Local businesses with physical locations, from retail to grocery to attractions, depend on foot traffic to drive revenue. Getting people in-store is a potential outcome for several digital advertising tactics. A metric to measure how ads bring people to stores is foot traffic attribution.
In this post, we’ll define foot traffic attribution, explain how it works and discuss which digital ad options can create it.
What Is Foot Traffic Attribution?
Foot traffic attribution describes a way to attach physical store traffic to mobile digital advertising. It connects a consumer’s real-world behavior to their exposure to ads. It can be a performance metric for campaigns and provide insight into how they influence customer behavior.
How Do You Measure Foot Traffic from Digital Ads?
Measuring any advertising metric is all about data. In the case of attributing foot traffic to mobile ad campaigns, multiple models enable this, including:
- Matching mobile user profile and location data to ads served
- Panel approaches, which follow people who have location tracking on continuously
- Pixel dropping on mobile IDs once someone enters a targeted zone
- Point-of-sale integrations
Keep in mind that any collection of data must abide by privacy rules. There is no perfect way to measure foot traffic attribution. Data can be incomplete, and consumers must agree to share it for it to be accurate.
There are other ways to measure the impact of ads on foot traffic. Businesses can use specific discount codes associated with campaigns. When a customer makes a purchase, the employee scans a barcode or enters a number. The retailer can then match these purchases to an ad.
What Are the Latest Trends Around In-Store Shopping?
It’s easy to assume that everyone’s transitioned to e-commerce to buy goods. However, that’s a misconception. In the U.S., more than 85% of all retail sales occur in-store. Those making purchases at physical locations aren’t just older generations. A survey found that 97% of them shop in-store and prefer it just as much as doing so online.
So, in-store shopping is still alive and well. For local businesses, it’s what keeps their doors open. Thus, you’ll want to recommend tactics that can drive foot traffic.
Which Tactics Create Foot Traffic?
The best ad type for foot traffic is geofencing. Fencing the physical area around a store catches nearby consumers with location services activated on their mobile devices. If they are using apps while in the zone, they may receive an ad for the business. The ad needs to have an immediate incentive to visit the store, such as a coupon code that is good for that day only.
Targeted display ads that aren’t location-based could also promote foot traffic. A consumer doesn’t have to visit the store that day for advertising to influence this behavior. The same applies to OTT streaming ads and local SEM (search engine marketing).
The measurement of these would be more related to unique codes for the campaign. Local search has a strong tie to in-store visits. Within 24 hours of a local business search, 76% of people visit a location. Of that segment, 28% make a purchase. If businesses want to stay top of mind as the restaurant or retailer of choice, SEM campaigns make them a priority on the results page.
What Are Foot Traffic Campaign Best Practices?
If foot traffic is your advertiser’s goal, you should share these best practices when designing the campaign:
- Campaigns should last a minimum of 90 days; anything shorter than that doesn’t give it long enough to perform.
- Campaigns should have at least 500,000 impressions to generate user behavior for store visits.
- Ad content should be relevant and include a specific offer and a strong CTA.
- A/B testing these ads may be a good experiment to see what resonates with consumers the most.
- Foot traffic attribution campaigns can include multiple tactics.
Get more insights on in-store conversions by downloading our e-book, Connecting Advertising to In-Store Conversions: How to Help Advertisers Find the Magic Mix.
