An interesting study has been released by RevTrax. The study was conducted over a two year period and found that paid search had a significant impact on in-store sales. The summary, which you can download here, highlights some cool stats:
- The average click on a paid search ad generated approximately $15 of in-store revenue, with some
merchants seeing as much as $28 of in-store revenue.
- Approximately 9% of clicks on a paid search ad generated an in-store sale, with some merchants seeing up
to 26% of clicks on a paid search ad generating an in-store sale.
- Many merchants reported that 40-50% of customers acquired via the study were new
To conduct the study, RevTrax used the following process:
- a paid search advertisement was displayed to a consumer;
- the paid search ad led the consumer to a printable or mobile landing page displaying a coupon with a
unique barcode; and
- the consumer redeemed the coupon inside a brick & mortar store.
Utilizing its unique barcode or promo code technology, each coupon was tracked back to the search activity that
drove engagement. RevTrax also utilized a variety of proprietary coupon security features to ensure clean
measurement of data only from the paid search channel.
Another interesting bit of info that’s not in the summary, but can be found on Search Engine Land is that, in the words of RevTrax COO Seth Sarelson:
As for PC vs Mobile, we’re working on a later study that will address these results, but most of what we’re looking at here is printable coupons from a PC.
Before I found this tidbit, I was ready to assert mobile as the primary driver of the results. After all, with the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, it would seem to be a logical conclusion.
I look forward to the follow-up study.
@MarkPalony
The Holidays are fast approaching – we’ve already had frost here in Minnesota – and that means a dramatic increase in retail spending; online and in-store.
The big question is, are you ready to claim y0ur unfair share of the Holiday market?
Ready or not, search engine land, weighed in yesterday with 5 tips you can use to prepare your paid search for the inevitable. The post includes pointers for budgeting and mobile strategy, but the most intriguing is the section on taking an holistic approach.
An increasing number of people are using desktop and mobile searches in a quest to buy locally. Amazon isn’t going away anytime soon, but SEL makes the point that you had better begin making the online-to-offline connection with your customers or you might just lose them.
You can read the entire article here. Don’t just read it. Print it and post it through the end of the year.
Then, this same time next year, you can take it out, dust it off. Consider it your first holiday decoration of the season.
I’m willing to bet most of you have never considered the question. I know I hadn’t until I read the article on SFGate.com. According to the article, the concept “measures the digital footprint of 64 brands via 350 data points across four dimensions: Site, Digital Marketing, Social Media, and Mobile.”
Three brands, Macy’s, Victoria’s Secret and Nordstrom, achieved Genius level, but some of the more interesting findings include:
- Facebook is a key element, but only four brands have fully-functional storefronts
- 67 percent of the 64 brands have mobile sites – a threefold increase over last year – and 88 percent of those are e-commerce enabled
- Innovation is imperative. Resting on ones laurels is a strategy for losing
You can download the entire report here for free. It is gated, so you’ll have to give up a bit of information, but the tradeoff is well worth it.
