Last week, Google announced a few new features coming soon to Google Ads at SMX East.  There are updates rolling out, two that will benefit the way click to message ads function. The new updates are the email forwarding and auto reply and additional reporting data for the message extensions. These two updates are expected to land before Christmas.

Email Forwarding and Automatic Replies

The new email forward feature allows the texts the users send via click to message ads will be delivered via email. The benefit of this new feature is that there’s no need to give a phone number to use the message function – some advertisers will be happy about that.

The automatic replies make it possible for advertisers to send instant replies providing they have created the ready-made replies. One great use of this is to provide customers with an immediate reply informing them that the message has been sent to the right place and giving them an estimated response time.

Improving Message Reporting

The improved reporting for messages is going to include the conversations that have taken place. The message will be defined by the number of messages that take place during the single conversation in order to finish the action that is intended. For example, Google shows that it usually takes a user to communicate twice with a car dealer before booking a test drive. It’s hoped that the message reporting will be used to improve campaigns and see which provide the most conversions for the best value.

Other Features announced include:

• Store visit tools
• Store visits included in Google Analytics

The benefit of these features is to evaluate how online advertising plays a part in offline business, encouraging store visits and purchases in stores. This will be of huge benefit to those who are unsure of the impact the online marketing has on the offline side of the business.  Google continues to focus on the online to offline metrics providing valuable data and improved management opportunities for online traffic to foot traffic.