How does Bing Ads handle view-through conversions?

Bing Ads (now Microsoft Advertising) tracks view-through conversions to help advertisers understand the impact of ad impressions that didn't result in immediate clicks but led to a conversion later. View-through conversions allow you to measure the effectiveness of ads in influencing users even if they didn't click on the ad at first.

Here's a detailed breakdown of how Bing Ads handles view-through conversions:

1. What is a View-Through Conversion?
A view-through conversion occurs when a user views an ad (but doesn't click on it) and then later completes a conversion (such as a purchase, form submission, or sign-up) on your website. This helps capture the effect of ad exposure on conversions, even when a user doesn't interact with the ad directly.

2. How View-Through Conversion Tracking Works
In Bing Ads, view-through conversion tracking works as follows:

Ad Impressions: When a user sees an ad (whether a text ad, shopping ad, or display ad) but doesn't click it, the system logs an impression. If the user later completes a conversion on your website, the conversion is tracked as a view-through conversion.

Time Frame: Microsoft Advertising gives advertisers the ability to set a view-through conversion window, typically up to 30 days. This means that if a user sees your ad, doesn't click it, but converts within this window, the conversion will be attributed to that impression.

Attribution: View-through conversions are attributed to the impression of the ad, not a click. This helps determine the effectiveness of ad impressions in driving conversions that otherwise wouldn't be directly linked to clicks.

Tracking Mechanism: The Universal Event Tracking (UET) tag plays a critical role in tracking view-through conversions. The UET tag is placed on your website to track when conversions occur. The system associates those conversions with ad impressions (even when no click is made) using cookies or tracking pixels.

3. Customizing the View-Through Conversion Window
Microsoft Ads allows advertisers to customize the view-through conversion window, which determines how long after viewing the ad a conversion can still be attributed. The standard window is 30 days, but you can adjust it depending on the sales cycle of your products or services.

Example: If you sell products with a longer sales cycle (e.g., high-ticket items like cars or electronics), you might want to extend the window to 60 or 90 days. This gives more time for users to complete a conversion after being exposed to your ad.

4. Impact on Reporting
View-through conversions are reported separately from click-through conversions. In the conversion reporting section of Bing Ads, you'll see a distinction between:

Click-through conversions: These are conversions resulting from users clicking on the ad.

View-through conversions: These are conversions attributed to users who viewed the ad but did not click it.

This separation allows you to analyze how much influence your ads have had through impressions alone, helping you evaluate the incremental impact of ad exposure.

5. Attribution Models for View-Through Conversions
You can use various attribution models to understand how view-through conversions fit into the broader customer journey:

Last Click: A view-through conversion is attributed to the last click before the conversion.

Linear: Credit is distributed equally among all touchpoints (clicks and views) leading to the conversion.

Time Decay: More credit is given to interactions closer to the conversion.

Position-Based: More credit is assigned to the first and last interactions, with less weight on the middle interactions.

These models help you assess whether view-through conversions play a significant role in your overall conversion path or if clicks are the primary driver of sales or actions.

6. Benefits of Tracking View-Through Conversions
Tracking view-through conversions offers several benefits:

Better Understanding of Ad Impact: View-through conversions help you measure the effectiveness of ads that influence potential customers even if they don't immediately engage.

Optimizing Brand Awareness: If you're running branding or awareness campaigns, view-through conversions help you measure the influence of your ad impressions on subsequent conversions.

Improved Budget Allocation: By understanding which ads drive view-through conversions, you can allocate budget more effectively to the ads and campaigns that influence conversions, even if they don't generate direct clicks.

7. Limitations of View-Through Conversion Tracking
While view-through conversions are valuable, there are some limitations:

Attribution Bias: View-through conversions may lead to over-attribution since you may be attributing a conversion to an ad impression when other factors also contributed.

Cookie Clearing: If a user clears their cookies, the view-through conversion might not be tracked, as the tracking data is tied to cookies.

Longer Conversion Windows: A longer view-through conversion window may result in less accurate attribution, as users may convert due to other influences outside of the ad view.

8. How to Set Up View-Through Conversion Tracking
Install UET Tag: Ensure you have the Universal Event Tracking (UET) tag set up on your website to track conversions.

Configure Conversion Goals: Set up conversion goals in Bing Ads to track specific actions (like purchases, sign-ups, etc.) that you want to associate with view-through conversions.

Enable View-Through Conversion Tracking: In the Bing Ads interface, enable the view-through conversion option under campaign settings for display ads, or you can adjust settings in the Audience Targeting or Microsoft Audience Network options to track view-through conversions.

Review Reports: Check the conversion reporting section in Bing Ads to see the breakdown of click-through versus view-through conversions.

Summary:
Bing Ads tracks view-through conversions when users see an ad but do not click on it, and later complete a conversion. These conversions are tracked through the UET tag and attributed to the ad impression, helping advertisers understand the influence of their ads even without direct clicks. By customizing the view-through conversion window and using attribution models, advertisers can optimize their campaigns and allocate budgets effectively.