Data insights
11. September 2023
Offline conversions: For those who do not run an online shop
“Offline conversions” is a term within digital marketing where you notify Google Analytics or Meta when an enquiry “in the real world” has become a lead, a sale, or both.
“Offline conversions” is a term within digital marketing where you notify Google Analytics or Meta when an enquiry “in the real world” has become a lead, a sale, or both.
In other words, you notify Google Analytics and Meta when there is a positive development in any of the conversions these channels have delivered to your business.
This means you can attribute conversion values back to older enquiries, so marketing gets input that reflects reality.
If you know what “attribute back” means, and you have a product with long decision-making processes, you will find this extremely interesting. 😉
After reading this post, you should be able to assess whether offline conversions are something you need to concern yourself with.
You will also understand why I think it is an INSANELY great opportunity.
Note: As the setup requires help from a developer (someone who can code), I will not be providing you with a guide on how to set up the tracking. As a layperson, you cannot do this yourself.
Who should consider offline conversions?
This concept is particularly interesting for companies that do not run an online shop, where conversions are often viewed as a concrete sale in the shop.
If you recognise any of the 4 situations below, you should consider looking into offline conversions:
- You spend +15,000 DKK/month on advertising and actively work with your marketing.
- Your potential customers are worth +5,000 DKK each.
- Your product has a long decision-making process. In the digital world, anything over 30 days is a long time, because all cookies have long since been killed.
- Your customers have a high customer lifetime value.
Whatever industry you operate in is irrelevant, as everyone from bricklayers and estate agents to robotics companies and medtech should use offline conversions.
What are offline conversions?
In online marketing, conversions are often defined as a sale or an action on a website.
However, for many companies the conversion process is more complex.
An offline conversion occurs when a potential customer takes an action that does not immediately lead to a sale, but which in the longer term may result in a sale or a customer enquiry.
For example, a manufacturing company may receive an enquiry via a contact form on its website.
This enquiry is not necessarily a sale, but it may be a lead or a potential customer showing interest in their services.
Through ongoing dialogue and follow-up, this enquiry can gradually lead to an agreement and thus an offline conversion.
Offline conversions can also include other actions, such as a customer consultation, a product presentation, or a sales valuation.
It is important to understand that offline conversions are a crucial part of the sales process, especially for companies that do not operate in a purely online world.
Example of offline conversions in Google Ads:
- You conclude that a given contact-form submission is a lead.
- A “Lead” conversion is now sent to Google Ads via API.
- One month later, you conclude that the lead became a customer.
- A “Purchase” conversion is now sent to Google Ads via API
Now Google Ads can be set to optimise for as many “Purchase” conversions as possible rather than just “enquiries”.
This means your campaigns no longer target spam, salespeople trying to sell you something, job seekers, and the like—but real customers.
Get a more nuanced picture of reality
Offline conversions give you a better data foundation for decision-making. The data is sent directly to GA4, Google Ads, or Meta Ads, which means the platforms can also automatically make bid adjustments based on the feedback you provide.
As a result, offline conversions provide a more nuanced picture of your marketing effectiveness and help you make better decisions based on your reality.
By measuring offline conversions, you can gain a better understanding of which channels, campaigns, and actions actually lead to sales or customer enquiries.
When you focus on offline conversions, you can optimise your marketing to attract more real customers and avoid spam, salespeople, or other irrelevant enquiries.
You can also adjust your campaigns and bidding strategies to maximise the number of actual sales or qualified leads.
How offline conversions work
To measure offline conversions, you need a structured method for tracking and recording the relevant actions.
Here is a step-by-step guide to how offline conversions work:
Step 1:
Contact forms and identification codes: When a potential customer fills out a contact form on your website, you must ensure that the contact form includes identification codes that can be tracked.
These identification codes can be a Google Analytics ID (Session ID), a Google Ads ID (gclid), and a Meta ID (fbclid).
Step 2:
Registering and saving identification codes: When a contact form is submitted, the included identification codes will be registered and saved in your database or CRM system. This allows you to follow up on the enquiry later and measure whether it leads to an offline conversion.
Step 3:
When you follow up on an enquiry, you can assess whether it leads to a lead or an offline conversion.
For example, you can conclude that an enquiry is a lead once you have had an initial conversation or presentation with the potential customer.
Step 4:
Once you have concluded that an enquiry is an offline conversion, you can send conversion data to relevant platforms such as Google Ads or Meta Ads via API.
This enables you to optimise your campaigns, overall efforts, and bidding strategies based on actual offline conversions rather than just enquiries or leads.
By implementing a structured method for measuring offline conversions, you can gain a better data foundation for decision-making and optimise your marketing to attract real customers.
Implementing offline conversion measurement
Implementing offline conversion measurement requires technical knowledge and developer assistance (code). There are different methods for collecting and sending conversion data via API. Here are some options:
- Manual setup: You can manually implement identification codes and conversion measurement in your contact form and CRM system. This requires coding and technical expertise.
- CMS integration: If you use a Content Management System (CMS) such as WordPress or Shopify, you may be able to find plugins or integration solutions that make it easier to implement offline conversion measurement. These plugins can automate the process and make it easier for you to collect and send conversion data.
- Morningtrack: In the future, you may be able to use tools such as Morningtrack to implement offline conversion measurement without needing deep technical knowledge. Morningtrack is an example of a platform that aims to make it easier for companies to measure and optimise offline conversions.
Regardless of which method you choose, it is important to take a structured approach and work with a developer or technical expert to ensure correct implementation of offline conversion measurement.
The good news is that setting up offline conversions is a “one-time effort”, so once they are set up, you can focus on running your marketing and sales instead.
