Track enquiries through to booked work

A conversion report is the beginning of the story

Track a consistent chain: enquiry, qualified enquiry, booked work, completed work and collected revenue. Give each genuine opportunity one reference and update its status as the work progresses. An advertising conversion is whichever action was configured; it is not automatically a qualified customer or a completed job.

This guide helps local service owners who can see marketing activity but cannot connect it to operations. You can start with a restricted-access working record rather than a new integration. The definitions below are a recommended starting point to agree with the person who answers enquiries.

1. Define the stages before counting them

• Enquiry: a genuine request for the service. Exclude tests, obvious spam and duplicate attempts about the same opportunity.
• Qualified enquiry: the request fits the service, real coverage and ability to engage. Agree the rules; do not silently use a budget threshold.
• Booked work: work accepted and scheduled under the business's own booking definition. A quote request alone does not qualify.
• Completed work: the agreed work was performed. Keep cancellation and rescheduling statuses separately visible.
• Collected revenue: payment received, with a consistent treatment of tax, refunds and timing. An issued quote or invoice is not cash collected.

Record the definition owner and date. If the rules change, annotate the change instead of comparing incompatible totals as though nothing changed.

2. Create one small operational record

Use these column headings: opportunity reference; enquiry date; reported source; campaign label if known; service/coverage fit; qualification status and reason; booking date; cancellation status; completion date; collected amount in CAD; last review date; and next action owner. Keep unknown source as unknown rather than guessing.

Fictional example: opportunity EX-014, enquiry 3 October, source stated as Google Search ad, fit confirmed, booked 5 October, work scheduled for 12 October. Until completion is confirmed, leave that date blank; until paid, do not enter collected revenue. This is an invented record, not SEMplicity customer data.

Use anonymous references in shared reports. Keep any contact details in the authorized operational system, not in public worksheets or analytics URLs. Decide access and retention with the accountable business owner before collecting data.

3. Separate contact actions from real conversations

List each measured action and what it actually proves. Google supports separate website, phone and offline conversion actions, as described in its conversion-source overview. A button click, accepted submission and qualified enquiry should not share an ambiguous label.

A phone-link click may not become a connected call. Google's phone tracking guidance explicitly distinguishes mobile number clicks from measured calls. Even a connected call may concern an unsuitable service. Check the event definition and operational outcome before reporting a booking.

Consistent source, medium and campaign labels can help identify referring campaigns; Google's URL guidance explains this. Labels alone do not install analytics or recover missing data. Do not put names, emails or enquiry text in those labels.

4. Compare matching groups and remove duplicates

Choose enquiries first received in one period and follow those same opportunities through later outcomes. For example, report the October enquiry group as of a stated November review date. Do not divide bookings received this week by unrelated enquiries received this week when the sales cycle spans weeks.

For repeat form submissions or a follow-up call about the same request, update the original opportunity. Retain genuinely separate jobs separately, using an agreed rule. Exclude authorized test enquiries from business totals. Keep pending outcomes visible: an unanswered request is not automatically lost, and an uncompleted booking is not completed revenue.

5. Calculate only what your records support

Fictional arithmetic in CAD, before tax; not a benchmark or forecast. For one matching group, assume CAD 1,200 ad spend, CAD 300 other allocated marketing costs, 20 unique enquiries and 5 bookings. Ad cost per enquiry is 1,200 / 20 = CAD 60. Booking rate is 5 / 20 = 25%. Ad cost per booking is 1,200 / 5 = CAD 240. Allocated marketing cost per booking is (1,200 + 300) / 5 = CAD 300.

These are observed costs in an invented example. They do not establish profit, customer value or what another month will cost. State which fees are included. If enquiries or bookings are zero, the corresponding per-unit result is not defined; show the counts and costs instead. Do not divide by zero or invent a substitute result.

6. Reconcile, then choose one corrective action

At a recurring review, compare operational counts with platform reports. Note reporting period, time zone, conversion definition, attribution window, attribution model and known reporting delay. Platforms may credit overlapping interactions; do not add their claimed conversions together as unique customers. Attribution assigns credit under rules; it does not prove the advertising caused the sale.

Investigate mismatches before changing budgets. Many contact clicks but few real enquiries suggest a journey or measurement issue. Suitable enquiries without bookings suggest checking follow-up, fit, offer or scheduling. Consent gaps, cross-device journeys, missing sources and small samples limit conclusions.

Choose one next action with an owner and review date. Read the landing-page readiness guide if contact friction is the concern, or the channel-choice guide before a new investment. Review the Google Ads or Meta advertising scope for relevant support. Account setup, uploads and integrations need a separate approved implementation.