Use Google’s new store sales direct to measure offline conversions

A customer’s path to conversion can be a long and complicated journey, spanning multiple touchpoints across devices and mediums. For brands with brick-and-mortar locations, measuring the impact of online ads on offline conversions is critical to measuring the success of your digital marketing efforts. Google has introduced a new product called Store Sales Direct(SSD) that aims to solve this common conundrum.

As you can see in the image above, Google is able to match the offline conversion data provided by the client to logged-in Google users who previously clicked on a paid search ad. These results are then aggregated and extrapolated to represent an estimation of all clicks. This allows the advertiser to see concrete transactions in physical stores by users who first interacted with an advertisement online.

We were able to participate when this product was in Beta and saw major lifts in performance. For the client with access to the product, we saw a 25% increase in down-funnel conversions, which improve the overall CPA by 25%. We were then able to share the results with the client and tell the story of how online exposure can lead to in-store action.

Overall performance

This data is also readily accessible in the AdWords interface and can be used for optimizing towards in-store conversions. By seeing the offline performance at the keyword level, we can tailor strategies around driving in-store conversions. In order to continue to see this data, it is necessary to upload the offline data on a recurring basis.

Google can automatically generate Customer Match lists using transaction data uploaded for Store sales (direct upload). Your transactions may be stored for up to 6 months. Since this customer match list represents converters, a good next step would be to create a similar audience off of the store sales data.