Store Visits: Connecting Online Engagement to Offline Conversions


February 25, 2015

store visits

With $42.8 billion spent on internet ads in 2013 and that number growing 15% every year, advertisers are constantly searching for more meaningful metrics. Impressions, clicks, and conversions are great for measuring online engagement, but what actions do online ads drive offline? 

72% of buyers turn to Google when researching a product or service. Did they make a purchase in store because of the fact-finding they did online?

Last December, Google launched Store Visits, a new metric that is the first step toward connecting online and offline engagement. By extrapolating aggregated, anonymized data from a sample set of users who have enabled Location History on their device, Google estimates how many in-store visits resulted from online ads.

Sounds great, right? There are a couple of caveats:

  1. It requires a large amount of data for significant sample sizes. Most medium and small businesses do not qualify because they do not have sufficient data. Currently this metric is limited to a small set of big-box, multi-location retailers.
  2. It’s an estimate. While Google has said that their estimates are very conservative, it’s ultimately up to advertisers and marketers to verify the accuracy of estimated metrics. Remember, this is a metric from Google to show the effectiveness of advertising on Google.

So what can you do today to get a sense of the bigger picture? Ask this one simple question at the point of sale: “How did you hear about us?” You’ll gain insights on what’s driving purchases, whether it’s your online ads, traditional media, or word of mouth. If you want your picture in HD, you can always ask more detailed questions. Just avoid annoying your customers and hurting your brand.

What’s next? With enough interest, Google could expand the program beyond the small set of retailers who qualify today. And, to bring it full-circle, they’re piloting measurements for in-store transactions using retailer’s purchase data. Soon we’ll be able to more effectively connect online and offline engagement.

Photo via Flickr user Sam Greenhalgh

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is a strategist, speaker, educator, and author of Brand Now: How to Stand Out in a Crowded, Distracted World and Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. He is the Chief Brand Strategist at Brand Driven Digital, an educator at the University of Iowa, and host of the On Brand podcast. More about Nick.