How many times have you filled out a customer survey that asks, “How did you hear about us?” Those surveys typically feature online-related options, sometimes only getting as specific as “The Internet” while other times asking for the referring search engine or website.
Businesses care deeply about where their consumers are coming from, and these imperfect surveys have long been the best measurement of how valuable the Web was to their business. But as technology improves, the connection between online consumerism and in-store conversions is becoming easier to see–and easier to wield. Data analysis, increased Web integration and the rise of mobile technology have all created new channels for driving online consumers straight to a brick-and-mortar store.
Companies have several options for driving and tracking this store traffic, and these tools only get more useful by the minute. Read on to see how digital tools can bring online consumers into your physical store.
Click-to-Call Drives Direct Engagement
One of the shiny new toys of marketers driving in-store traffic is the click-to-call feature available on mobile phones. Since so much online searching and consumer activity is being done on devices equipped with phone call capabilities, the click-to-call function is a natural evolution. Google has rolled out click-to-call in its own mobile search results, and businesses can build this feature into ads displayed on any website.
Consider running a click-to-call campaign and monitoring the results. It’s easy to track which calls are driven through this calling feature, and it can give you a sense of the opportunities available through digital venues–even if you don’t see the Internet as offering much value to your business.
Digital Coupons and Mobile Referrals
Click-to-call is the latest and greatest evolution, but it’s just one of many opportunities created by mobile technology. Businesses should be eager to embrace these new tools, which reach a different audience of consumers and drive traffic in new ways.
Digital couponing is one such tool that offers easy tracking of conversions. When a digital coupon is made available–either through your website, social networks, or through a third party–consumers have to present that coupon when making a purchase. This means companies can easily track the conversions produced from digital coupons. And unlike print, they can reach a wider audience, including a more refined base of digital consumers.
Businesses should also consider other mobile referral strategies that can bring consumers to brick-and-mortar stores. Thanks to smartphone location services, ads can call up directions to the nearest physical store. Mobile ad campaigns also let you show ads to only the consumers in a specific area, so you aren’t wasting ad dollars on consumers that are hundreds of miles away.
AdWords Testing New In-Store Conversion Tracking Technology
Thanks to a few big-time third-party data firms, Google is quietly testing new technology that would show businesses when an online consumer makes a purchase at a physical store. The system manages to do this without violating any privacy concerns, and it works as follows: Consumers build up a wealth of identifying information when using their computers for consumer purposes, and data companies can track the use of credit cards, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses and other information.
Those third parties encrypt that personal info and turn consumers into a number. Then, when consumers use that same information to make an in-store purchase, the information can be handed over to the third party, who can determine if the data matches up with a past online consumer.
If a match is found, the in-store purchase can be counted as a digital-inspired conversion, giving businesses more insight into how the Internet is fattening their bottom-line. If the testing goes well, this service may soon be available to all businesses who use AdWords.
Consumers go back and forth between online shopping an in-store consumption, and there’s no reason a physical store should resist investing in digital strategy. Contact DBC Digital today to find out how your business can drive revenues through online campaigns.
