Imagine searching on Google, clicking a paid ad, and landing on a site selling custom-made pillowcases. As you’re admiring the craftsmanship, a live chat box pops up with someone named, say, Bob, ready to help. You engage.

As the pillowcase entrepreneur, I’m thrilled! You’re having a positive experience. Bob’s expertise might even convince you to buy. Even if not, you might subscribe to the mailing list, leading to a tempting 20% discount offer in your inbox. At the very least, you’ll be added to our remarketing list, ensuring my ads remind you of Bob’s helpfulness for the next week. Now, imagine searching for a renovated apartment, also through a paid ad. This time, the live chat’s value is amplified. For a realtor, the landing page is about generating leads. There’s usually a sleek form beside the captivating photos. That elegant molding! Those built-in shelves! Is that a gas stove?

Sadly, many prospects miss even the most optimized form. But they won’t miss the live chat box! My capable office manager, Sue, can address all their queries about the listing. Parking is an extra $400 monthly. Yes, your pet bird is welcome! She can also collect their contact details. Voila! My PPC landing page just snagged a lead. But will it be tracked and credited accurately?

How Chat Support Might Be Stealing Conversions From Your PPC Campaigns

Ideally, live chat acts as a backup for securing leads. Unfortunately, many businesses don’t utilize it. Even worse, those who do often fail to track the conversions coming from that handy chat box. It’s similar to businesses neglecting call tracking and misattributing call-in leads. If you’ve perfected your landing page but paid conversions aren’t improving (while other sources thrive), untracked chat conversions could be the culprit. Luckily, tracking chat support through Google Analytics and setting up a conversion goal exportable to AdWords is possible. This gives you a more accurate view of conversion numbers and cost-per-acquisition from PPC campaigns, allowing you to focus on nurturing leads instead of puzzling over data.

Case Study: Uncovering Your Hidden Chat Support Conversions

Let’s look at a real-world example with one of my clients. Consumer Credit Compliance is a top UK FCA compliance solutions provider and my first completely self-managed account. Joining last October, they shared the common goal: more leads, less expense. Alongside launching paid search, Consumer Credit Compliance was undergoing a branding revamp: a new website with a refreshed logo, color scheme, user-friendly layout, and live chat functionality went live in mid-November.

Side note: bold fonts seem to outperform thinner ones on landing pages. Initial success was followed by an anticipated conversion boost with the new site. However, by January, things hadn’t improved; in fact, they’d worsened.

Diving Deep into Conversion Rate Optimization

To combat the downturn, we tried various optimization tactics:

• Bid adjustments.
• Time-based scheduling.
• Highly specific ad groups.
• Fresh ad and landing page copy.
• Shorter forms.
• Simplified site navigation to prevent prospects getting lost (we reduced exit points from 30 to five). Nothing worked. Analytics revealed that conversions from email and organic traffic were up, leaving paid search in the dust, seemingly unsustainable. Determined, I explored Analytics, finally stumbling upon the “Top Events” section under the “Events” tab.

There I found the “JivoSite” Event Category. A quick Google search revealed it belonged to JivoChat, a chat software. Back in GA, I clicked the event, leading me to the “Event Action” page. My random search had become quite “illuminating and useful” (thanks, Digital Humanist Stephen Ramsay – that master’s degree did have its uses!).

The screenshot shows the event divided into eight tracked actions. Focus on number four, “User gave contacts during chat,” and apply the “medium” dimension. This reveals how many times prospects shared contact info via chat, categorized by channel:

Interesting. Look at those unaccounted leads, or rather, conversions, completely missed by AdWords… Realizing prospects weren’t abandoning us, but being miscategorized, made it crucial to track “User gave contacts during chat” as an AdWords conversion.

Surprise! Chat Support Is a Conversion Rate Booster!

Since January 1, 2016, a remarkable 35% of Consumer Credit Compliance’s paid search leads originated from live chat. Without tracking, 69 prospects would’ve been misattributed, leading to a £42 difference in CPA (actual CPA: £80; untracked CPA: £122). With search campaigns optimized and generating more leads at a lower CPA, we’ve launched new initiatives. Consumer Credit Compliance now runs targeted Display campaigns for brand awareness and has implemented remarketing on AdWords and Facebook.

Setting Up Google Analytics to Track Chat Conversions

Assuming you have the GA tag on your site, go to the “Admin” tab in Analytics. Under “View” (right column), click the grey flag beside “Goals.”

Goal Setup & Description

• Choose “Custom.”
• Name your goal.
• Select “Event” as the type.

Goal Details

Use the “Category” and “Action” labels from the Events tab (see example):

For further guidance, Google offers a fantastic resource on Events. IMPORTANT: Don’t forget to import the goal into AdWords. While provider-specific tweaks might be needed, setting up tracking is usually straightforward (LiveChat, for instance, has a downloadable Analytics plug-in). Remember the 24-hour delay between GA and AdWords when tracking goals as conversions.

In Conclusion

Live chat support can be the deciding factor between a visitor becoming a lead or just another bounce.

• Untracked chat functionality equals overlooked leads, likely being misattributed.
• Not tracking online chat conversions in AdWords skews your data and inflates your CPA.