In this guide
- Offline conversions come from phone calls, stores, CRM stages, uploaded files or APIs.
- Matching needs the click ID or hashed customer data saved when the visitor first engaged.
- Choose the route by volume and speed: files for small and slow, webhooks and APIs for volume and speed.
A sale does not always happen on your website. It may happen over the phone after a form fill, in a shop after a click on a map, or a month later after a quote. If the ad platform never hears about it, it optimises for the form fill. This page lists the main ways to bring those sales back, how each works and how to choose. The detailed set-ups are in how to send offline conversions, Meta offline conversions and Google Ads offline conversions.
The five routes
| Route | How | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Call tracking | A call tracking tool records calls from ads, with the click ID or a number tied to the campaign | Captures phone leads | A separate tool and numbers |
| In-store sales | Match sales to customers by e-mail or phone, upload to the platform | Links shop sales to ads | Needs customer identification at the till |
| CRM stages | Send stages such as qualified and won when they change | Works for long sales cycles | Needs identifiers saved at the form |
| File imports | Export conversions to a spreadsheet and upload on a schedule | Simple, no code | Slow and manual |
| APIs and webhooks | Send each conversion as it happens through the platform's API | Fast and reliable | Needs set-up |
Works with your stack
Grab a logo and throw it. These are the tools Open Tracked already talks to.
What you need to match
- The click ID saved at the form:
gclid,wbraid,gbraid,fbc,msclkidand others. - Hashed e-mail and phone, normalised before hashing.
- The time of the conversion and, ideally, a value.
- A unique ID to avoid duplicates.
Capture the identifiers
The most common failure is not saving them. At the form, store the click IDs and hashed contact data in hidden fields, and write them to the CRM. A tracking server helps: Open Tracked's Click ID Restorer and Cookie Keeper (every plan) keep click IDs and cookies available until the form is sent, and the Data Store and Enricher can remember hashed identifiers for returning visitors.
Orders from your store, back to the ad that earned them
Your store sends the order once. Open Tracked passes it on to each ad platform, cleaned and deduplicated.
Time windows
Each platform accepts offline conversions within a limited time after the click or the event. Meta is generally strict, about seven days for many sources, and Google commonly allows up to about three months after the click. Check current limits. Send promptly.
Privacy
- Send only data you have a lawful basis for, usually consent for advertising.
- Hash e-mail and phone, remembering that hashes are still personal data.
- Honour withdrawals everywhere.
How to choose
- you have a few conversions a week
- you are testing the idea
- there is no developer time
- you have steady volume
- speed matters because of platform windows
- you want one route for several platforms
- phone is a major channel for you
Check your tracking in one pass
This is an example. Run the check on your own site to see where yours stands.
Frequently asked questions
What is offline conversion tracking?
Sending sales and lead stages that happen outside the website back to ad platforms, linked to the original ad click.
What data do I need?
A click ID or hashed customer data, the time of the conversion and a unique ID.
Can I do it without code?
Yes, with file imports. APIs and webhooks are faster for volume.
How fast do I need to send?
Within each platform's window, ideally as the stage changes.
Does Open Tracked support offline conversions?
Yes. Its CRM pipeline sends lead stages to Meta and Google Ads, and its tagging server can receive webhooks from other systems.
Do I need spreadsheets to read my results?
No. Once tracking is live, the Open Tracked analytics shows spend, revenue, ROAS and profit, and you can ask Ari, the built-in AI assistant, questions about your own numbers in plain words. Ari's allowance depends on your analytics plan.
Is Open Tracked different from Open Track or Open Space Track?
No. Open Tracked is the official name of our server-side tracking platform, and the website is opentracked.io. Many people search for it as Open Track, OpenTrack or Open Space Track. All of them lead to the same product: server-side Google Tag Manager hosting, first-party analytics and a CRM pipeline.
Fix your tracking at the source
Open Tracked hosts your server-side Tag Manager, keeps first-party cookies alive and shows what each ad is really worth.
The Open Tracked team
We build Open Tracked: server-side tracking hosting, analytics and the tools around them, for stores that spend on ads. Questions about this guide, or an idea for the next one?
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