What is offline conversion import?
Offline conversion import is the process of sending outcomes that happen outside the website, such as an attended appointment or an admission, back to ad platforms like Google Ads, matched to the original click. For hospitals it lets bidding systems optimise for patients who actually arrive rather than for form fills, provided the data shared is minimal and lawfully handled.
Why it matters for hospitals
Ad platforms optimise towards whatever you tell them is a conversion. If that is a form submission, they find more people who fill forms, not more patients. Importing attended appointments shifts spend towards searches and audiences that produce real visits.
How to put it into practice
- Capture the click identifier (such as the Google Click ID) with each lead in your CRM.
- Send back a simple event like ‘appointment attended’, with a value band if useful, never diagnosis or clinical details.
- Agree with legal and compliance teams what data leaves the hospital under the DPDP Act and platform health policies.
- Upload on a regular schedule, ideally daily, so bidding gets timely signals.
- Allow a learning period before judging the results.
The common mistake
Uploading sensitive details such as the treatment received or condition, which is unnecessary for bidding and creates privacy and policy risk.
An illustrative example
A clinic switched its Google Ads goal from form submissions to imported attended consultations. Lead volume fell slightly, but attended visits per rupee rose over the following two months. (Composite example, not a specific hospital.)
Related terms
Further reading
Part of the healthcare growth and digital glossary. Last reviewed 7 October 2026.