Adwords Conversion Tracking for Paypal Checkout--your help,thanks

[donna130]

If I redirect Paypal customers to my custom confirmation page (which contains the Adwords conversion code of course), I understand that that code sees the cookie that Adwords initially placed on customer's computer when they clicked on our ad. But how does Google Conversion Tracking see/obtain the actual purchase amount to report it back to me? I know there's that line in the conversion code snippet that reads:

var google_conversion_value = 0;

so, being new to this, your help is appreciated: Does that snippet script somehow read the amount that's buried in the Paypal "buy now" button ...or how does it obtain the dollar amount corresponding to the purchase/sale of our many products which redirect from their Paypal checkout to my one custom confirmation page with that same snippet? THANKS a lot for your time and solution.

PS: I hope to be able to keep my confirmation page as simple static html, thank you.

[dertyfern]

I'm fairly certain that the "google_conversion_value = 0;" should be manually set by you with an average sales value...it wouldn't change.

[donna130]

Yes I know. That's my question. I mean all our products don't cost $0 and. like everyone's products, ours are all different prices.

So, again, how does Google tracking/conversion code snippet obtain the dollar amount corresponding to the purchase/sale of our many products which redirect from their Paypal checkout to my one custom confirmation page with that same snippet?

[eWhisper]

You have three options:

1. Leave as is. in your reports you will see number of conversions but not actual prices.

2. Change the variable to your average sale amount (you can also do this in the code wizard). this will just multiply the number of conversions by your average sale amount.

3. Use the shopping cart variable that corresponds to the order price. This will send the actual sale price to AdWords for reports.

I'm pretty sure with paypal you must be using paypal payflow integrated into your site to pass the actual variable; I don't think you can do it if you send users off your site and then they just return to your site after confirming the purchase at paypal (but not positive).

[netmeg]

I'm pretty sure with paypal you must be using paypal payflow integrated into your site to pass the actual variable; I don't think you can do it if you send users off your site and then they just return to your site after confirming the purchase at paypal (but not positive).

Not easily. The only actual conversion value tracking we can do with Paypal is the integrated (where they don't leave the site to pay)

[donna130]

eWhisper and netmeg,

Thanks for your thoughts! Well, in addressing ewhisper 1st & 2nd points, we need to have exact purchase amounts (not number of conversions or average sale amounts) so that we can proper ROI etc.

For point #3, would you kindly clarify? I didn't understand (thanks!)

netmeg, thanks. All I can tell you is that when customers hit our Paypal buy now buttons, they're taken off site and complete their purchase on Paypal (URL shows [paypal.com...] I guess, puts me out of luck since it's not "integrated" I think like you were saying. Hmmm, other solutions? I had one but it seems kindof ancient: Assuming we have 8 products, what if, instead of having ONE customized success/confirmation page, I created 8 success/confirmation pages. That way I would only need to modify that one line (and maybe the product label) within the Google Conversion Snippet on my custom confirmation page. In other words, only Paypal orders for product A, say, will see sucecss page A coded only for A's price. Same goes for product B (would see success page B with B's price in the snippet). etc. etc. What do you guys think about this? And is there a smarter easier way?

I'd also still really be interested to know if / why not Google's snippet code on my Success page can't just get the pricing info from a Paypal cookie that was left on Paypal checkout (if there is one), and can't the conversion code snippet "see". I do have the price codes built into the buy now buttons (using their "My buttons" feature....which I thin(?) encrypts the data, or kindof puts a key/string on a lot of that info which is later read by their server (yeah, I guess it's a type of encryption). Anyway, I'm writing too much. Thanks for your continued thoughts and solutions. Much appreciated.

[eWhisper]

For 3: In section 4 of this Google help page the variables are discussed: [adwords.google.com...]

Basically, most dynamic pricing systems contain variables in the code. When the user checkouts those variables are replaced by the actual number. Therefore, you can use that variable in the AdWords code so that when the system fills in the numbers it does so not only to show the buyer what they are being charged, but also in the AdWords conversion script so that info is passed back to AdWords.

[netmeg]

I don't know of any way to do what you want to do without some serious programming, donna130. Paypal and Analytics don't yet work well together (unless you're using the integrated version where the buyer doesn't leave your site) and I suspect it's because of technical issues on both sides.

[donna130]

e&n, thanks so much!

Thanks. I checked out that link and had read it before posting (thanks though). Um, my prob is that our pages are not fancy and just HTML (as opposed to asp or php etc), but I would love to find/learn a way to code that line in Adwords conversion code snippet:

var google_conversion_value = 0;

...so it can be dynamic or pick up the different price that's in the Paypal cookie (although netmeg leaves me to feel it's not really that easy). I mean I can just make 8 copies of my custom confirmation page, and modify that one line to reflect the EXACT price of that Paypal product, but if there's a smarter way, where each of the 8 Paypal products' prices can indeed by obtained from that snippet in my HTML confirmation page, I'd love to learn, thanks for your thoughts and esp your time.

[eWhisper]

Cookies are built to be site specific. One site is not suppose to read the cookie of anther site.

The variable has to be on your site for you to pull it dynamically. Since the user is on PayPal when the variables appear, there's no way for you to grab them.

You could make 8 different confirmation page and change the code around on each one. I don't know if PayPal allows a different confirmation page per product - never tried that with PayPal before.

If you manage to make that work; would like to hear about it.

[donna130]

hey eW, thanks for your reply and the education on that.

Yeah, I can definitely help you regarding your question back. It's 100% possibility to point each of your Paypal products to a separate confirmation page. You just gotta click the "Advanced" tab at the bottom when you're making/editing your "My saved buttons". Then you can point'em wherever you want when they're done with checkout, on a per item basis. Hey, thanks again.