Capturing the offline activity driven by your online ads is only half the battle. Turning that data into action is what’s needed to win today’s omnichannel shopper. This checklist covers three reports that can help surface and act on insights from your store visit conversions in Google Ads.
Contact your Google account representative and see if you’re eligible for store visits conversion tracking in Google Ads.
And if store visit conversions isn’t yet available in your location, we’ve also included some tips below on how to get to a good estimate of your offline activity to help you get started.
Tip
You can measure the full offline value of your online ads by reviewing store visit and sales data.
1. Determine how mobile affects your offline sales
- Segment your store visits by device to understand performance differences between mobile and desktop.
Why: Bid more for shoppers who are searching for you on mobile and are more likely to visit one of your physical locations to complete a purchase.
Tip
If you’re managing multiple accounts, make sure to link your Google My Business account with each Google Ads account. You’ll need to do this to see store visit conversions in Google Ads.
Tip
If you don’t have store visit conversions reported in Google Ads, you can use the clicks on your location assets to understand performance differences. We can guess that someone who’s interested in visiting your store clicked to see the location details part of your location assets to find you.
Think about how your ads on mobile are driving most, if not all, of your store visit conversions. These are shoppers on the go and more likely to visit one of your physical locations out of convenience. Make sure that your ads are showing to these mobile shoppers by increasing your mobile bid adjustments to account for the offline sales that mobile is driving.
Example: Total return on ad spend (ROAS) versus Online ROAS by device
| Device | Online ROAS | Total ROAS |
| Mobile | 1.3 For every $1 spent, you see $1.30 in return |
13.9 |
| Tablets | 1.8 | 6.3 |
| Computers | 2.1 | 9.8 |
Tip
When calculating something like return on ad spend (ROAS) for your campaigns, look for any potential differences in average order value between your online and offline channels. Think about the types of products someone would prefer to evaluate and buy in one your stores.
CASE STUDY: Hyundai UK
Hyundai UK used Google Ads store visits data to prove search marketing investment. 3.4% of paid clicks resulted in a dealership visit in 30 days. For mobile, the rate was 4.9%.
2. Find out which products drive offline sales
- Understand which product categories are better at driving store conversions.
Why: Maximize impression share for product categories that are delivering more offline value.
Your campaigns may be organized by product type or category. Optimize your campaigns or ad groups with store visit conversions in mind:
- Make sure these products have enough budget
- Increase the mobile or location bid adjustments for these products
- Feature these products and their promotional offers in sitelinks to drive more local interest
- Add more keywords for this category or use broader match types to discover keywords that people are using to refer to these products
Tip
Remember the value of your generic terms. Shoppers might start their purchase journey by searching for more generic keywords and then honing in on more specific product names and models. These keywords can play a key part in driving new customers into your stores.
Example: Store visit rate by product category
| Campaign | Store visit rate |
| TVs | 15% |
| Home appliances | 12% |
| Cameras | 10% |
CASE STUDY: Office Depot
Office Depot added local inventory ads and Store Visits reporting to learn more which product categories were actually driving store foot traffic.
3. Set the right location bid adjustments
- Use store visit conversions by distance to calculate your location bid adjustments.
Why: Improve the chances that your ad will show to shoppers nearby who are more likely to visit one of your physical locations to buy something after clicking on an ad.
You can refer to what’s called the Distance Report for your location assets. The report shows store visits by the distance someone was from your location when he or she clicked on your ad. This can help you to understand how offline performance can vary by distance from your physical locations.
Tip
You should also review store visits in your location reporting. Identify which geographies drive a strong offline ROAS.
Use this report to help improve how you can reach folks who are searching for you nearby. Set up levels of location bid adjustments based on how performance varies by different distances from your store, especially when compared to your account’s national or broader averages. Remember, these differences can also vary by product category. Someone looking for coffee may not be willing to travel as far as someone who’s shopping around for furniture.
If you’re optimizing for return, calculate what a visit is worth to you. Calculate how many visits turn into a sale and how much revenue you drive on average from each sale. Then use total return from both your online and offline conversions to determine your bid adjustment.
Example:
| Distance from location assets | Total return from all conversions |
| Within 1 mile | 40% Action: You can set a location bid adjustment that’s 4x higher than the account or national average for a radius of 1 mile around your location assets - and then set different bid tiers for the 5 and 10 mile radii. |
| Within 5 miles | 28% |
| Within 10 miles | 20% |
| National | 10% |
