Everybody wants their ad dollars to work harder for them, right?
Seems obvious enough, but do you know what they are really doing for you in the first place? Many people run their Google Ad campaigns without ever knowing their true value because they do not know where to look to find it on Google Analytics.
Sure, you can click on the “Google Ads” tab in analytics and get the same information you are accustomed to, seeing exactly how much direct revenue your campaigns have generated. But often times your ads are playing a much bigger role in sales than you ever realize, but we can see it all thanks to assisted conversions tracking on Google Analytics.
So, what is an assisted conversion? Assisted conversions are the interactions that a customer has with your website leading up to a conversion, but not the final interaction where the conversion happens. These “assists” are assigned a value based on the worth of the transaction they contributed to. What this means is that Google Analytics tracks the entire journey of the consumer all the up to the point of the purchase and gives value to those channels that helped along the way rather than just giving all the glory to the final interaction.
To find assisted conversions in Google Analytics find the conversions tab on the sidebar, followed by multi-channel funnels, and finally clicking the on assisted conversions option. Once there, the first thing you want to is click the box above your bar graph that says Google Ads, rather than “All” so we can filter our results to just the campaigns we are running and no other channels. Then you can set your lookback window to how many days prior you would like to report on. I leave it set on 30 days meaning any interaction with my ad campaigns from the last 30 days before my date range that led to a conversion is accounted for. Once you have done these set your date range in the top right and scroll down. Now you will see the number of assisted conversions has been credited to you Google Ads campaigns, as well as the value of those conversions.
Before you go writing off your ads as unsuccessful or not giving you the return, you wanted, check the assisted conversions tab, often you’ll find your ads had a much larger role in generating revenue than you were aware of. As you continue to dig deeper you will also be able to break results down by specific campaign and even see where in the conversion process your ads land. Typically, ads are first in the process, people will see them, visit your website, leave, then return later via organic or direct traffic to convert but it depends on the customer each journey is different. In my professional experience, roughly 80% or more of assisted conversions tend to come with the ad being the customer’s first interaction.
Assisted conversions can mean a lot of things, but if you have a lot of them it does show your ads are effective and have high recall and stickiness. If someone is willing to come back to convert hours, days, or sometimes even weeks later that clearly says your ads have a lasting impact of your potential customers and there are a lot of reasons why people don’t convert on the first visit. For some, they may search while at work or on the go, and purchase when they have free time. For others, they just aren’t at the right point in the buying cycle the first time they see your ad and need more time to research and think before making a final decision. As long as they are converting, you should be happy!
Its important information hidden in plain sight, and for many users Analytics can be a confusing and overwhelming place with so much information to sift through. Knowing what you’re looking for is essential, and being able to correctly assess the success of your ad campaigns is too. Spend some time in the assisted conversions menu and see what you learn. Your ads will thank you.