Google Brings Data Capture To Search, Video, Discovery & Display 

Lead generation is the lifeblood of many marketing and communications plans.

Whether its driving email newsletter signups, competitions entrants or data capture for a sales team, many live and die by their monthly Cost Per Actions (CPAs).

There are various tactics which can be employed to grow monthly volumes and reduce costs, but probably the quickest win is to reduce friction in the process.

Which is why, for example, Facebook lead ads are so popular.

Although do be warned, lead quality can be a bit patchy if they're not set up well.

For organisations that skew more towards lead generation, social channels tend to rule the roost, but within recent times we have finally started to see Google making headway.

Kim Spalding, Director of Product Management, Small Business Ads

"With new lead form extensions in Google Ads, you can now show a lead form directly in your ad, giving people an easy way to share information as they search, discover and watch relevant content.

This seamless flow can help you find high-quality leads in a more efficient way. Right now, this works with ads on Search, YouTube and Discovery and is available globally. Later this year, we'll begin rolling these out across Display campaigns."

With performance even more in the spotlight, these recent Google updates are a welcome addition for digital marketers.

How Do They Work?

As per Facebook's version, lead forms appear after users express interest in your ads by clicking on them. Presently, Google's version is only available on mobile devices.

If a user is logged into their Google account, then lead forms can be automatically filled in and submitted with just a few clicks.

For users who you are not (let's be honest when does Google ever let you out?!?) then the ad will expand into a conversion form, that users can fill out and submit without leaving the screen they're on.

In either setting reducing friction.

For video campaigns, lead forms are only available on TrueView for Action campaigns. Which are, in turn, are only available on Sales, Leads or Website traffic goals.

Forms can be added during campaign creation and in your campaign settings.

Whoever said that Google Ads were unintuitive…

Likewise, with video, you can choose the type of leads that you want to gather. You can choose to reach people more likely to be interested in your product ('higher intent') or reach a higher number of people ('more volume') with your lead form.

For search campaigns, lead forms can be added to campaigns as extensions.

Data, Data Everywhere

Since launching first on Search last year, Google has expanded the field options available for data collection.

Advertisers can now also opt to collect city, state, country as well as business contact information. Including company name, job title, work email, work phone.

In addition to the standard set of questions, there are also more specific questions for each vertical, e.g. home buyers, auto, job hunters, etc.

Within the real estate sector, for example, questions include:

• What type of property are you looking for?
• What community are you interested in?
• What price range are you looking for?
• Are you looking for properties that allow pets

If the default options are not sufficient, then advertisers can choose to write custom questions to ask on the form.

When leads are captured, they can be downloaded and managed in a CSV file. However, it's only possible to download leads from the last 30 days.

Or you can use a webhook to automate lead data imports into your CRM or customer data platform, which makes more sense. This is where tools like Zapier come in.

For the more acquisition-centric, Google is building out its capabilities to map offline outcomes to online campaigns.

Alongside this, Google is also working to better integrate with customer relationship systems to provide a more holistic view of the user journey.

Kim Spalding, Director of Product Management, Small Business Ads

"Ultimately, your goal isn't just to drive leads—it's to turn those leads into sales. To optimise for this goal in Google Ads, you need to connect your converted leads to your online campaigns.

To help you do that, we're making it easier to import offline conversions just by using the information people already give you in your lead form.

As a result, it will take less time to integrate with your customer relationship management (CRM) system. Look for this feature to roll out later this year."

After all, leads are nice, but you can't beat the real thing.

Watch this space.