Invoca Working Group: Optimizing Google Ads with Invoca Signals

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Optimizing Google Ads with Invoca Signals

We recently hosted a working group for Invoca customers, focused on leveraging Invoca Signals to optimize Google Ads campaigns. The discussion covered best practices for setting up and configuring the integration, as well as creative ways to utilize Invoca Signals for greater results. Some key takeaways included the importance of thoughtful signal creation, using AI for accurate conversion tracking, and segmenting audiences based on call outcomes.  

Establishing a Solid Foundation With Conversion Signals

Several experienced attendees offered advice for optimally configuring the integration. Sara Will of ClosedLoop recommended carefully considering which call outcomes equate to conversions within your business. For example, her company deemed calls over 11 minutes as likely sales based on insights from their sales team.

Melissa Reilly of US Bank shared how they combine multiple signal types, like keypresses and phrases, into a single robust conversion signal. 

Collin Middleton, Senior Director of Product Management at Invoca, suggested initially sending Signals to Google Ads without counting them as conversions. This allows time to monitor data flows and tune signals as needed before influencing bid strategies. This approach also allows you to incorporate offline conversions when calculating your CPA (or CPx depending on your preferred KPI) to provide you a measurement baseline so you can determine the impact of your offline conversion optimizations once you start including them in automated bidding. He also advised authenticating at the manager account level for easier integration with additional Google Ads accounts. 

He also recommended setting criteria as qualifiers from the phone call itself, such as call duration or keypress, as well as combining these different types of rules using the Signal Builder tool. He discussed using phrase spotting signals, pre-built industry signals and training AI signals.

 

Tracking Conversions and Reducing Waste

A major benefit of Invoca is identifying calls that actually converted versus mere call volume. Collin Middleton described a case where brands decreased spend on high-volume but low-quality calls driven through brand campaigns. By listening to calls, they realized these campaigns generated mostly customer service calls from existing customers. 

Sara Will explained they increased Google Ads sales by 60% after stopping non-sale calls from influencing bid strategies. Letting Google optimize towards all calls rather than just tracked sales conversions was suboptimal.

 

Segmenting Audiences with Call Intelligence  

Several innovative applications leverage Signals for audience segmentation. Collin Middleton suggested using intent expressions without conversions to build retargeting audiences. Or signals around cancellations could create segments for re-engagement campaigns. Outcomes like customer service calls can also be suppressed.

Melissa Reilly shared how US Bank uses Invoca’s Signal Discovery to analyze large volumes of calls and uncover trends quarterly. For the auto lending team, she was surprised to find many customers still attempt to contact sales reps through customer service IVR options. This informed efforts around better ad messaging.

 

Key Takeaways 

The discussion emphasized insights from calls, not just volumes, are crucial to paid search success. Configuring accurate conversion Signals and controlling their influence on bids improves performance. Segmenting audiences based on call outcomes allows finer targeting and suppression. Overall, integrating Invoca Signals into Google Ads unlocks greater optimization through call intelligence.