Offline conversions: why you should no longer target leads
When it comes to digital marketing in B2B, we often have one weakness: we love leads. As soon as someone fills out a form or downloads a whitepaper and leaves their details behind, the flag goes up. But is that really a conversion?
For many companies, filling out is often just the beginning of a longer customer journey, not the end point. This requires a drastic change in how we look at leads and conversions. Not focusing on numbers or volume, but on value.
In a B2B customer journey, it takes an average of weeks or months before a lead becomes a customer.
From quantity to quality
With offline conversions via Google Offline Conversion Tracking (OCT) you can see exactly the value of your leads. Not just a whitepaper download, but converted leads that actually become customers.
To be able to see this, it is essential to send the GCLID (Google Click ID) from your forms and enrich it with the conversion data from your CRM. This way you not only know which campaigns generate the most clicks or leads, but also which generate the most turnover:
For example, you will get answers to the following questions:
- Which click led to a quote?
- Which campaign delivered a customer?
- Where is my highest customer value?
Why isn't everyone doing this already?
However, many companies still do not work with offline conversions. This is due to a number of reasons:
- Technical hurdles: the connection between your website, CRM and Google Ads requires collaboration between marketing, sales and development
- Insufficient knowledge: often marketers do not know that this is possible or how it works exactly
- Privacy concerns: Sharing customer data with Google raises understandable GDPR questions
Fortunately, these are not obstacles. You do not have to share sensitive customer data with Google. The only thing that is returned is the GCLID (Google click ID) and an action (for example 'accept quote'). Google links such information to the original click without personal data.
How does it work exactly?
It's quite simple, but it does require a little technical approach:
- Export conversion data (e.g. in a spreadsheet) from your CRM
- Shoot this data back to Google Ads
- Google matches the data with previous clicks based on GCLID (Google Click ID)
The result? Your campaigns provide insight and are judged on actual customer value, not on the number of leads.
Why should you start this today?
The collaboration between marketing and sales is becoming increasingly important and offline conversions are an important bridge. It ensures:
- more insight into which campaigns really make an impact
- more focus on ROI instead of noise
- more focused strategic choices in the long term
- sustainable customer relationships instead of quick hits
Conclusion
Measure value, not leads
You want to know what really works, not what looks good on paper. By measuring offline conversions, you shift the focus from superficial micro-goals like 'number of leads' to what really matters: turnover, customer value and impact. This way you make choices that contribute to long-term growth