How to set up call conversions properly to attract more high-quality leads

The majority of people do Google Ads like it’s 2017.

Talking to clients has made us realize this. Most are unaware that they can optimize their Google Ads algorithm with a very simple trick: By setting up proper call conversions.

It’s not a difficult process at all and the benefits it provides are more than worth the few minutes you will need to spend on setting them up. Still, we understand that it might seem like a complicated task, so in this blog post, we will provide you with an analytical guide on setting up call conversions and tracking PPC calls in Google Ads.

Should you add another tool in your martech stack just to track calls in Google Ads?

Yes! Definitely.

Relying solely on Google Ads’ built-in tools is not enough to gain a full understanding of your campaign performance, especially when it comes to call tracking.

Here’s why you need a call tracking tool like Nimbata to effectively track calls in Google Ads:

• Granular data: Call tracking tools offer more detailed and granular tracking capabilities. They can track not just the call itself but also the caller’s journey. This level of detail is crucial for optimizing your marketing strategies.
• Dynamic Number Insertion: Tools like Nimbata use dynamic number insertion to swap phone numbers on your website based on the visitor’s source. This ensures that each call is accurately attributed to the correct marketing effort, providing a clearer picture of your campaign performance.
• Reduced data discrepancies: Third-party tools often provide more accurate data by minimizing discrepancies that can occur with Google Ads’ built-in tracking. This accuracy is vital for making informed decisions about your marketing spend and strategy.
• Real-time reporting: Many call tracking tools offer real-time reporting, allowing you to monitor call activity as it happens. This immediacy enables quicker responses to trends and issues, enhancing your overall marketing agility.
• Caller insights: Nimbata can provide detailed analytics on caller demographics, behavior, and conversation sentiment. These insights help you understand your audience better and tailor your marketing efforts to resonate more effectively with high-quality leads.
• Conversion quality: By analyzing call duration, keywords used, and other metrics, call tracking tools help you distinguish between high-quality leads and less valuable calls. This differentiation is essential for optimizing your ad spend and improving ROI.
• Integration with CRM and other tools: Call tracking tools integrate seamlessly with CRM systems and other marketing platforms, providing a unified view of your customer interactions. This integration helps streamline your workflows and ensures that all relevant data is captured and utilized.
• Automated workflows: Tools like Nimbata offer automation features that handle routine tasks, such as call routing and data pushing to Google Ads. These automations save time and reduce manual effort, allowing your team to focus on more strategic activities.

In summary, using a tool like Nimbata for call tracking in Google Ads provides enhanced tracking capabilities, improved data accuracy, advanced analytics, and seamless integration with multiple other tools.

Google Ads call conversions: Do they really matter that much and what’s the best way to use them?

One of the most effective ways to optimize your Google Ads for high-quality leads is by setting up proper call conversions.

However, as we said above, using only Google Ads’ built-in tools, is not sufficient. They just don’t provide the comprehensive insights needed to truly understand and optimize your campaign performance. This is where third-party call tracking tools like Nimbata come into play.

Call tracking tools offer detailed insights into each call, including the caller’s journey, the specific ad or keyword that drove the call, and the outcome of the conversation. This granular data is essential for understanding which marketing efforts are driving high-quality leads. With their automations, you can ensure that only high-quality data is sent to Google Ads, improving the accuracy of your conversion tracking and helping to optimize your ad campaigns more effectively.

This all works by integrating Nimbata into your Google Ads account. This integration feeds the Google Ads algorithm with valuable data, helping it learn and improve ad delivery over time.

Now, let’s see how you can set up call conversions in Nimbata. If you are a visual learner, check out the video version of this guide.

Step 1: Acquire tracking numbers

First of all, you need tracking numbers.

Go to Tracking > Numbers 

Click on the “+Add” button in the top right corner.

Choose “A specific online channel,” then “Online paid,” and finally, on “Partners,” choose “Google.” Then click “Next.”

On the next screen, you must decide how many tracking numbers you need. This is what we call “a numbers pool“. It refers to a collection of phone numbers used to track and attribute calls to specific marketing campaigns or sources.

If you use only one number, all calls will be attributed to that single source, making it difficult to distinguish between different marketing efforts. Multiple numbers help avoid this data skew. Knowing which sources are driving high-quality leads, can help you optimize your marketing spend. You can allocate more resources to effective campaigns and reduce spending on underperforming ones.

Also, having more than one number ensures that if one number becomes unavailable or experiences issues, calls can still be tracked using other numbers in the pool.

Nimbata’s “Get from Google” button can help you determine the optimal number based on your campaign structure and goals. Generally, the more granular you want your tracking to be, the more numbers you will need.

Click on that and then select your Google Analytics account and property.

Nimbata will give a complete breakdown of your tracking number needs. In this case, don’t go for the total pool recommended, but instead use only the number recommended on the paid search line.

Finish acquiring your numbers by choosing country, state, city, and the numbers and add a friendly name for your convenience. Then click, on “Finish”.

Step 2: Assign your numbers to a call flow

Now, you need to make sure that calls from these numbers will be forwarded to a destination. You can do that, by assigning them to a call flow. A call flow is a predefined path that determines how incoming calls are routed and handled within your call tracking system. It’s essentially a blueprint that outlines the steps a call should follow from the moment it is received until it is resolved.

Click on the “+Add” button in the top right corner.

Edit your call flow and add a destination number. Give it a name too if you want and add any other actions you wish. Besides plain dial routing, with a call flow you can also include automated greetings, menu options, voicemail prompts, and other routing options like:

Weighted routing: Weighted routing distributes calls to different destinations based on predefined percentages. For example, you can route 70% of calls to your primary sales team and 30% to a secondary team.

Sequential routing: Sequential routing forwards calls to a list of numbers in a specific order until the call is answered. If the first number doesn’t answer, the call moves to the next number in the sequence.

Multiple routing: Multiple routing rings all designated numbers simultaneously until one of them answers the call.

When done, go back to Tracking > Numbers, find your numbers group, and add them to a call flow. Don’t forget to make sure they have the same source too (online paid).

Step 3: Set up swap groups

Now, you have to tell Nimbata which numbers on your website or landing pages it needs to swap. We also have a more detailed guide on swap groups.

In short, a swap group is a collection of tracking numbers that are dynamically swapped with the default phone number displayed on your website. This swap occurs based on the visitor’s source, such as a specific Google Ads campaign, allowing you to track which marketing efforts are driving calls.

Go to Tracking > Tracking code.

Copy and paste your business number as it is displayed on your website. This will tell the tracking code to swap the number with one of your call tracking numbers, whenever someone visits your website.

When done, deploy the tracking code to your website either by using the WordPress Tag Manager or by adding the script to your website code.

Step 4: Google Ads integration

Before we move on, you need to set up your Google Ads integration. Integrating Nimbata with Google Ads offers several advantages. It ensures that call data are accurately tracked and attributed to the correct Google Ads campaigns and automates the process of data sharing. With accurate call tracking data, you can identify which campaigns are driving high-quality leads, allocate your marketing budget more effectively, and improve ROI.

Go to Integrations > Google Ads

Click on the green “Connect” button.

Choose your Google Ads account and give permission to Nimbata.

Should things be okay, you will see your account linked to Nimbata.

Step 5: Set up conversions in Google Ads

Conversions in Google Ads are actions that you want users to take after interacting with your ads. These actions can vary depending on your business goals, but they typically include activities like making a purchase, filling out a form, or, in this context, making a phone call.

Conversions help you measure the success of your advertising campaigns. By tracking conversions, you can determine which ads are driving valuable actions and which are not. They also allow you to optimize your campaigns for better performance, improve ROI and gain insights into user behavior, helping you refine your website and ad content to better meet user needs and expectations. Most of all, feeding conversion data into the Google Ads algorithm helps it learn and improve over time. The algorithm uses this data to optimize ad delivery, showing your ads to users who are more likely to convert.

Let’s see now how you can set up conversions in your Google Ads account.

Go to your Google Ads account, click the “Create” button, and select “Create conversion action.” Alternatively, go to Goals > Summary and click on the “+Create conversion action”.

Click on “Import”, then on “CRMS, files, or other data sources” and finally on “Track conversions from clicks”. Not calls, don’t make the same mistake many do.

You can skip the data source and click continue.

Choose whatever conversion goal you want and add a name. Click “Add”.

And then “Save & continue”.

Finally, click on “Done” and your conversion is ready!

Your new conversion should be listed as “Inactive” on the Summary page of your Google Ads account. It will be activated once Nimbata starts sending conversions to it.

Step 6: Set up conversions in Nimbata

Go back to Nimbata, Integrations > Google Ads

Choose your Ads account and the conversion you created.

You can set the conversion to fire after every call, but we suggest you filter calls to make sure that you do not feed your Google Ads account with bad leads and irrelevant calls. Remember what we said above, about feeding the algorithm with useful data.

To do that, click on the “+Create Automation” option.

This will take you to the Automation builder. Automations are rules or sequences of actions that are automatically executed when certain conditions are met. In call tracking, automations can be set up to handle calls based on criteria like call duration, keywords used, or caller history.

Automations streamline workflows by handling routine tasks automatically, saving time and reducing manual effort. They help in painting consistency and feed high-quality data to the Google Ads algorithm. This improves the accuracy of your conversion tracking and leads to better optimization of your ad campaigns.

At the Automation builder, choose to trigger the automation after a call ends. Then add your filtering criteria and add actions for the automation to do once these criteria are met.

The primary action you want it to do is to push the call to Google Ads. You can also have Nimbata tag the call.

You can also edit the name of the Automation. When done, click on “Publish”.

If you go back to Google Ads integration, you should see the Automation to be already chosen.

We highly recommend creating multiple Automations to differentiate between the different qualities among your call conversions and leads, such as answered calls, sales calls, and quality calls. This will enhance your call conversion tracking setup and provide rich information to your call reporting. In this case, prioritize your sales or quality conversions depending on your phone call volume as primary conversions, and designate the rest as secondary.

Use custom tags and the proper criteria to provide as accurate data as possible to the Automation and Google. This method helps increase the quality of the leads sent back to your Google Ads account and aids Google in understanding what constitutes a quality conversion.

Step 7: Pass value to Google Ads (optional)

Value passing in Google Ads refers to the process of sending specific values associated with conversions to Google Ads. This can include monetary values, such as the revenue generated from a sale, or other quantifiable metrics that indicate the value of a conversion. By passing conversion values to Google Ads, you can track the return on investment (ROI) for your ad spend more accurately and use bidding strategies that optimize for return on ad spend (ROAS) rather than just conversions.

With value data, you gain deeper insights into which campaigns, ad groups, or keywords are driving the most valuable conversions, enabling you to allocate your budget more effectively.

If you want to pass value to Google Ads, you need to set up a new conversion

Click on “Add conversion”.

Select the same account and a conversion. Check the “Include value” box and then create a new Automation.

When you go back to the Automation builder, you will choose for it to trigger when a user performs an action. This means that someone who has access to your Nimbata account has done something to the call, in this case, they have added a value. 

Finish setting up your Automation by sending the call to your Google Ads account and adding any other criteria or actions you want. Click “Publish”.

Step 8: Enhanced conversion tracking (optional)

Enhanced conversion tracking allows you to send hashed or encrypted user data, such as email addresses or phone numbers, to Google Ads. This data is used to improve the accuracy of conversion measurement while maintaining user privacy. By sending hashed user data, you can achieve more accurate conversion tracking, especially in cases where cookies may be blocked or restricted.

The additional data provided by enhanced conversions can enrich your reporting, giving you deeper insights into user behavior and campaign performance.

To do that, go to your Google Ads account, Goals > Settings and enable Enhanced conversions.

Then, go back to Nimbata, and at the Google Ads integration click on the “Use enhanced conversion” box.

To make sure that you have set up everything correctly, go to your website and trick your browser by making it think that you came from Google Ads. You can do that by writing “?gclid-tests” at the end of the search bar. Then, refresh your website and check whether your phone numbers are changing.

Track calls from Google call extensions

Call extensions are a convenient way for users to call your business directly, by simply clicking on a button on your ad. Their value lies in their simplicity, since customers like it when contacting a business, is as smooth an experience as possible.

Google can track these interactions on its own with the help of Google Forwarding Numbers. But, as we said, Google only offers basic tracking capabilities. If you want to dive deeper, then you need a call tracking tool.

All you have to do is put your call tracking number instead of your business or Google Forwarding Number when you set up the call extension. This way, all your calls from this ad, will be tracked and analyzed by Nimbata or your call tracking tool of your choice.

Focus on the best & leave the rest

There is a Greek cautionary proverb that can be roughly translated to “You have spread the porridge too thinly”. It means that you are dealing with multiple things or issues or in our case, leads at the same time. This results in losing focus and wasting resources. This is why, you must only focus on high-quality leads.

Time is your most precious commodity. You can’t afford to spend it on fruitless leads that yield zero or low returns. Lead qualification is essential. Nimbata offers extensive criteria, custom tags, automations, and filtering options exactly for this reason. Because we recognize the importance of separating the wheat from the chaff.

The steps to success:

1. Acquire tracking numbers: By setting up a numbers pool, you ensure that each marketing effort is tracked accurately. This granular tracking helps you identify which campaigns are driving high-quality leads, allowing you to optimize your marketing spend effectively.
2. Assign numbers to call flows: Proper call routing ensures that high-quality leads are handled efficiently. Automated greetings, menu options, and voicemail prompts enhance the caller experience, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
3. Set up swap groups: Dynamic number insertion allows you to track the source of your calls accurately. This data is crucial for understanding which marketing channels are most effective, enabling you to focus your efforts on what works best.
4. Integrate with Google Ads: Seamless integration ensures that call data is accurately tracked and attributed to the correct campaigns. This data feeds the Google Ads algorithm, improving ad delivery and targeting over time.
5. Set up conversions in Google Ads: Defining what constitutes a high-quality lead and setting up conversions accordingly helps the algorithm understand your goals better. This leads to more effective campaigns and higher ROI.
6. Automate with Nimbata: Automations filter out low-quality calls, ensuring that only valuable data is sent to Google Ads. This improves the accuracy of your conversion tracking and helps in optimizing your ad campaigns for better performance.
7. Pass value to Google Ads: By including value data in your conversions, you gain deeper insights into which campaigns are driving the most valuable actions. This allows you to allocate your budget more effectively and optimize for ROAS.
8. Enhanced conversion tracking: Implementing enhanced conversions improves the accuracy of your tracking, especially in environments where cookies may be restricted. This ensures that you capture all relevant data while maintaining user privacy.

How to evaluate the quality of a lead:

• Source of the lead: Knowing the origin of the lead is foundational. It helps determine which marketing channels and campaigns are most effective, allowing you to optimize your strategies accordingly.
• Details of the lead: Demographic data, job titles, and conversation sentiment provide insights into the lead’s relevance and potential value. By analyzing these details, you can better nurture high-quality leads and improve your conversion rates.

By following these steps and utilizing the tools provided by Nimbata and Google Ads, you can focus on high-quality leads and leave the rest behind.

Takeaway

Setting up call conversions will allow you to feed Google the data it needs to work for you properly. Better data equals more effective campaigns, higher-quality leads, and improved ROI.

Don’t let outdated practices hold you back. Feed your Google Ads algorithm the data it craves, and watch as your campaigns become more targeted and successful. With just a few minutes of setup, you can significantly enhance your ad performance and achieve better results.