What are the best practices for conversion tracking in the financial services sector on Bing Ads?

In the financial services sector, conversion tracking on Bing Ads plays a critical role in optimizing campaigns, understanding customer behavior, and improving overall ROI. The financial services industry is highly competitive, with long sales cycles and specific regulatory requirements. Therefore, advertisers need to implement a combination of best practices to ensure that their conversion tracking is accurate, compliant, and effective. Here are some best practices for conversion tracking in the financial services sector on Bing Ads:

1. Set Up and Track Multiple Conversion Actions
In the financial services industry, conversions can take many forms depending on the specific service being offered, such as loan applications, credit card sign-ups, insurance quotes, investment account sign-ups, and newsletter subscriptions.

Track different conversion actions separately based on customer intent. For example, set up different conversion goals for:

Quote requests

Online applications (e.g., for loans, insurance)

Lead form submissions

Account sign-ups

Document downloads (e.g., loan guides, financial reports)

Phone calls (e.g., using call extensions or call tracking tools)

2. Use Offline Conversion Tracking for High-Value Leads
Many financial services conversions, such as consultations, in-person meetings, or phone calls with advisors, happen offline.

Set up offline conversion tracking to link online ad interactions (such as form submissions or clicks) with offline actions like customer meetings, phone call follow-ups, or deal closings. This allows for a more comprehensive view of the customer's journey and helps advertisers allocate budget more efficiently to the channels and actions that drive offline conversions.

3. Leverage Dynamic Remarketing for Financial Products
Dynamic remarketing allows advertisers to show tailored ads to users who have previously interacted with their site, but did not complete a conversion action.

In the financial services sector, you can show specific financial products (like a particular loan offer or insurance plan) to people who have already shown interest. By using remarketing tags to track previous website visitors and their behaviors (e.g., what products they viewed), you can create personalized ad experiences that are more likely to convert.

4. Implement Custom Conversion Tracking for High-Intent Actions
High-intent actions in the financial services sector, such as starting an application, downloading financial guides, or signing up for consultations, are critical indicators of conversion readiness.

Set up custom conversion goals to track these specific actions and assign values to them based on their relative importance in the sales funnel. For instance, starting an application could be considered a more valuable conversion than simply downloading a guide, so it should be weighted accordingly.

5. Optimize for Specific Financial KPIs
Financial services advertisers often measure the effectiveness of campaigns based on key performance indicators (KPIs) like Cost Per Lead (CPL), Cost Per Acquisition (CPA), and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

Use conversion tracking data to monitor and optimize these KPIs, ensuring you are targeting the right customers and allocating your budget to the most effective campaigns.

Additionally, track lifetime customer value (LTV) if applicable. This is particularly useful in the financial sector, where the value of a customer can increase significantly over time as they take out more loans, invest in products, or open additional accounts.

6. Track Phone Calls and Form Submissions Effectively
Phone calls are a significant part of the conversion process in financial services, as many people prefer to speak to an advisor before making financial decisions.

Use call tracking and call extensions to measure the number of phone calls generated by your Bing Ads campaigns and attribute them correctly.

Additionally, track form submissions for lead generation, ensuring that you are collecting all relevant data and tracking these submissions accurately as conversions.

7. Use Multiple Attribution Models
Financial services sales cycles can involve multiple touchpoints across a long period, including initial research, consultations, and closing the deal.

Use multiple attribution models (such as linear, time decay, or position-based attribution) to understand how different touchpoints contribute to the conversion. For example, a potential customer may first click on an ad for financial advice, then later return to the site through a search or social media ad before completing a conversion.

An attribution model helps ensure that all relevant touchpoints are properly credited for the conversion, enabling you to make more informed decisions about where to allocate your advertising budget.

8. Use Conversion Tracking to Test and Optimize Ad Creatives
Regularly A/B test different ad creatives to see which resonates best with your audience. For financial services, testing different messaging around rates, benefits, and pain points can help determine which approaches drive more conversions.

Track conversion rates for each ad creative and optimize your ads based on which ones generate the most valuable leads or sales.

9. Track Cross-Device Conversions
Financial services customers often use multiple devices (e.g., desktop for initial research, mobile for comparisons or applications) during the decision-making process.

Ensure that cross-device conversion tracking is enabled, so you can track users who might have interacted with your ad on one device and completed a conversion on another. Bing Ads allows cross-device conversion tracking to ensure you don't miss conversions that span across multiple platforms.

10. Integrate with CRM and Marketing Automation Systems
Financial services businesses often use CRM systems to manage customer relationships and track the progress of leads through the funnel.

Integrating conversion data from Bing Ads with your CRM or marketing automation system can provide valuable insights into the quality of leads, the effectiveness of your ads, and help prioritize leads for follow-up.

Additionally, integrating with these systems allows you to upload offline conversions (e.g., leads that eventually turned into clients) back into Bing Ads for a more complete view of the customer journey.

11. Ensure Compliance with Regulations and Privacy Laws
The financial services sector is highly regulated, and there are strict compliance and data privacy rules, such as the GDPR in the EU and CCPA in California. Ensure that your conversion tracking complies with these regulations.

Make sure that consent for cookies and tracking technologies is obtained from users, particularly in regions with strict privacy laws. You should also ensure that sensitive information, such as financial details, is handled securely.

12. Use Custom URL Parameters for Better Tracking
Add custom URL parameters (e.g., UTM parameters) to track specific campaigns, keywords, or ad variations that are generating conversions. This is particularly useful in the financial sector, where the details of an ad, such as the loan type, rate, or investment product, can heavily influence the conversion process.

These parameters can be used to track which specific ads or campaigns lead to conversions and to optimize future campaigns accordingly.

13. Track Engagement with Educational Content
Financial services often offer valuable educational resources to engage prospects, such as blogs, white papers, and webinars.

Track engagement with this content using conversion actions to measure how many people are downloading guides, signing up for webinars, or reading articles. Engagement with these resources can signal that a prospect is in the research phase and is more likely to convert in the future.

Conclusion
For financial services advertisers, conversion tracking on Bing Ads is a key component of campaign optimization and performance measurement. By setting up customized conversion goals, leveraging advanced tracking technologies (such as offline conversion tracking and phone call tracking), and focusing on key financial KPIs, advertisers can more effectively measure success and improve ROI. Ensuring compliance with regulations, optimizing for long sales cycles, and tracking customer interactions across devices are also critical to gaining a comprehensive understanding of the customer journey and maximizing conversions in this highly competitive sector.