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Why your data matters more than ever
Gone are the days when PPC practitioners could make use of a few simple tactics to generate streams of motivated seller leads. Utilizing basic keyword research to identify effective search terms, crafting persuasive ads, setting manual bids on those keywords, planning budgets and determining an advertising schedule once would have been adequate.
However, the old ways of doing things no longer work. The average Cost per Lead (CPL) in 2022 increased by 19% for all industries and 31% for real estate.
Many advertisers say that Google is taking away control and that Google Ads don't work as well as they used to. While there is a lot of truth in that, it's important to remember that there are still areas of Google Ads that you have 100% control over. Namely, your data and the inputs you use to feed the Google algorithm.
One way to think about your data is that they are the nutrients the bidding algorithms depend on to produce results. Or, to use a better metaphor – you can’t put diesel into a petrol engine and expect it to run properly. So if the data you send to Google is incomplete, misleading, or erroneous, even best-in-class designed PPC campaigns are sure to fail.
Now let's dive into the 5 conversion tracking blunders to avoid.
Blunder #1: Not tracking leads at all
Not knowing what campaigns, keywords, ads and landing pages resulted in clicks that generated leads for your business is like embarking on a journey without a compass — you will never know where you are headed, and crucially, you won't be able to make changes to correct the course.
If you're a real estate investor looking for homeowners who want to sell their house for a start, you would want to track when someone has completed an inquiry form for a cash offer.
Even though the tracking of leads from the landing page form submissions is fairly rudimentary, we've seen to be completely ignored or highly inaccurate time and again.
Blunder #2: Not tracking leads from phone calls
While website visitors filling out a form on your landing page are valuable leads, they are not the only ones you will get. Some of them—often the most motivated—prefer to speak with you over the phone.
In the real estate investors market, 25% to 50% of lead conversions originate from phone calls. But the fact that Google doesn't know it leads its algorithm to believe that those valuable clicks are useless. Consequently, the algorithm will develop an incomplete picture of some of the profiles of your best seller leads, and ultimately, the performance will suffer in the long run.
To take advantage of call tracking, you will need to use third-party software. Fortunately, plenty of call tracking providers offer affordable plans, even for smaller advertisers. With the right solution in place, you can ensure that all your leads are accurately tracked - regardless of how they came in. As a result, you empower the algorithm to work harder to get you more qualified, motivated seller leads.
Blunder #3: Leads double-counting
The most common lead-tracking mistake is double-counting, but it is also the easiest to fix. This happens when Google Ads conversion settings are set up so that a lead is counted more than once. However, sometimes account managers who are not as experienced will set the conversion count to "every", which makes the algorithm "think" it is delivering value each time the same person submits a form or call.
This problem occurs when the same visitor submits a form on different pages. Another instance when this could happen is that—while still in house sale mode—your prospective sellers may forget they have already contacted you. This scenario is more common than you would think: Most real estate investors landing pages look alike, using the same templates, calls to action and website names. No wonder, then, why people sometimes fill out the form from the same website several times.
This can cause the algorithm to perform sub-optimally because it will interpret multiple conversions from the same users as a signal that these are qualified prospects, often attracting the wrong type of audience, such as wholesalers trying to get rid of contracts that are not priced correctly. To ensure this does not happen, check in Google Ads that you set the count to "one". You can also create an audience of converting visitors—the users who already gave their contact details to you—and exclude them from your targeting altogether.
Blunder #4: Not using enhanced conversions
This Google feature can help make your conversion measurements more accurate. It sends hashed first-party conversion data from your website to Google in a way that protects people's privacy.
If someone visits your website and fills out a form or calls you, you have gathered their first-party data. This includes their email address, name, home address and/or phone number. This data is captured by your conversion tracking tags and sent to Google in a hashed form.
When you use an enhanced conversions tracking method, your leads are called "observed conversions". The alternative is "modelled conversions". The difference between observed and modelled conversions is crucial. Observed conversions are people who actually contacted you. Modelled conversions are people Google thinks could have contacted you. According to Google:
"When Google surfaces modeled conversions in Google Ads, we are predicting attributed conversions. In most cases, Google will receive ad interactions and online conversions but is missing the linkage between the two. The modelling we perform is modeling whether a Google ad interaction led to the online conversion, not whether a conversion happened or not."
So to make sure your leads' measurement continues to be accurate in a world where user data is brought into question and third-party cookies will continue to diminish, try to collect as much observed conversion data as possible. You can set up enhanced conversion tracking in two ways:
- Google Tag Manager: If you currently use Google Tag Manager for conversion tracking, you can set up enhanced conversions for leads with Google Tag Manager with only slight changes to your configuration.
- The Google tag: If you currently have conversion tracking implemented using the Google tag directly on your page, you can set up enhanced conversions for leads with your Google tag by making slight changes to your configuration.
Blunder #5: Not tracking offline conversions
At the end of the day, it's not about how many leads you have – it's about whether those leads turn into closed deals and, most importantly, profit. But how can you tell which leads were poor and which are the ones that resulted in booked appointments, accepted offers or revenue?
This is where offline conversion tracking comes into play. After you connect your advertising data with your CRM of choice, like REI BlackBook, discovering which leads were qualified and turned into deals is no longer guesswork.
After offline conversions tracking is set up, this data is automatically imported to Google. By doing so, you gradually teach its algorithm more about your ideal leads through the data it receives each day, making it better at predicting a lead's value and quality. As a result, your close rates, ROI and profit margins will steadily improve over time.
