Record an offline conversion from a captured GCLID
A hidden GCLID field turns each demo request into a valued offline conversion Smart Bidding can learn from.
New Submission on your "Get a demo" form
Send an offline conversion to Google Ads using the GCLID hidden field and a conversion value
One-directional. A submission triggers the action — nothing is written back into your form.
Paid search will tell you a form was filled in. It will not tell you which of those form fills was worth having. Capturing the Google Click ID when someone lands, then sending it back with the submission, ties the conversion to the exact click, keyword and ad that produced it.
B2B teams with a long sales cycle get the most from this. A demo request from a 500-person company and one from a student look identical in the conversions column; attaching a value to each lets Smart Bidding chase the first and quietly stop buying the second.
Setting it up
- 1
Turn auto-tagging on in Google Ads under Settings, then Account settings — without it there is no gclid parameter on the landing page URL and nothing to capture.
- 2
Add a hidden GCLID field to the demo request form and populate it from the gclid parameter in the page URL, so the click ID travels with the submission.
- 3
In Google Ads, create a conversion action of type Import, name it "Demo request (offline)", and set it to use a different value for each conversion.
- 4
Build the Zap: formformform New Submission on the demo form, then Google Ads "Send Offline Conversion" as the action.
- 5
Map the hidden GCLID field to the click ID input and select the Demo request (offline) conversion action you created.
- 6
Send the submission timestamp as the conversion time. Google rejects conversions dated before the click or outside the conversion action's lookback window.
- 7
Decide the value: a flat figure for every demo, or a Zapier Formatter lookup that turns Company Size into a number before the Google Ads step runs.
- 8
Test by clicking one of your own live ads so a real gclid exists, submit the form, confirm the conversion appears against the right action a few hours later, then switch the Zap on.
What maps where
Using the Demo Request Form as the starting point. These are its real fields — swap in your own and the mapping works the same way.
| Form field | Google Ads |
|---|---|
| Work Email | Email identifier on the conversion upload, used when the GCLID is missing |
| Phone Number | Phone identifier on the same fallback path |
| First Name | First name identifier sent alongside the email on the fallback path |
| Company Size | Looked up in Zapier and sent as the conversion value |
| When are you looking to implement? | Zapier path choosing which Import conversion action receives the event |
Variations worth knowing
Branch on "When are you looking to implement?" so buyers with a date this quarter report to a high-value Import action and everyone else to a second, lower-value one. Bidding then pulls towards the keywords producing near-term demand rather than the ones producing curiosity.
Direct traffic, a long gap between click and demo request, or a stripped URL all leave the hidden field empty. Route those down a Zapier path that sends the email and phone identifiers instead of a click ID, so the conversion is still reported rather than lost.
If something isn't arriving
Check auto-tagging is on, then check the value survives navigation — a visitor who lands on a blog post and submits from a different page loses the parameter. Store the gclid in a first-party cookie on landing and read it into the hidden field wherever the form appears.
The conversion time must fall after the click and inside the action's click-through window, and it needs a timezone offset. Add a Formatter step that outputs the submission timestamp in the format Google expects, and confirm your Google Ads account timezone matches what you are sending.
Frequently asked questions
Why not just fire a conversion tag on the thank-you page?
A page tag counts every demo request as the same event. Importing the conversion instead lets you send a different value per submission and, if you want, delay reporting until a lead is qualified. Many teams run both and keep only the imported action as primary.
Does Google Ads write the conversion back into the form?
No. The connection runs one way only: a submission triggers an action in Google Ads. Nothing is written back into the form, the response, or your formformform account, so conversion status and campaign data stay in Google Ads where you reported them.
How long before imported conversions change Smart Bidding?
Imports usually surface in reporting within a few hours, but a bidding strategy needs a run of them before its behaviour shifts. Keep your existing tag-based conversion recording alongside, and only demote it once the imported action has enough history to bid on.
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- Report a completed application as a qualified-lead conversion
A completed application reports a valued offline conversion to the specific conversion action you bid on.
- Suppress existing customers from prospecting campaigns
Support submissions build a Customer Match list you exclude from prospecting, so budget goes to people who have not bought.
- Capture webinar registrations as track events
Each webinar signup fires a "Registered" event tied to the work email and session name, so reminders and reporting agree.
Build the form first
The automation needs somewhere to fire from. Publish a form, connect it once, and every submission from then on runs this flow.
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