AdWords Estimated Total Conversions Now Counts Activity Across Apps And Web

As apps consume more of our time on mobile devices, Google announced it is plugging what had been a growing gap for many advertisers in its Estimated Cross-Device reporting capabilities for display ads. Tuesday, the company announced advertisers will be able to get estimated conversion activity on display ads when users navigate between apps and the web or between more than one app.

Until now, cross-device conversion activity from display ads only included website visits. Advertisers will now be able to measure conversions that start with a display ad click from the web or an in-app ad, and vice versa, even if the conversion starts on one device and finishes on another.

Here are two scenarios from Google showing how the new app to web conversion estimates can work:

For example, let’s say you’re a clothing retailer. Shoppers might click your Display ad for blue jeans on their smartphones while reading the news in a browser, then buy those jeans later in your app on the same device. You’ll now be able to measure these conversions that occur between web and apps as part of Estimated Total Conversions.

Similarly, let’s say you’re the marketing manager for a hotel whose ad for a summer getaway runs in a weather app. Potential customers may click on your ad while checking the weather on their smartphones in the morning and then book rooms later in the day on your website from their computers, or with your app on their tablets. You’ll now be able to measure these conversions that start on one device and finish on another, whether between web and app or between apps.

Google uses aggregated and anonymized data sampled from users who previously signed-in to Google accounts to report Estimated Cross-Device conversions. Call conversions and in-store visits estimates are also available in AdWords.

Advertisers with apps will need to set up AdWords conversion tracking for in-app activities to get cross-device conversion data. Note that cross-device conversions that involve apps are not available in EU countries due to privacy restrictions. They are also not compatible with app install ads.

About The Author

Ginny Marvin

As Third Door Media’s paid media reporter, Ginny Marvin writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land and Marketing Land. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She provides search marketing and demand generation advice for ecommerce companies and can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

(Some images used under license from Shutterstock.com.)