How to track Google Ads offline conversions [step by step guide + video]

Tracking Google Ads offline conversions is often overlooked by marketers because the process of uploading offline conversions is considered as time-consuming or unnecessary or too challenging but if your business is solely tracking conversions that occur directly on your website, you might not have a complete understanding of how advertisements are impacting your sales.

This is because a potential customer could click on your ad, but instead of converting online, they may decide to place a call or visit one of your physical branches to make a purchase.

Additionally, pixel and cookie-based tracking can face limitations due to privacy regulations and other tracking challenges.

While no tracking system is completely perfect, Google Ads offline conversion tracking can help address these scenarios.

By incorporating Google Ads offline conversions, from your CRM or lead spreadsheets, into your Google Ads conversion setup, you can gain a better understanding of how your ads are affecting your sales.

In this article, we’ll explore two ways to track Google Ads offline conversions and how to set them up.

Method 1: Tracking Google Ads offline conversions manually

Method 2: Automate tracking of Google Ads offline conversions

Method 1: Tracking Google Ads offline conversions manually

If you’re able to obtain and save the original user’s Google Click Identifier (GCLID) for each conversion action they completed, you can utilize Google Ads to import offline conversion data and connect attribution to your campaigns.

Setting up a Google Ads offline conversion

To begin you need to setup a conversion action in your Google Ads account.

Go to Tools and Settings -> Measurement -> Conversions

Click on New Conversion Action

Click on Import

Click on Other data sources or CRMs and Track conversions from clicks

You will now setup the conversion by first setting the goal and action optimization. Since the phone call is a quality lead you should choose Qualified lead. If you are also passing a value – meaning the phone call resulted in a sale – then you should choose Converted lead.

Then you need to provide a Conversion Name, a value and count.

Finally hit create and continue

Next, and as a final step you need to set the method for uploading the offline conversions. 

Select Uploads from the list and click Finish.

That’s it!
You now have successfully created the conversion in your Google Ads account.

You are now ready to start importing your data.

Preparing your data for import

Download a template based on the type of conversions you’d like to upload (download: Excel, CSV, or Google Sheets). You can also download templates from the Google Ads interface:

• Sign in to your Google Ads account.
• Click the tools icon  in the upper right corner.
• Under “Measurement”, click Conversions.
• In the menu on the left, click Uploads.
• Click the plus button .
• Click View templates.
• Select the correct template based on the method you’re using: Conversions from clicks (using Google Click ID).

Fill in the Excel, CSV or Google Sheet with your offline data. Now you are ready to import!

Importing Data

To upload your file head over to Conversions – Uploads in your Google Ads account

Click on the blue “+” button to upload and select the method

Once you’ve uploaded your file, click Preview.

Google will flag any errors before you upload so you can correct them.

Once ready, click on Apply to sync the conversions with your account.

Method 2: Automate tracking of Google Ads offline conversions

Nimbata automatically grabs the GCLIDs of your callers, and pushes them directly to your Google Ads account as conversions!

Setting up a Google Ads offline conversion

Follow the steps as documented in method 1.

Setup Nimbata to send GCLIDs to Google Ads

Setting up your Nimbata account is super easy and can be done by following this thorough guide.

By placing the Nimbata DNI script on your website Nimbata will capture the GCLIDs and assign them to calls like this:

Since you don’t want to have to upload these manually each time, you can automate this process from within Nimbata.

First Navigate to Integrations from the menu on the left and click on Google Ads

Click on the button Sign in with Google and select the account which has access to Google Ads

Click on Allow to give Nimbata permission to send the GCLIDs to your offline conversion

Select the trigger, the ad account and in the list of conversions find the offline conversion you created in the previous steps.

That’s it! Nimbata will send GCLIDs to your offline conversion in Google Ads once per day.

Video Tutorial

Takeaway

Tracking Google Ads offline conversions is essential for businesses that want to gain a complete understanding of how their ads are impacting sales. By incorporating offline data into your Google Ads conversion setup, you can account for scenarios where customers may interact with your business outside of your website or where pixel and cookie-based tracking falls short due to privacy regulations and tracking challenges.

Two effective ways to track offline conversions are through conversion import and call tracking. By doing so, you can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your ad campaigns and make informed decisions about where to allocate your advertising budget. Ultimately, tracking offline conversions can help you maximize your return on investment and drive business growth.

FAQ