How to Track Enquiries From Ad to Customer
The ad platform shows enquiries. It cannot show which ones became customers. Here is how to close that gap.
The short answer. To track enquiries from ad to customer, record every form and call as a conversion in the ad platform, use call tracking so phone leads are tied to a campaign, capture the source on every enquiry in a CRM or spreadsheet, and mark which enquiries were quoted and won. Then compare campaigns on cost per customer, not only cost per enquiry.
Why enquiry tracking is not enough
An ad account can look healthy with plenty of cheap enquiries while none become customers. Without the second half of the journey, you cannot tell good campaigns from busy ones.
The four links in the chain
| Link | What to set up | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Click to form | Form submissions as conversions in Google and Meta | Which ads produce enquiries |
| Click to call | Call tracking numbers and call conversions | Which ads ring the phone |
| Enquiry to record | Source captured automatically in a CRM or sheet | Where each person came from |
| Record to customer | A status for quoted and won | Which sources produce customers |
Marking the good ones
The simplest version is a column called 'outcome' with a handful of values: spam, wrong area, quoted, won. Filling it in weekly gives you cost per quote and cost per customer by campaign. If you can feed won jobs back into the ad platform, even better, because the platform can then optimise for customers, not just forms.
Common tracking mistakes
- Counting calls and forms separately and missing the overlap.
- Not tracking phone numbers on the page.
- Leaving the source out of the form, so it vanishes at the CRM.
- Trusting the platform's numbers without checking the enquiries behind them.
What it looks like in practice
On a media wall installer account, tracked conversions came to 1,737 at £16.05 blended, with Google and Meta reported separately so spend could move to what worked. See the case study.
Common questions
What is call tracking?
Using different phone numbers for different ads or pages so you can see which produced each call.
Do I need a CRM to track enquiries?
Not at first. A spreadsheet with a source and outcome column works until volume grows.
How do I track phone leads from ads?
Use call tracking numbers and import or log call conversions in the ad platform.
Why do Google and Meta report different numbers?
They use different attribution windows and methods. Judge by your own records of customers.
