Key takeaways
- Offline conversions send Google Ads what happens after the form: qualification, opportunity and sale.
- There are two methods: import based on the click identifier and enhanced conversions for leads.
- Assigning values to each stage makes it possible to use value-based bidding strategies.
- In the European Economic Area, user consent must be passed on through Consent Mode.
What are offline conversions in Google Ads?
Offline conversions are business actions that take place outside the website, such as an opportunity opened or a sale closed in the CRM. They are sent to Google Ads to be matched with the click that generated the contact. That way, campaigns learn from real results and not just from form submissions.
In B2B, professional services or high-value products, the sale happens weeks after the click and away from the website. If the campaign only measures form submissions, every conversion carries the same weight. A student asking for information counts as much as the purchasing manager at a target company.
Why import conversions from the CRM?
Because Google Ads automated bidding looks for more of whatever it is told counts as a conversion. If it receives form submissions, it will find cheap form submissions. If it receives opportunities and sales, it will learn which searches, ads and audiences generate business and steer the budget towards contacts of that kind.
The effect is greatest in the most automated campaigns. Performance Max and broad match search campaigns decide on their own where and to whom ads are shown. They only get it right if the conversion signal distinguishes a good contact from an irrelevant one.
There is an additional benefit for paid campaign management. With CRM stages in Google Ads, reports show cost per opportunity and return by campaign. Budget decisions are no longer based on cost per lead.
When it is not yet worth it
If the account generates very few leads a month, or the CRM does not consistently record each contact’s progress, the import will send sparse or inconsistent data. In that case, the first step is to put the sales process and the CRM stages in order.
What methods are there for importing offline conversions?
Google Ads offers two methods. Click identifier import matches each sale to its click using the gclid parameter stored in the CRM. Enhanced conversions for leads make that match using the hashed email address or phone number from the form, and are the method Google recommends.
| Click identifier import | Enhanced conversions for leads | |
|---|---|---|
| Matching data | Click identifier stored with the lead | Hashed email or phone number from the form |
| Capture | Hidden field in the form and in the CRM | Google tag on the website |
| Reliability | Lost if the identifier is not stored | Does not depend on URL parameters |
| Maintenance | Hidden fields on every new form | One-off setup in the tag |
| Recommendation | Classic method | Method recommended by Google |
Click identifier import
When a user clicks an ad, Google appends an identifier (gclid) to the URL. The website captures it in a hidden form field and stores it in the CRM with the lead. When that lead moves to another stage, the identifier, the conversion name, the date and the value are sent to Google Ads.
For some iOS traffic, Google uses the gbraid and wbraid parameters instead of gclid, so capture needs to cover all three. It is also advisable to store the identifier in a first-party cookie, because the user may browse several pages before filling in the form.
Enhanced conversions for leads
Instead of the click identifier, they use the data the user enters in the form, usually the email address, hashed with SHA-256. When the lead progresses in the CRM, the same hashed data is sent and Google matches it with the original click. Because it does not depend on URL parameters, it copes better with redirects and multi-step forms.
Before hashing, the email address must be normalised: no leading or trailing spaces, and all in lower case. If the website and the CRM do not normalise in the same way, hashing produces different values and the conversion is not matched.
Which method to choose
For a new account, enhanced conversions for leads are the easiest option to maintain. Click identifier import still makes sense when the form does not collect an email address or phone number, or when the CRM has been storing the gclid without issues for years. Both methods can run side by side during the transition.
Which stages should you import, and at what value?
Import every relevant stage of the funnel, but mark as the primary conversion only the most advanced stage that has sufficient volume. The rest remain as secondary conversions, which appear in reports without influencing bidding, and each stage is given a value proportional to its likelihood of ending in a sale.
| Stage | Use in Google Ads | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Lead | Secondary conversion, for observation only | Low |
| Qualified lead | Primary conversion in low-volume accounts | Medium |
| Opportunity | Primary conversion when there is sufficient volume | High |
| Sale | Actual value for value-based bidding | Sale amount or margin |
The primary stage needs volume for the algorithm to learn. As a rough guide, in the accounts we manage we aim for at least 30 conversions a month per campaign or per group of campaigns with the same objective. With less volume, bidding on the sale leaves the campaign short of data, and the qualified lead is usually the right balance.
How to calculate the value of each stage
The value of a stage is obtained by multiplying the average margin of a sale by the probability that a contact at that stage ends up buying. The data comes from the CRM itself, with at least six months of history.
With an average margin per customer of €6,000 and 25% of opportunities ending in a sale, each opportunity is worth €1,500. If 40% of qualified leads become opportunities, each qualified lead is worth €600. These are example figures that should be recalculated every quarter with real data.
How to implement offline conversions step by step
Implementation involves three systems: the website, the CRM and Google Ads. This is the order we follow so that the data arrives complete from day one.
- Define the CRM stages that will be sent and the exact criteria for moving from one to the next.
- Create one conversion action per stage in Google Ads, with import as the source and the count set to “One”.
- Enable enhanced conversions for leads in the Google tag, or capture
gclid,gbraidandwbraidin hidden fields. - Store that data in the CRM against each contact and check that it is not overwritten.
- Set up the upload through the CRM’s native integration, scheduled uploads, connectors or the Google Ads API.
- Send conversions daily and within each action’s conversion window.
- Review the upload diagnostics for two weeks and fix any rejected records.
- Switch the campaigns’ goal to the chosen stage once data is arriving regularly.
The maximum click conversion window in Google Ads is 90 days. For longer sales cycles, bid on an intermediate stage, such as the opportunity, which is reached within that period.
HubSpot and Salesforce include Google Ads integrations that send stage changes without any development work. With a custom CRM or complex processes, an API connection gives more control over what is sent and when. It is a typical CRM and advertising platform integration task, part of the work described in the guide on what GTM Engineering is.
The same data flow then feeds other platforms. In Meta, conversions are sent through the Meta Conversions API. LinkedIn offers its own conversions API, which is particularly useful for campaigns targeting account lists in LinkedIn Ads.
Changing the goal without losing performance
When the primary conversion changes, automated bidding needs a learning period. Make the change one campaign at a time, starting with the one with the most volume. The target CPA or ROAS must be adjusted to the new type of conversion, which will be scarcer and more expensive than a form submission.
How does the GDPR affect offline conversions?
Sending CRM data to Google Ads is a form of personal data processing and requires a legal basis, usually consent. Since March 2024, Google has also required advertisers with users in the European Economic Area to pass on that consent through Consent Mode.
In practice, each contact in the CRM must retain the consent status with which it was recorded. Only contacts who agreed to the advertising use of their data are sent to Google Ads. The privacy policy, for its part, must mention the sharing of data with advertising platforms for measurement purposes.
SHA-256 hashing reduces the exposure of the data, but it does not anonymise it, and it is still personal data for GDPR purposes. That is why the processing should be documented in the record of processing activities, and the customer data terms that Google Ads asks you to accept should be reviewed.
Common mistakes when importing offline conversions
- Not storing the identifier or the email address when the lead comes in through another route, such as a phone call or a chat.
- Importing conversions that the website tag already measures, which duplicates results.
- Keeping the form as the primary conversion after importing the more advanced stages.
- Sending conversions outside the conversion window, which Google discards.
- Uploading data manually and sporadically, which slows down campaign learning.
- Renaming a conversion action in Google Ads without updating it in the integration.
- Sending the lead creation date as the sale date, which distorts reports by period.
The most useful check is the diagnostics for each upload in Google Ads, which show how many rows have been imported and why the rest were rejected. If the match rate is low, the cause usually lies in email normalisation or in contacts that did not come from an ad. Reconciling those figures with the CRM is part of reliable marketing analytics.
When Google Ads learns from sales rather than form submissions, the account stops chasing volume and starts looking for business.
Juan Berges, CEO of The Baller Company
Where to start
The first step is to review the CRM before Google Ads. If the stages are well defined and each contact keeps its source, enable enhanced conversions for leads. For one month, import the qualified lead as a secondary conversion. With that data you can check the match rate and the real volume, and then decide which stage becomes the primary conversion.
Frequently asked questions
How long do offline conversions take to appear in Google Ads?
Imported conversions usually take a few hours to show up in reports and are attributed to the date of the click, not the date of the upload. That is why the figures for the last few days change as new sales arrive from the CRM.
Can phone calls be imported as offline conversions?
Yes, as long as the call can be linked to a click. The usual approach is a call tracking system with dynamic numbers that stores the click identifier in the CRM. From there, the qualified call or the subsequent sale is imported.
Should you send the sale amount or the margin?
If margins vary widely between products or services, the margin gives bidding a more accurate signal of the business. If they are similar, the sale amount is simpler to maintain. Either way, the value must be calculated in the same way at every stage.
Do they work with every campaign type?
They work in any campaign that bids for conversions, including Search, Performance Max and Demand Gen. The condition is that the imported action is part of the conversion goals each campaign uses.
