According to Google, 61% of internet users and over 80% of online millennials start shopping on one device but complete their purchase on another device.
In order to track these customers as they go from device to device moving further along the sales process, Google introduced cross-device conversions three years ago.
Soon, cross-device conversions will be automatically included in the Conversions column. Google says this will help give you the most complete view possible, while helping you measure the full value of mobile ads.
Google touts that advertisers using cross-device conversion tracking have measured an average of 16% more conversions. The cross-device insights have led to a more complete and accurate view of ad performance, which can help advertisers guide the direction of their next campaigns.
Starting on August 16th, Google will start making cross-device conversion automatically available by default. For advertisers with existing AdWords accounts, this change will start rolling out as the default conversion type on September 6, 2016 – but they can manually start doing it now.
This will assist advertisers but also serves Google’s best interests as well. By drawing more attention to the performance of mobile ads, Google could end up encouraging advertisers to buy more mobile ads and thus Google makes more money.
For advertisers, the obvious benefit is that they have easier access to information about how their ads are performing across all devices. This information could also provide valuable information about a business’s customers.
For example, are customers more receptive to desktop or mobile ads? Are your customers more likely to view and ad on mobile but complete their purchase on desktop? You can learn a lot about your buying process of your customers with cross-domain tracking. Expect to see the information featured more prominently after August 16th.
