Methods to Improve Offline Conversion Tracking!

Online campaigns have one sole goal in mind, that is to achieve sales and get the maximum of Return on Investment (ROI) from the numerous efforts that go in creating such campaigns. The analysis of these campaigns includes the tracking of leads, sales, important downloads and other factors that are taken into account while counting the accomplishments achieved in your online campaign.

However, not every sale that you make is completed online. Such as, in the case of electronic goods. If a consumer wishes to buy a television set, then he might visit your website, browse through your catalog and even leave his contact details with you. But, only in rare circumstances, would a visitor every purchase a product online, without thoroughly inspecting it and laying all his doubts at rest. Hence, a lot many conversions these days are accomplished offline, i.e either through telephone conversations or when a consumer visits your store or showroom. This makes it extremely hard to maintain a record of online as well offline sales.

Hence, I would like to take this opportunity to suggest some critical steps that would help you in establishing or at least in estimating your offline conversions. But, there is a degree of difference in the setup costs of these steps. So, it is entirely up to you to choose, as to what methods suit your campaigns and your budget at the same time.

Maintain Balance between Online & Offline Campaigns:

One of the most effective way of estimating your offline conversion rate is to follow the classic On/Off strategy. This is what you do. If your are running an online paid campaign, for instance in Google AdWords, all you need to do is to turn off the online campaign for about one to four weeks. This should give you all the time required to evaluate and collect all the necessary information to estimate the offline conversion figures by contemplating both phone leads and visits to your store or showrooms. The best possible factor involved in the offline conversions that you receive is your paid online campaign.

Display Unique Phone Numbers in Your Website:

Instead of providing your regular contact numbers, to get a fair idea of your offline conversions, you should acquire and put unique telephone numbers that a visitor can use to contact you. These numbers should only be displayed on your website and nowhere else. Thus, whenever a potential lead gives you a call on that specific number, you’ll instantly know that the person has visited your website, thereby adding to your offline conversion rate.

Understand How Visitors Located you Online:

While handling incoming calls, it would be a great idea, if you can dig out as to how the caller found you on the Internet. In a subtle manner, try to find out whether you were referred to him, whether he found you by fluke or did he particularly search for you. This could provide you with a fair estimate about the visitors that have contacted you offline, after going through your website.

Categorize & Tag Customers:

This process is primarily used by websites that have a dedicated or frequent buyer programs. In this process, you assign unique IDs to your customers, so they can be identified individually and uniquely when they arrive at your website. This is accomplished by providing them with a log in, a customer ID or an order ID. This way after completing the formalities, the customer calls at your store or personally visits you and completes the transaction. Thus, with the unique customer ID, you can compile the data for your offline conversion figures.