In the world of advertising, understanding whether your campaign worked is essential. Did the ads you placed result in more foot traffic to your stores? Did the consumers you targeted with ads actually take action in the real world? Did your desired consumers see your OOH advertisement? These are the questions that, without location data, would be impossible to answer.
The Complexity of Measuring Offline Conversions
While measuring digital conversions (like clicks and online purchases) is relatively straightforward, measuring offline conversions is much more complex. If your goal is to drive in-store visits, how do you know if your campaign actually resulted in increased foot traffic?
There are two primary ways to measure the success of location-based campaigns:
- Specific Device Observations: This method looks at whether specific devices that were served ads also visited the targeted locations. For example, if a mobile device saw an ad for a clothing store and then was later observed in that store, it can be considered a likely conversion. However, this requires large amounts of data and comprehensive tracking to ensure accuracy.
- Traffic Trends: Another approach is to look at overall foot traffic trends to the targeted locations during the campaign period. If the data shows an increase in visits that aligns with the timing of the campaign (and after controlling for other factors like seasonality), it suggests that the campaign likely had an impact.
Both methods have their pros and cons. Device observations provide more direct insights into who visited the store, but require large, reliable data sets. Traffic trends give a broader picture but don’t always account for external factors that might influence visitation, such as local events or weather conditions.
Why Accuracy is Critical for Ad Spend
Inaccurate data can lead to misguided conclusions and wasted ad spend. If your measurement system is based on outdated or duplicated data, you may end up overestimating your campaign’s effectiveness or, worse, continuing to invest in strategies that aren’t working.
Unacast is the leading provider of cleansed, deduplicated, privacy-sensitive location data. Unacast addresses data quality issues by using advanced filtering techniques and forensic flags to identify and eliminate problematic data like “replay” or improperly configured UUIDs (Unique User Identifiers). These safeguards ensure that the location data you’re using for audience targeting and measurement is reliable, giving you a true picture of your campaign’s impact.
Combining Data and Insights for a Holistic View
The most effective advertisers combine specific device observations with overall traffic trends to get a comprehensive understanding of campaign success. Unacast allows advertisers to measure both, offering tools for data analysis and insights that help explain the "why" behind changes in consumer behavior.
If you're looking to better understand how to measure and optimize your location-based advertising campaigns, check out our detailed report, The State of Location Data and Its Impact on Advertising. Download the full report to learn more about the strategies and tools that can help you drive better results.
