View-Through Conversions Now Available in Google Shopping
According to Google, the “View-through conversions” column tells you when customers see, but don’t interact, with your ad, and then later complete a conversion on your site.
This is different from the data currently available in other conversion columns, which only record when customers interact with an ad and then complete a conversion on your site.
Keep in mind, View-through conversions have always been a metric on the Display Network and YouTube, but this is new data for search and Shopping.
Introducing View-Through Conversions for Google Shopping
We know each customer journey is unique and tracking the different pathways that shoppers take to discover and make a purchase can better inform a retailer’s marketing strategy.
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But because there are so many different touchpoints available within an online purchase such as email, social media, PPC, display, and video ads, it can be challenging to understand how each of these channels relate and support each other.
Even if an immediate click doesn’t occur – ads can attract consumers with an interest in your product or brand and have a significant impact on your growth.
Historically, it has been difficult to track and credit the impact of these marketing efforts.
Now, VTCs automatically exclude conversions from people who have also interacted with any of your other ads.
Pro-Tip: Keep in mind “View-through conversions” are not included in the “Conversions” column, only in the “View-through conversions” column.
How important are View-Through Conversions?
Customers are consistently checking out different products and browsing news or their favorite apps.
Maybe they came across an ad with a product they were interested in but decided not to click on it or continued reading a news article. Later they could remember the ad and go directly to the site to make a purchase.
That’s when VTCs become useful to advertisers because they help to understand the impact of your ad impressions on campaign performance.
According to Josh Brisco, Manager Retail Search Operations at CPC Strategy, with the addition of View-through conversions – this might be good for advertisers that are trying to get a certain amount of impressions, focus on brand awareness, or adopt an alternative attribution model.
Google’s View-Through Conversion Window Update
Starting March 29th, 2017, Google is updating the default window for view-through “conversion actions” from 30 days to 1 day.
According to the announcement, this change applies to new and existing “conversion actions” that use the default window for VTCs and doesn’t affect conversion windows for “interactions”, like clicks and video views.
This means only “conversion actions” that happen within one day of an ad impression will be reported as VTCs by default.
Pro-Tip: According to Google, this change applies to new and existing conversion actions that use the default window for VTCs (https://goo.gl/hIHV5t) and doesn’t affect conversion windows for interactions, like clicks and video views (https://goo.gl/6VvjRd).
If you want to customize the view-through conversion window, you can still do so under “Conversions” in the Tools tab (https://goo.gl/PKNpln).
To learn more about view-through conversions, email [email protected]
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