What are the options for tracking subscription-based conversions in Bing Ads?

Tracking subscription-based conversions in Bing Ads (Microsoft Advertising) is possible through the platform's Universal Event Tracking (UET) system. This allows advertisers to monitor various types of conversions, including subscription sign-ups, renewals, or cancellations. Here's how you can set up tracking for subscription-based conversions:

1. Set Up UET (Universal Event Tracking) Tag
The first step in tracking subscription-based conversions is setting up a UET tag on your website. This tag will allow Bing Ads to track actions taken by users, such as when a user subscribes to a service, completes a sign-up, or renews a subscription.

Step 1: Add the UET tag code to all pages on your website where conversion tracking is relevant (e.g., subscription sign-up, checkout confirmation pages, etc.).

Step 2: Define specific conversion actions related to subscriptions, like when a user completes a subscription form, confirms their payment, or reaches the "thank you" page after subscribing.

2. Define Subscription-Based Conversion Goals
Once the UET tag is installed, you can define conversion goals related to subscriptions, such as:

New Subscriptions: Track when a user completes the subscription process (e.g., clicks the "Subscribe" button and lands on a confirmation page).

Subscription Renewals: If you offer subscription renewals, you can track when users renew their subscriptions (e.g., the renewal confirmation page).

Free Trial Conversions: For services offering free trials, track when a user converts from a free trial to a paid subscription.

Canceled Subscriptions: If you want to track canceled subscriptions or account downgrades, you can set up a goal when users visit a cancellation or downgrade confirmation page.

To set up these goals in Bing Ads:

Go to the Tools section in Microsoft Advertising.

Choose UET tags and create a new goal, specifying the type of conversion (such as a specific page view or event).

Select the appropriate UET tag to track this conversion.

3. Use Custom Conversion Tracking for Subscription Events
In addition to standard conversion goals, you can also set up custom events in UET to track more specific subscription-related actions. For example:

If your subscription process involves multiple steps, you can create events for each step, such as "Step 1: Subscription form completed," "Step 2: Payment completed," and "Step 3: Confirmation page."

You can track micro-conversions leading to a full subscription, like the clicking of a "Start Free Trial" button or other actions along the subscription journey.

4. Track Conversion Value (For Subscription Amount)
For subscription-based businesses that have recurring payments, you can assign a conversion value to your subscription events, which can help you track the lifetime value of a subscription. This is particularly useful if your subscription model varies in cost (e.g., monthly, yearly, tiered pricing).

For example: If someone subscribes to a plan worth $50/month, you can set this amount as the conversion value, allowing you to track revenue generated from your ad campaigns.

You can also track recurring conversion values if you want to monitor customer retention over time.

5. Smart Bidding Strategies for Subscription Goals
Once you've set up conversion tracking for subscription-based actions, you can optimize your bidding strategy in Bing Ads to maximize conversions. Here are a couple of strategies you can apply:

Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): Set a target cost per acquisition for your subscription sign-ups. Bing Ads will optimize your bids to get as many conversions as possible while staying within your target CPA.

Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): If you have different subscription tiers with varying revenue, use Target ROAS to optimize bids and focus on the most profitable subscriptions.

Maximize Conversions: You can use this strategy to automatically adjust bids to get as many conversions as possible based on your defined conversion actions.

6. Attribution Models to Measure Subscription Conversions
Attribution models allow you to understand how different touchpoints in the customer journey contribute to subscription sign-ups. For subscription-based businesses, it's important to know if a user signed up right after interacting with an ad, or if they took several visits before converting.

Bing Ads offers various attribution models:

Last-click attribution: Credit is given to the last click (e.g., if a user clicks on an ad and then subscribes immediately).

Linear attribution: Credit is distributed equally among all touchpoints.

Time-decay attribution: More credit is given to the touchpoints closer to the conversion.

By understanding the role of different channels (including Bing Ads) in driving subscriptions, advertisers can better allocate budgets and optimize their bidding strategies.

7. Advanced Reporting for Subscription Conversions
To gain deeper insights into your subscription-based conversions, use Advanced Reporting in Microsoft Advertising. You can create custom reports that track:

The number of subscription conversions from ads.

Conversion rates for subscription-related keywords.

The cost per subscription and ROI from your campaigns.

The performance of campaigns, ad groups, and keywords that lead to subscriptions.

Summary
To track subscription-based conversions in Bing Ads, you should:

Set up UET tags and create conversion goals (e.g., subscription sign-ups, renewals).

Track specific subscription-related actions, such as completion of subscription forms or successful payment.

Use custom events and assign conversion values to capture the revenue associated with subscriptions.

Implement Smart Bidding strategies, like Target CPA or Target ROAS, to optimize for subscription conversions.

Use attribution models to better understand the contribution of different ad touchpoints to subscription sign-ups.

Leverage advanced reporting tools to measure and refine your subscription-focused campaigns.