Media buying has changed massively in recent years. Optimising for lead quality within Google used to be pretty simple. You could (1) set the bids for each keyword, (2) navigate to your CRM system and (3) view which keywords converted to leads, and then sales. You could then manually increase the bids for the keywords that led to more sales, and vice versa.
Recent improvements to Google’s automation in the past few years has since changed the way that we focus on improving lead quality. When target CPA bid strategies were introduced, it became more difficult to focus your spend on particularly high-performing keywords, as Google finds you as many leads as possible, without considering if these leads would convert.
The Solution?
The solution lies in showing Google which leads are valuable. Many companies can see this lead quality data, but it is often in a CRM system or a spreadsheet, which Google cannot access or bid towards. However, through linking your CRM system and importing sales data into the platform, you can indicate to Google which sales are valuable, and the revenue associated respectively.
Google’s automated bidding will then take into consideration leads that have converted offline. It receives a full picture of the customer journey, ultimately enabling you to bid towards value. This will help you generate the maximum amount of sales revenue, whilst the algorithm takes care of lead quality.
How Do I Implement This?
Feeding the algorithm this data can also help you progress your digital maturity. Below, you can see the journey of sending revenue data from your CRM to Google for lead forms.
Firstly, a user clicks on an ad and an enquiry is made. This is sent to the CRM with a GCID, a Google Click ID, which is a unique ID created for each click that allows Google to link it back to an advert and keyword. It is contained in a hidden field, which you can ask your developer to add to the lead form: the GCID will be dynamically inserted using a piece of code.
You can then link the CRM with Google Ads. Some platforms have existing native integration, such as Hubspot and Salesforce. If it doesn’t, you can import sales to Google via offline tracking.
You can then move from target CPA to maximise conversion value, or ROAS: Google’s algorithm will then optimise for revenue, generating the highest quality leads.
Our 3-Point Checklist
We advise running through this 3-point checklist before moving towards value-based bidding.
- 50 conversions a month
If you have fewer than this, try moving the conversion up the funnel. For example, move to an SQL or MQL as a conversion action, as opposed to the sale.
- 90 days lead to a sale
- Link CRM with Google
Matt McGillicuddy, our partner at Infinity, also provides some invaluable insights on beginning this data journey, specifically how to send revenue data to Google Ads from phone calls.
Phone calls on average convert ten to fifteen times more revenue than web leads, and this process is also approximately 30% faster. By tracking calls, you can connect these to sales outcomes and values and identify which calls are the most profitable.
Infinity uses a tool called Smartmatch, that doesn’t require CRM integrations or developer time. Linking it with Google requires four key steps:
- Upload your CSV with sales data
- Map your data with the sales values, and the phone calls
- Plug this into Google, or your bidding platform
- Optimise for profit: the algorithm will now make more informed decisions
The Impact Of Integrating Your CRM With Google
By furthering the digital maturity of our clients through this method, we have seen particularly impressive results in improving lead quality. Allica Bank, one of our clients, saw a 45% increase in MQLs, and an 18% increase in lead to MQLs.
Similarly, Stoneacre, one of Infinity’s clients, saw a 21% increase in AOV from calls, in addition to a 79% increase in PPC clicks to calls.
If you are interested in learning more, book a one-to-one consultation with Wes, and you can also watch the full webinar here. Read more about other lead quality strategies here.