What are view-through conversions?
A View-Through conversion happens when a person sees an ad, does not click the ad, but then later they complete a conversion on your site. AdWords measures these conversions as many-per-click conversions that occur within 30 days from when the person saw your ad.
View-through conversions are only applied to your image or display ads. If you are using only text ads, you will not see view-through conversion data for these ads.
How should I value view-through conversions?
View-through conversions give you a holistic view on the value of your display campaigns. Though a user may not have clicked your ad, the display ad can work to introduce users to your brand or offering. This can slip your business into a users consideration when they've started their purchase funnel process, or it can create new demand.
In either case, a customer might end up converting because of
- exposure to a previous un-clicked ad that lead them to search out your brand at a later time.
- an un-clicked ad assisting other campaign performances with previous impressions.
Measuring this ripple effect can give you a better idea on the ROI you're getting from your display campaign. It can also help you optimize campaigns based on the way users respond to your ads.
Caution to Take When Valuing View-Through Conversions
All that said, you should not assign the same value to a view-through conversion as you would a standard many-per-click conversion. You cannot be certain whether or not the display ad that a view-through conversion is attributed to was responsible for the user converting. Use view-through conversions to provide insight on the way your display campaign assists other campaigns and brand awareness.
You should assign a value to view-through conversions based on how you value many-per-click conversions. For example, you might assign 10% attribution of a conversion (and its value) to a view-through conversion, and assign the other percentages to the other sources that assisted or completed the conversion. You do not want to run the risk of double counting conversions.
Tips for Using View-Through Conversions
- You can edit the time period within which AdWords attributes a view-through conversion by going to Tools > Conversions > Click on the conversion you want to edit > Advanced tab
- Get the whole picture. In Google Analytics, you can click Conversions > Multi-Channel Funnels to get data on how different channels assisted in conversions. For the most accurate data, ensure your Google Analytics is linked with your AdWords, and that you are using proper UTM tagging for your destination URLs.