How I improve lead quality by telling Google which leads are good.

By default Google Ads believes every lead is a good lead. But that's obviously not true.

In most businesses only a small percentage of Google Ads leads turn into sales. The majority are not contactable, junk/spam or not a good fit for some or other reason.

You can give feedback on lead quality to Google and Google can use your feedback to get better quality leads.

It's called 'offline conversions'.

• Offline meaning things that happen after the lead has filled in your contact form.
• Conversions meaning the steps that a lead takes from initial enquiry to sale.

For example your conversion path might look something like:-

1. Lead fills in form.
2. Sales person contacts the lead.
3. Sales person determines if the lead is qualified.
4. Sales person prepares a quote or estimate for qualified leads.
5. Lead contracts with your business.

You could, for instance, tell Google which leads were qualified and ask Google to show your ads to people more likely to be qualified. Over time you get a higher percentage of qualified leads which leads to more sales.

Right now very few businesses take advantage of this feedback system. (I read a survey that reported that 13% of their sample were giving feedback on lead quality.) This is real waste. Where I've helped clients set this up we've seen a significant improvement in lead quality leading to a lower advertising cost per sale.

Implementing offline conversion tracking in your business.

There are 2 parts to this:-

• the initial setup
• and regular uploading of offline conversions.

I can't give you specifics on how to do either because both depend on your particular combination of website, enquiry form and CRM system.

But as an overview here's what has to be done to get set up:

• Decide what offline conversions you're going to track.
• Decide what the criteria are for each offline conversion.
• Set up a way to record which leads that meet the criteria for an offline conversion.
• Set up the offline conversions in your Google Ads.
• Adjust your contact form and CRM system to store conversion tracking information for each lead. Or, adjust the conversion tracking code on your website to pass information to Google.

Once you've got everything set up you'll upload offline conversions to your Google Ads account. This can be done manually every day/week/month or automated so you don't have to think about it. Again exactly how depends on your CRM system.

A couple more thoughts...

Which offline conversions should you upload?

If you look at the conversion path above you'll see that there are 3 conversions you could report to Google:-

• Contacted leads.
• Qualified leads.
• Contracts (sales).

You could report all three, but I've found it most useful to start by reporting qualified leads.

That's because advertising has the job of delivering qualified leads. If your ads are attracting poor quality leads you need to do something about the ads. Giving Google feedback on lead quality helps improve the advertising.

Later you could report other conversions if you wanted.

How do you decide what makes a lead qualified?

Some businesses have objective criteria for deciding if a lead is qualified:-

• A client sells in an industry where 99.9% of sales are financed by a bank. They qualify leads based on their credit score. A high credit score means they're going to be able to do a deal.

• Another client sells linen to hotels and guesthouses. For her, someone enquiring from a hotel or guesthouse is qualified. An individual wanting sheets for their house isn't.

If you don't have an objective way to decide if a lead is qualified you need to rely on personal judgement and perception. You might consider things like perceived fit, interest level and future potential

I prefer objective qualification criteria over subjective criteria whenever possible because it eliminates bias. But, you have to work with what you've got.

Yell if you want some setting this up.

Related articles

Contact method as a lead quality signal

Why agencies struggle to improve Google Ads lead quality

Why your Google Ads leads suddenly turn to junk

You Can’t Fix Lead Quality Until You Diagnose the Problem

How adding pricing to Google Ads headlines increased B2B lead qualification by 27%

How contact method influences lead quality

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