Ah, Google Ad Lead Form Extensions!
Sheesh, that’s a mouthful, but the concept is pretty simple.
Lead form extensions are a Google Ad format that are vastly more effective than just about anything that Google’s R&D department has cooked up so far.
“Lead Form Extensions” may not sound sexy, but these ads are clutch. And we’re going to address any question you might have about this powerful new ad form.
Let’s go through some of those questions and leave no stone unturned in making sure you understand the power and potential of Lead Form Extensions.
What Are Lead Form Extensions?
Lead form extensions allow people to provide their information directly through an ad.
In other words, when a user clicks on your ad, within just a couple clicks they can hand over their name, email address, and other information that you can use to contact them and better serve their interests.
Take a look. This is what an actual ad would look like if you were to click on it using your mobile device:
Behind the scenes, you’ve created this ad with the standard Google Ad creation process plus a few extra clicks, like this – note the “information you want to ask for” section.
Why is this ad so much more powerful than traditional search ads?
A simple glance should answer that question.
Here’s a “normal” Google Ad:
Once you create and publish your ad, you pray for the best and hope that people will click through to your ad using the headline or sitelinks, and maybe convert to your product.
But with lead form extensions, you’re getting all that rich and juicy information directly from leads using a Google Ad.
Sheer, high-octane, advertising power.
My goal right now is not to sell you on the explosive power of lead form extensions.
Are these paid ads or free?
This is a paid ad form, meaning that you set a budget for your ad spend and pay accordingly.
Why should we spend money on this new type of ad form?
Lead form extensions are superior in that they attract highly qualified leads.
Search ad budgets are often glutted with bots, tire-kickers, and spiteful competitors clicking the heck out of your ad to make you spend more.
With lead form extensions, you’re qualifying leads as they come in, ensuring that you gain only those users who are truly interested.
For example, often users are handing over their email address, phone number, and sometimes even information like their mailing address.
This requires a very high level of commitment from the lead and a commensurate high quality of lead for you, the advertiser.
For most businesses, this is definitely worth the advertising investment.
How are users informed about their privacy used in data-gathering like this?
Good point.
Asking for someone’s name, phone number, email, etc. – that can seem intense.
However, in order to create an ad, your business needs to have a robust privacy policy in place and linked within the ad itself.
Cookies enter into this discussion, and Google is moving to a cookieless world. Instead of using third-party data, lead form extensions use first-party data that requires the customer to volunteer their information.
What’s the lowest amount that I can spend per day on Google Ads?
£5 USD or equivalent.
Keep in mind that advertising costs are on a pay-per-click (PPC) or per-lead basis. Lead form extensions typically result in a higher conversion cost due to the increased level of targeting and data acquisition that is used.
What we’ve found is that a business can get a lot of high-quality leads and reliable data using an ad spend of £20-50 (or equivalent) per day.
We recommend keeping your ads running constantly in order to get the most valuable feedback possible. The longer an ad runs, the more data you are able to gain, learn from, and respond to accordingly.
Are lead form extensions more expensive than search ads? How does this work?
First off, what are you actually paying for when you create a lead form extension?
You’re paying anytime a user opens a lead form.
Opening the form is the “click” in cost-per-click (CPC).
How is this different from search ads? The CPC click in search ads is when a user clicks through to your website.
So, back to the original question — are lead form extensions more expensive?
No. In fact, it could be argued that they are less expensive (from a value perspective) when you consider that lead forms have more potential to bring in high-quality leads.
Let’s geek out on this for just a second.
Lead form extensions introduce more friction in the ad. Friction means that users have to do more, think more, click more, or type more in order to reach a satisfactory completion of a goal. In this case, the goal is for them to complete the form in the lead form extension.
Is friction a bad thing? Not necessarily. In the case of lead forms, it’s arguably a good thing since you are, as a result of that additional friction, gaining a better quality lead.
A really robust lead form, which you can use in Google Ads to create, can provide up to ten questions:
That’s a lot of information! And, of course, a lot of friction.
Yes, you’re paying for the click on the form, not the form completion. But if a user is compelled to click on the ad and complete it, then you win with a far greater level of data on that given user.
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Can I customize a response for the specific leads that I get from my lead form extension ads?
Simple answer, yes.
Now, when you create a lead form extension, you’ll also create a thank you page for users who filled out your form.
However, you’ll also be collecting a CSV with all the information and answers from those form fills.
If you choose, you can segment your audience and follow up with targeted drip campaigns or landing pages to your selected segments.
It’s optional, but if you have a diverse list of leads that would benefit from segmentation – location, language, interest, etc. – then you may want to look into it.
Do Google lead form extension ads require approval like Facebook Ads do?
No.
Of course, Google will review the ad automatically through AI, but not with the built-in delay that is required with Facebook Ads.
Google Ads does require your acceptance of the terms of service, which stipulates what is and what is not allowed on the ad network.
Can I use the same ad copy on Google lead form extensions that I use on Facebook ads?
Sure, you can try it, but a quick disclaimer.
Facebook has different character counts than Google. Plus, the intent of the headlines is different on some Google ads compared with Facebook ads.
Bottom line – it’s not quite as easy as copying and pasting.
Is there a best practice for scaling ad spend?
The goal in every ad campaign is to increase ROI, which often requires increasing ad spend.
How do you do that with lead form extensions?
It’s really no different from any other ad optimization process:
- Create the ad effectively.
- Use a lead form.
- Create as many headline variations as possible.
- Collect 20-30 leads and let your ad run for 2-3 weeks.
Meanwhile, keep an eye on your quality score. The better your quality, the better your ad pricing and performance, and the more confidently you can boost your ad spend and get a higher ROI.
Always continue checking your Google Ads data. This is the ultimate source of truth – raw, honest numbers that give you a solid awareness of how your ads are performing and what you can do to improve.
I’m getting about 50 leads a month from Google Ads. Is this a good amount of leads?
Yes, it is.
Obviously, the number of leads you’re getting depends on your product, your ad spend, your quality score, your keywords, the competition, and a variety of other factors.
But the fact remains that if you are getting 50 leads a month, you’re doing a great job. Keep it up.
Do I need a privacy policy to run lead form extension ads?
Yes. This is a crucial part of protecting the user and ensuring legal compliance.
The privacy policy doesn’t have to be anything fancy cooked up by lawyers for thousands of dollars. There are boilerplate privacy policies that you can customize and adapt to your specific needs.
Simply publish your privacy polish on a dedicated page of your website – www.example.com/privacy-policy, for example – and link to this page from your lead form extension.
What about targeting? How does this affect things
The lead form is an extension to an ad to generate better leads, so your targeting practices should be the same as you would use for any Google Ad.
That being said, since lead form extensions are often location-specific, make sure you double down on your efforts to make your local targeting as effective as possible.
Location and language go hand-in-hand, of course, so obviously a DACH geographical location would necessitate German-language targeting, and a Florida, USA geographical targeting would suggest an English or Spanish-language targeting, depending on the product or service you are advertising.
What about competition? Won’t larger players with more money just outspend and outperform the smaller players?
This is a good point, but there’s an aspect to Google Ads that may be overlooked here.
That is, the bidding process, keyword selection, and targeting.
The combination of these factors virtually guarantees that, when done right, your ads will appear in the search results for selected keywords. And, more likely than not, get clicks and leads.
Competition is high, yes, but by using specific targeting methods and a variety of focused keywords, you can have a high-performing ad even if you don’t have a lot of money to spend on ads.
The beauty of lead form extensions is that when you do get a lead, there is a high likelihood that the lead will be a valuable and quality lead.
