?
With everything from the last section in mind, let’s look at the metrics that you can study to find out how to make your conversion strategy more efficient and cost-effective.
It is a simple one to start. This is the total number of conversions you’ve received to date on a specific goal, which you have identified as a conversion in your ad campaign.
This shows you how many users visited your website or landing page and then converted, compared to the total number of visits to that page.
Conversion Rate = Total Conversions / Total number of visitors
The conversion rate lets you gauge performance on your pages. If it’s poor, you should look to identify the problems and correct them. It’s a smart move to pause your ads until you do this, as it will save your budget.
Some conversions are more valuable than others, so it’s important to identify the most relevant, profitable conversions for your business.
Imagine you run an armed security service. On your website, a downloadable PDF offers a detailed explanation of your security procedures. From analysis, you determine that people who download the PDF are more likely to purchase your service.
So, you bid $5 for a phone call, and $20 for a download, which assigns a greater conversion value to the download.
By tracking the conversion value metric, you can achieve a higher ROI and will continue to find opportunities for more profitable bids.
This is how much you pay to get each conversion. The average CPA lets you see how profitable your campaigns are, or if they are no longer offering a satisfactory profit margin.
If one conversion has a value of $50, and the average CPA is $10, then it’s pretty good. While some conversions may cost more, the disparity between value and cost is good enough to ignore such discrepancies.
If you’re wondering if Google Ads are working for you, look at your traffic sources. If a lot of conversions are coming from organic traffic or referrals, then you may just be throwing money away on advertising. Conversely, if most conversions come from your ads, then see how you can maximize your advertising ROI to get more bang for your buck.
A bounce is when a visitor lands on your page and then leaves without interacting or visiting another page.
Bounce rate = total number of bounces / total visitors
It’s in your best interest to reduce your bounce rate if you want to increase conversions. Nobody will convert if they aren’t hanging around long enough on your site.
This is the page users leave your site from. Keep an eye on this to find weak points in your site, as they may be proving stumbling blocks on the buyer’s journey.
If users are exiting your site just before checkout, then there may be over-complicated steps that frustrate customers. It’s much easier for them to leave and visit a competitor.
Find the problems to make the journey to conversion smoother.
So, there you have the insights you need to measure conversions in your Google Ads campaigns. These won’t just let you assess campaign performance, but they will also enable you to hone in on problems in your marketing funnel.
Whether it’s the copy on your website or landing pages, poor keywords, or irrelevant ads, by analyzing these key metrics you can correct issues to drive more conversions.
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