A new study by retail marketing firm RevTrax revealed the impact paid search has on offline sales. For every $1 in online revenue generated by paid search, $6 is generated in offline revenue.
This fact has been easy for marketers to overlook, due to the difficulty of tracking online-to-offline transactions. For two years, RevTrax monitored millions of paid search ads and transactions for its clients using landing pages, coupon codes, and unique IDs. When customers printed the coupons and brought them in store, RevTrax was able to track the transaction back to the search query.
The average click on a paid search ad led to $15 of in-store revenue, with an average of 9% of clicks leading to an offline sale. According to the study, RevTrax believes that companies not including offline sales into paid search ROI are undervaluing paid search by as much as 85%.
This study stresses the potential benefit of online marketing campaigns, even for companies that do business primarily offline. As paid search and mobile search continue to evolve, it is becoming easier to track phone calls and offline sales generated from search engine marketing campaigns. Businesses without an online presence are likely missing out on large numbers of potential customers.
Paid Search 6 Times More Effective for Offline Sales
