As a business owner or manager, you know that tracking your sales activity and numbers is important. After all, it is these numbers that will show you how your business is performing. In today’s digital era, it is easy to track online sales and measure how our campaigns are doing. However, it is not so easy to track offline sales that might originate from online activity, and having these metrics can certainly help when working on any marketing campaigns.Â
When you are working with a digital marketing agency you will hear about metrics and analytics with regard to online marketing campaigns. It becomes a little trickier to track offline sales that are generated from online activity. This is not impossible, but does require some creative thinking. Below we offer some top tips for tracking your offline sales from online activity.Â
Create Custom Landing Pages
One of the most effective ways to track your offline sales that originate from online activity is to create a custom landing page. These pages could be specifically created to monitor your offline sales, allowing you to focus on the main goal of the ad and monitor how many people clicked onto your landing page and then moved on to making an offline, in-store purchase.Â
For example, your landing page could have a voucher code that they can print out and bring into your store for their next purchase. This is easily trackable as this code can only be accessed on this specific landing page. Your landing page could also advertise deals that are only to be found in-store and provide subsequent codes for these items, allowing you to see how many people go online to do research but prefer making offline purchases.
Offer Click-And-Collect Shopping
A leading e-commerce trend is offering customers the click-and-collect option when they arrive at the checkout point. An impressive number of consumers prefer this option, and retailers can use this to track offline sales that originate from online activity. It also encourages consumers to visit brick-and-mortar locations, which could lead to impulse buys.Â
Click-and-collect shopping requires consumers to enter their details, and this means that you can gather this information and data and see how many people are using this service. If you notice that is is a highly popular service, you can focus on promoting it more in your digital marketing campaigns and by ensuring that both online and offline consumers are aware of it. It is also a unique incentive to offer during major events such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday.Â
Don’t Forget Discount Codes
As mentioned above, custom landing pages can provide consumers with discount codes, but it is important to think a little more about these codes in terms of how the consumer accesses them. Some of your consumers may not have access to a printer and may prefer to simply write down the code.Â
This means that these codes should be short and specific enough for people to remember. For example, if you sell laptops or computers, on your website, you could have a banner ad or landing page with the instructions, “Use the code LAPTOPS15 for an additional 15 percent off of your next in-store purchase”. When this code is entered into your system, you will easily be able to track who has been online before making an offline purchase.Â
Ask Away
Now, this might sound relatively simple and almost old-fashioned but asking a customer how they heard about you or where they buyer’s journey started can help you to collect accurate data about online activity that lead to offline purchases. However, using some creativity, this can provide you with some actionable data.
With modern technology such as tablets and apps, you could create a Google form displayed on a tablet in your store that allows customers to answer simple questions and enables you to easily collect information to add to documents and analytics. One of the questions on this form could be how they found out about your store or what lead them to come in to make the purchase. Be sure to ask for explicit permission before gathering and using this information.Â
Putting It All Together
Tracking your offline sales that originate from online activity might sound like a difficult task, but it can be achieved with some out-of-the-box thinking. Creating custom landing pages with distinct codes is one option, and offering click-to-collect checkout options can provide you with data and happy customers.Â
Whether you want to improve your customer experience or simply improve your marketing tactics, you should invest in tracking your offline sales. The NetMechanic team prides itself on its creative thinking, so feel free to contact us today to find out more about what we can offer you.Â
