How Does Microsoft Ads Conversion Tracking Work?
If you’re familiar with tracking your results in Google Ads or similar platforms, you’ll find it just as simple in […]
If you’re familiar with tracking your results in Google Ads or similar platforms, you’ll find it just as simple in Microsoft Ads (Bing). So, if you’re considering implementing conversion tracking in Microsoft Ads, here’s a simple guide to help you set up the feature and Microsoft Ads conversion tracking
What is Microsoft Ads conversion tracking?
Microsoft Ads conversion tracking is a powerful tool provided by Microsoft that enables advertisers to gauge the success of their advertising efforts by monitoring the actions users take subsequent to engaging with their ads.
Microsoft Ads conversion tracking
For e-commerce ventures, conversions typically signify purchases, which provides a clear-cut metric of value. However, the realm of online advertising extends beyond mere product sales. There exists a diverse array of business objectives, encompassing:
- Enhancing Brand Visibility: Tracking conversions can reveal the extent to which ads are bolstering brand recognition and visibility among target audiences.
- Generating Leads: Conversions can represent the acquisition of valuable leads, such as email sign-ups or inquiries, which are critical for nurturing potential customers.
- Promoting App Downloads: For businesses with mobile apps, tracking conversions can help measure the success of ad campaigns in driving app installations.
- Directing Customers to Brick-and-Mortar Stores: For businesses with physical locations, conversions may involve actions such as store visits or requests for directions, reflecting the effectiveness of online ads in driving foot traffic.
- Fostering Customer Loyalty: Conversions can also encompass actions indicative of customer engagement and loyalty, such as signing up for loyalty programs or following social media channels.
By implementing conversion tracking, advertisers gain valuable insights into the efficacy of their online ad campaigns in achieving these diverse objectives. This data enables them to optimize their strategies, allocate resources more effectively, and ultimately drive greater returns on their advertising investments.
Why use Bing conversion tracking?
Utilizing Microsoft Ads conversion tracking grants us a profound comprehension of our audience, empowering us to fine-tune our targeting parameters and connect with the most pertinent users. Now, let’s delve into the primary three advantages of employing conversion tracking for Bing:
Save time & effort
Save time & effort
In addition to providing insights into audience behavior, conversion tracking facilitates the utilization of automatic features such as campaign management, bidding optimization, tailored optimization suggestions, and precise audience targeting. While some aspects of advertising may function adequately without it, certain strategies significantly benefit from the implementation of conversion tracking. This tool not only streamlines campaign management processes but also enhances overall performance by enabling advertisers to make data-driven decisions and maximize the effectiveness of their ad spend.
Optimize and improve campaign
To comprehensively monitor your online achievements, including sales, engagement metrics, time spent on your site, pages visited, and specific actions taken, it’s essential to establish a Universal Event Tracking (UET) tag on your website. This tag enables you to capture crucial data points that reflect user interactions and conversions.
Moreover, for offline successes such as leads generated, quotes requested, and phone calls received, it’s equally important to track and analyze these metrics. Utilizing third-party call tracking services enables you to seamlessly integrate phone call data into your conversion tracking efforts, providing a holistic view of your advertising impact.
Furthermore, for businesses with mobile apps, monitoring app installations and user interactions within the app is essential for evaluating campaign effectiveness and user engagement. By tracking these achievements alongside online and offline conversions, advertisers gain a comprehensive understanding of their advertising ROI and can refine their strategies accordingly.
Enhance Microsoft Ads experience
Over a third of all tracked conversions within our network originate from broad match keywords, while approximately one-fifth stem from syndication channels. By implementing Conversion tracking, you actively contribute to optimizing the alignment of your ads with relevant search queries, thereby improving the quality and pricing controls across our network of publishers.
These refinements not only benefit our publishers but also directly impact the performance of your advertising campaigns. With more precise targeting and better alignment between ads and user intent, you can expect to see improved campaign outcomes, including higher conversion rates and better return on investment. By leveraging Conversion tracking, you play a pivotal role in driving positive results for both your business and our advertising ecosystem.
How does Microsoft Ads conversion tracking work?
Conversion tracking empowers you to monitor and analyze user interactions on your website effectively. You start by defining specific actions, such as subscribing to a newsletter, as conversion goals. When a visitor navigates to your website and successfully completes the designated action, Microsoft Advertising registers it as a conversion event. However, before classifying it as a conversion, Microsoft Advertising verifies whether the individual initially clicked on one of your ads.
How does Microsoft Ads conversion tracking work?
Microsoft Advertising acknowledges user activity as a conversion only if it can validate that the user clicked on an ad before performing the desired action, regardless of whether the action aligns with a predefined conversion goal. In instances where a user interacts with multiple ads before finalizing the action on your site, Microsoft Advertising attributes the conversion to the last clicked ad, while considering the other ad clicks as contributing to the conversion process. This attribution methodology, which assigns credit for one or more conversions to specific ad campaigns, ad groups, and keywords, is commonly referred to as conversion attribution.
By employing conversion tracking and understanding conversion attribution, advertisers gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of their ad campaigns, allowing for informed decisions regarding campaign optimization and resource allocation.
What are the types of Microsoft Ads conversions?
Microsoft Ads facilitates the tracking of diverse types of conversions, aiding advertisers in evaluating the efficacy of their campaigns based on specific user actions. Below are several typical categories of Microsoft Ads conversions:
Online conversions
Types of goals:
1- Destination URL: This involves setting a goal for users to visit a specific web page, such as a product page, article, checkout, or thank-you page.
2- Duration: This type tracks visitors who spend more than a specified time on the website or a particular page, starting from one second.
3- Pages viewed per visit: Microsoft Ads monitors users who navigate through more than a designated number of pages in a single visit.
4- Product: Utilize this conversion type to track purchases of a specific product, aiding in attributing conversions to ads displayed for that particular product or a different product within the same brand.
At this stage, you have the option to choose between two potential results for your conversion goals:
- Standard Conversion Goals: This involves actions such as downloading a newsletter, etc.
- Product Conversion Goals for Brands: This pertains to standard product conversion goals.
- Requirement: Ensure that every page on your website has a UET tag installed.
Additional features include flexible income tracking and compatibility with all types of devices.
Online conversions
Offline conversions
Types of goals:
- Bring in offline conversions: This involves tracking conversions that occur offline, such as in-store purchases or inquiries made via phone calls.
- Bring in call-based conversions: This type focuses on tracking conversions generated through phone calls initiated by users who interacted with your ads.
Requirement:
To facilitate the tracking of offline and call-based conversions, it is essential to capture the Microsoft Click ID from the ad URL and link it to the corresponding offline conversion data.
Preparing your data for import:
Download the template provided in either Excel or .csv format.
Fill in the following fields:
- Microsoft Click ID (MSCLKID): A unique 32-character ID representing the click that led to the conversion.
- Conversion Name: The name assigned to your conversion goal.
- Conversion Time: The date and time when the conversion took place.
- Conversion Value (optional): The assigned value of the conversion.
- Conversion Currency (optional): The currency associated with the conversion.
Additional features include flexible income tracking and compatibility with all types of devices.
App install conversions
Types of goals:
- App Extensions: Utilize app extensions to promote your mobile application directly within your Microsoft Advertising campaigns, enhancing visibility and encouraging downloads.
- Advertisements for app installations: These ads are specifically designed to drive installations of your mobile application, expanding your user base and increasing engagement.
Requirement:
To implement app extensions and advertisements for app installations, it is necessary to collaborate with a certified Microsoft Advertising partner. They will provide you with a software development kit (SDK) and a measurement URL to facilitate tracking and analysis of app-related conversions.
Additional features include stable revenue generation and compatibility with all types of devices for app extensions. However, app install ads are exclusive to iOS and Android platforms.
See more:
How to set up conversion tracking for Microsoft Ads
To set up Microsoft Ads conversion tracking, you should perform the following actions:
Step 1: Set up Microsoft Ads UET tag
1- Sign into your Microsoft Ads account. If you don’t have one yet, you’ll have to set it up here.
2- Navigate to the Tools option in the top navigation bar. Expand the menu and choose the UET tag from the conversion tracking section.
Set up Microsoft Ads UET tag
3- Select the option + Create UET tag to proceed.
Select the option Create UET tag
4- Enter a title for your UET tag and, if desired, include an optional description. This aids in distinguishing and identifying the UET tag, whether by indicating its purpose or your website’s name. Importantly, you can adjust the tag’s name and description later if needed. Click Save to finalize.
Input a name for your UET tag
5- You’ll see a pop-up displaying the tracking code for the UET tag. Click Copy and paste this code into the head or body section of every page on your website.
Tracking code for the UET tag
Please note that after adding the UET tag, it typically takes Microsoft about 24 hours to collect data from your website.
6- The UET tag will appear in the list of tags. Remember, just one UET tag is all you need to track all conversions on your website.
The UET tag will be visible
You also have the option to configure Microsoft Bing conversion tracking through Google Tag Manager. Simply navigate to Google Tag Manager > Tags > New > Microsoft Advertising Universal Event Tracking. If you have trouble finding it in the list, I recommend utilizing the Search feature for easier access.
Microsoft Bing conversion tracking in Google Tag Manager
Additional note: If you encounter older tutorials regarding Microsoft Bing Ads, they may mention the “Bing Ads Universal Event Tracking” tag. Please be aware that the name has been updated to “Microsoft Advertising Universal Event Tracking.”
In the tag settings, paste the ID copied from the Microsoft Ads interface. Keep the Track type as Page view. Click anywhere in the “Triggering” section and select the All pages trigger. You can customize the tag name as desired, for example, “Bing Ads – Page view.” Finally, save the tag.
Insert the ID copied from the Microsoft Ads interface
Step 2: Set your Conversion Goal
Next, let’s define the events you aim to track. For instance, if you want to monitor newsletter subscriptions, create a conversion with the subscription thank-you page set as the event page.
1- To proceed, return to the top Tools section and select Conversion goals once again.
Step 2: Set your Conversion Goal
2- Select Create conversion goal.
Select Create conversion goal
3- Provide a name for the conversion and select the conversion type from the following choices: Destination URL, Duration, Pages viewed per visit, Product, Event, Mobile app install, or Offline conversions.
Enter a name for the conversion
4- Following that, you’ll need to provide additional details about the destination URL. For example, if the URL of your “thank you” page contains /pages/thank-you, you can specify the corresponding condition in the goal details. Remember that in your specific case, the URL may vary.
Input more information
5- For Revenue Value, select “Conversion action value may vary” (e.g., based on purchase price). If no specific value is assigned, adjust the currency to match your store’s currency and enter 0 as the default value.
6- UET Tag: Make sure to select the correct UET tag, particularly if you have multiple tags. Keep in mind that certain goals may require customization of the UET tag.
Ensure you choose the appropriate UET tag
7- Adjust Scope, Count, and Conversion window according to your preferences, and then click on Save.
8- Click on Save. Your newly created goal will appear in the list of Conversion goals. If everything has been configured correctly, the goal will start tracking conversions within a few hours. To find a specific goal in the list, utilize the Search and Filter options.
Click-Save
Where to see the conversion data in Microsoft Ads?
You can find the number of conversions in different reports accessible in the Microsoft Ads interface, such as the Campaigns report. Keep an eye on the “Conv.” column, which indicates Conversions.
Where to see the conversion data in Microsoft Ads
Regarding revenue, if the column isn’t visible in your reports, you’ll need to include it. Click on the Columns icon above the table and then select Modify.
Click on the Columns icon above the table
Go to Conversions, select All conv. revenue, and click on Add next to it. That’s all! From now on, you’ll see conversion revenue metrics in your report. Those were the complete steps for setting up Microsoft Ads conversion tracking!
At CO Agency, our clients value our Microsoft Advertising services because we handle the complexities of the process for them. Additionally, they receive monthly reports on their conversion data from us.
Troubleshoot conversion tracking issues
Initially, keep in mind that Microsoft Ads may take up to 24 hours to receive data from a new UET tag or conversion goal.
1. No data in more than 24 hours
If it has been over 24 hours since you configured the UET tag or a new conversion goal, check the tracking status. You can find it in the Tracking status column under Tools > Conversion goals.
2. Unverified or Tag inactive
If the tracking status displays as Unverified or Tag inactive, utilize the UET Tag Helper browser extension to troubleshoot the problem. Common scenarios include incorrectly adding the UET tag, failing to add it to every page of your website, or inserting an incorrect UET tag.
3. No recent conversions
In case the tracking status shows as “No recent conversions,” it’s important to review your conversion goal settings thoroughly. Here are some steps to consider:
1- Verify that the conversion goal is scoped to the correct account. Check the Scope setting in the goal settings to ensure it’s associated with the appropriate account.
2- Ensure that your Conversion window is set to an adequately wide range. This setting determines the duration during which conversions are tracked after ad interactions.
3- Check the Status column for this conversion goal; it should be set to Enabled. If it’s disabled, enable it to start tracking conversions.
4- You can also test your conversion goal using the UET Tag Helper, which helps identify any potential issues. Here’s how to use it:
- Install the UET Tag Helper browser extension.
- Visit Conversion goals in your Microsoft Advertising account.
- Hover over the Tracking status for the conversion goal you want to test and select “Test this conversion goal.”
- Click the UET Tag Helper icon in your browser, enter the landing page URL associated with your conversion goal, and click “Start the test.”
- Try to trigger the conversion goal event. The test will indicate whether a conversion was found or if there are any encountered problems. If issues arise, click “View report” for instructions on resolving them.
Don’t allocate your advertising budget blindly; instead, utilize Microsoft Advertising’s conversion tracking features to optimize your Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) and make informed decisions about your campaigns’ performance.
To sum up, Microsoft Ads conversion tracking stands as a robust tool, empowering advertisers to measure and refine the effectiveness of their campaigns. Through the establishment of Universal Event Tracking (UET) tags, delineating conversion goals, and configuring relevant parameters, advertisers unlock crucial insights into user behavior on their websites. Whether tracking online or offline conversions, app installations, or other bespoke business objectives, Microsoft Ads conversion tracking offers a comprehensive solution for optimizing campaign performance.
See more:
- Discover The Differences Between Local Service Ads vs Google Ads: What’s Better?
- Google Performance Max With Advertising Using Automated Campaigns
Contact us using the information below if you have any inquiries!
CO Agency – Marketing Solutions
- Hotline: (+84) 349 824 122
- Email: coadsagency@gmail.com
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