Setting up conversions tracking monetary transactions

Whether you use Google Ads website conversion tracking, or you’re importing Goals into your account from Google Analytics, follow these recommendations and requirements for tracking monetary transactions. 

Why use ecommerce conversion tracking?

• See which keywords, ads, ad groups, and campaigns are best at driving valuable customer contributions.

• Understand your return on investment (ROI) and make better informed decisions about your ad spend.

• Use Smart Bidding strategies (such as Maximize Conversions, target CPA, and target ROAS) that automatically optimize your campaigns according to your business goals.

• See which locations are helpful to meeting your marketing goals. View your conversion data by geography to see how your advertising performance varies across different locations. If you find that traffic from certain areas is more profitable, you might want to invest more in those locations

Save the Conversion Category to Purchase/Sale

Use the conversion category Purchase/Sale for conversion actions tracking a monetary goal to comply with Ad Grants policy. All non-monetary actions must be removed from this category.

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
2. In the upper right corner, click the tool icon , and under "Measurement," click "Conversions.
3. Click the name of the monetary conversion you wish to edit the category to view the Details page.
4. Select Edit Settings.
5. Click Category to expand the section.
6. From the dropdown menu select Purchase/Sale.
7. Click Save.

Track values

Add conversion values to find out the financial impact your ads are having on your nonprofit and optimise your budget towards attracting more paid supporters. 

Setup value tracking

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
2. In the upper right corner, click the tool icon , and under "Measurement," click "Conversions.
3. Click the name of the monetary conversion you wish to edit the category to view the Details page.
4. Select Edit Settings.
5. Next to “Value,” select how to track the value of the conversion.
   • Use the same value for each conversion. Enter the amount each conversion is worth to your nonprofit. Ensure this value is accurate for the specific action you’re tracking. If you are tracking variable basket amounts set an accurate average value of your online transactions.
   • [Recommended] Use different values for each conversion. 
     • Add a value to Google Analytics goals or setup Ecommerce if you are processing sales or donations on your site, and import the transactions into your Google Ads account. 
     • If you are using Google Ads website tracking, you’ll need to customize your tag to track transaction-specific values. 
     • If you are using a third party payment processor, import those goals into the Google Ads interface. Reach out to your processor for support, or visit our Help Center for guidance if you are using Classy, Frontstream Artez or Blackbaud Luminate.

Review the average conversion value of your conversion actions tracking monetary goals and ensure they are reflecting an accurate amount. You can enter the value in your local currency not converted despite the account using USD.  

Track every action of monetary value taken by the same user 

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
2. In the upper right corner, click the tool icon , and under "Measurement," click "Conversions.
3. Click the name of the monetary conversion you wish to edit the category to view the Details page.
4. Select Edit Settings.
5. Next to “Count,” select Every. This setting is best for sales/donations/purchases/bookings, when every conversion likely adds value for your nonprofit.

Extend the window that a conversion is counted after someone clicks on your ad

Set your conversion window to 90 days so you can capture supporters converting up to 3 months after they click on your ad.  

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
2. In the upper right corner, click the tool icon , and under "Measurement," click "Conversions.
3. Click the name of the monetary conversion you wish to edit the category to view the Details page.
4. Select Edit Settings.
5. Click Conversion window and select how long to track conversions after an ad interaction from the drop-down. 90 days is recommended to capture longer purchasing cycles, like donations.

Ensure all conversion actions with a monetary value are included in "Conversions"

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
2. In the upper right corner, click the tool icon , and under "Measurement," click "Conversions.
3. Click the name of the monetary conversion you wish to edit the category to view the Details page.
4. Select Edit Settings.
5. Click Include in “Conversions”. This setting—selected by default—lets you decide whether or not to include data for this conversion action in your "Conversions" reporting column. Select “Yes” to include data from this important conversion action in your "Conversions" reporting column and use it to influence your Smart Bidding strategy.

Understand what ads attribute to your conversions 

Change the attribution model setting for your conversion actions to Time Decay or Linear. Splitting up a single conversion across all steps on the conversion path can give a clearer sense of a keyword’s value.

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
2. In the upper right corner, click the tool icon , and under "Measurement," click "Conversions.
3. Click the name of the monetary conversion you wish to edit the category to view the Details page.
4. Select Edit Settings.
5. Select Attribution model. 
6. From the Dropdown menu, select Linear, Position-based, Data-driven or Time decay. We recommend Time decay, which gives more credit to clicks that happened closer in time to the conversion.

Set your bid strategy to Maximize Conversions 

Use a conversion based Smart Bidding strategy and let the system bid higher for an audience more likely to complete your online goals. 

Ad Grants has a limitation of $2 Cost-per-click (CPC) but to help Grantees attract more meaningful visitors this to CPC can be exceeded for conversion based Smart Bidding strategies.

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
2. In the page menu on the left, click Campaigns.
3. Select the campaign you want to edit.
4. Click Settings in the page menu for this campaign.
5. Open Bidding and then click Change bid strategy.
6. Select Maximize Conversions, Target CPA, or Target ROAS from the drop-down menu. We recommend Maximize Conversions. 
7. Click Save.