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Enhanced conversions for leads: how to set it up and check it works

By Abhishek Thakral · abhi.performs, Dubai · Updated October 2026 · 9 min read

A common set-up in UAE lead-gen accounts tells Google Ads one thing only: someone filled in a form. Google then hunts for more form-fillers, including the ones who never answer the phone or reply on WhatsApp.

Enhanced conversions for leads is how you send Google the next part of the story: which leads became qualified, booked a viewing or paid. Below is my set-up, with the checks that show it works. If you are still choosing between this and a GCLID-only import, start with my Google Ads offline conversion import guide.

What enhanced conversions for leads does

Enhanced conversions for leads matches hashed customer details from your website form with the same details you later upload from your CRM, according to Google's help page.

It works in two halves:

1. On your website. When someone submits your form, the Google tag sends Google a hashed version of their email or phone number.
2. From your CRM. When that lead reaches a stage you care about, you import the same hashed details, plus the GCLID if you have it.

Google also matches against signed-in Google accounts that engaged with your ad. It calls the feature an upgraded offline conversion import that also enables engaged-view and cross-device conversions.

The practical gain: your form no longer has to store a click ID for every lead. Google's page still says to "include GCLIDs with your uploaded events whenever possible", and the GCLID becomes required if no tag is collecting the form data.

Before you start: three checks

Google's Tag Manager set-up page lists the basics: auto-tagging switched on, an email or phone field on your lead form, and one unique field that you will also include in your import.

• Auto-tagging. Turn it on in your account settings; it supplies the click IDs.
• The form field. Google recommends email, and says collecting both email and phone improves the match. In the UAE, phone is often the field sales teams rely on, so keep it.
• The same value in your CRM. What the form captures must reach the CRM unchanged, so the upload can carry it.

Also check early: forms inside an iframe need the data passed to the parent page, and with a cookie banner, read my Consent Mode v2 guide so the consent signals are in place before you test.

Step 1: turn on enhanced conversions

Enhanced conversions is now one switch for web and leads: Google's settings update page says you no longer pick a method such as the Google tag, Tag Manager or the API.

1. In Google Ads, open Goals, then Settings.
2. Expand the Customer data use panel.
3. Tick Turn on enhanced conversions, then review and accept the customer data terms.

If you agreed to the terms before, Google says you were migrated automatically. If you cannot see the terms, conversions may be tracked in a manager account, and the terms have to be accepted there.

Step 2: capture form data with Google Tag Manager

In Tag Manager, the Google Ads User-Provided Data Event tag does this job, firing when the form is submitted, as Google's set-up page describes.

You also need a Conversion Linker tag firing on all pages; skip that if one exists. Then create the tag, fill in the Conversion ID field and choose how the user-provided data variable finds the email and phone:

My rule for UAE lead-gen sites: if phone is the main contact field, skip automatic collection. Use manual with element IDs if you have no developer, and code if you do.

If another tag fires first and the data never arrives, Google's fix is to switch on Wait for Tags in the form submission trigger. Without Tag Manager, the Google tag can do the same job with CSS selectors or a short JavaScript snippet.

Phone numbers need the country code. A Dubai mobile written 050 123 4567 has to become +971501234567, the E.164 format Google asks for. Forms that save 05x numbers are one of the first things I check when a phone match fails.

Step 3: check the tag sends hashed data

Google's verification steps use Tag Manager's Preview mode: submit a test lead and confirm the User-Provided Data Event tag shows under "Tags Fired".

• Tag under "Tags Not Fired". The trigger is wrong. Fix it before anything else.
• Tag fired but no data. The selector, ID or data layer variable is not finding the field.
• Final check in Chrome. Open DevTools with Preserve log on, submit the form, and look for a request to google.com/pagead/form-data/ carrying an em parameter. That is the hashed data leaving the page.

Use your own email and a real +971 number for the test lead, then publish the container.

Step 4: create one conversion action per stage and import daily

Google's implementation checklist asks for a separate conversion action for each offline event, such as "Qualified Lead" and "Converted Lead", with the source set to "Import from clicks".

Pick the stages from your CRM that mean real progress: qualified, viewing or consultation booked, deal closed. Then follow the checklist's import rules:

• Keep new actions secondary. Google recommends this for the first 2 to 3 weeks, so the import does not steer bidding while you check it.
• Upload daily. Google's wording: "Daily is strongly recommended for optimal performance."
• Upload every conversion for the stage, including leads that did not come from Google Ads. Google says this is required.
• Use the real time of the event. The conversion time is when the lead qualified or bought, not when you ran the upload.
• No backfilling, no zero values. Google says not to backfill, and not to upload 0-value conversions unless you use conversion adjustments.

For the upload itself, Google recommends Data Manager. How far back each run reads depends on the source: Google Sheets and file sources such as SFTP import the last 90 days on every run, while HubSpot and Salesforce import 14 days on the first run and then every change since the last run. My Google Ads Data Manager guide walks through connecting a source.

Already running a GCLID import? You can add the customer data to it instead of starting again. Google's upgrade page says to wait "the longer of 1-2 conversion cycles or 4 weeks" before making the new action primary.

Step 5: read the enhanced conversions diagnostics

Enhanced conversions for leads has its own diagnostics report under Goals, Summary, then the Diagnostics tab, and Google's diagnostics page rates each set-up in one of four statuses.

The alerts tell you what to fix. Google's fix for "No user-provided data matches" is formatting: emails trimmed and lowercased, phones in E.164. "Limited user-provided data" means you are importing too little, and Google's fix is to send every event that has customer data, even without a GCLID.

Alerts are based on the past day of data, or the past 7 days if a day is not enough. Google adds that enhanced conversions helps most for advertisers with at least 20 conversions a week, counting organic and ad-driven ones.

Leads that never fill in a form

Enhanced conversions for leads is built around a website form: Google's help page has the tag collecting customer details when someone fills one in.

Leads who tap a WhatsApp button or call the number on the page never do. The tag has nothing to send, and Google's page says that without tag data the GCLID is required for a match.

So if WhatsApp or calls are your main channel, plan for it: capture the GCLID when the visitor lands, carry it into the lead record your team creates for the chat or call, and include it in the upload. If your ads send people straight into WhatsApp from Meta instead, that is a different data flow, covered in my click-to-WhatsApp ads guide.

The set-up order I use

On one full-funnel account, rebuilding CRM lifecycle stages and syncing them to Meta and Google, plus CAPI and offline conversion tracking, was a core part of reaching a 780% ROI. That is why my advice is to fix your ad tracking first. This is the order I follow:

1. Agree the stages. Two or three CRM stages that mean money, named the same way by everyone.
2. Clean the fields. Email and phone captured on the form and kept unchanged in the CRM, phones with +971.
3. Turn on enhanced conversions and accept the terms.
4. Tag the form with the manual or code method, and test with your own lead.
5. Create one action per stage, source "Import from clicks", set as secondary.
6. Upload daily: every conversion per stage, with the GCLID where you have it.
7. Read diagnostics weekly for the first month, then make the stage closest to revenue primary.

Frequently asked questions

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