You’d think with us being in the post-pandemic era, the majority of sales take place online – but your business is likely to always have a group of in-store shoppers forming a part of your customer base. That’s right – good old fashioned physical, in-person purchases.
Since Google launched store visit conversions, we thought we’d have a go at explaining the what, how and why of store visit conversions – your golden ticket to accurately measuring Google Ads performance.
So what are store visit conversions?
Store visit conversions are essentially where you can see how many people have visited your shop after interacting with one of your online ads.
How do Google Store Visit Conversions even work?
Well, Google can look at a customer’s phone location history to see if they have actually visited your store after seeing or clicking on an ad.
It is all anonymous though, so no need to worry about invading anyone’s privacy.
You may have seen this in action after you have visited a cafe or store and it asks you to give that location a review.
Shop visit data is great for truly understanding if your campaigns and ads are actually effective – and who wouldn’t want to know that, right?
So who (exactly) needs to know this..?
If you have multiple physical stores where you sell products, it’s probably worth it.
This is especially relevant for retail and hospitality businesses.
Do you sell electronics, clothing and apparel or something similar? You’d probably want to know if your Google Ads are driving foot traffic to your storefront.
We always recommend tracking all customer touchpoints to your business as a conversion – shop visits just make the picture even clearer.
How do I get store visit conversions?
You’re probably thinking this is going to be a ton of drama, but it’s not. What we’ve found is that you definitely need the following:
- Multiple functioning store locations
- Have enough clicks or impressions (around 1 million a month)
- Actually have enough people visiting your store
- Google My Business verified and linked to Google Ads
Cool! I want more Shop Visits!
Once you’re in, let’s look at some ways you can optimise for shop visits and drive more traffic to your store.
Run Local Campaigns!
Local campaigns place your ads on Google Maps, YouTube, as well as the Search and Display network, while prominently highlighting your store’s location.
Assign a shop visit value
In your conversion goal details, assign a dollar value to your shop visits.
We recommend going low, because Google uses this value to then estimate the value for each click.
Prioritize Conversion Actions
Apart from Shop Visits, choose your most important conversion actions and assign a dollar value based on how important that conversion is for your business.
You’ll find this option in campaign settings > campaign optimisation.
Increase mobile bids
It’s a known fact that the majority of Google Ads traffic is mobile-based.
When people in-market are searching for stores nearby, they’re most likely using their mobile.
If someone’s in the market for a product you offer but you’re not appearing for it, that’s a sale you’re missing out on!
Our mantra at Unbound is something like… No impressions, no clicks, no sales.
Local campaigns and tracking shop visits are just some of the different ways your business can be found.
And that’s what we do – want to be found online? Call Unbound. We’ll even chuck in a free marketing plan!
