For clients with both an online and brick and mortar retail presence, you're probably often challenged to justify the impact of your search marketing efforts on in-store sales. We get that question as well, so we put the theory to the test by monitoring in-store sales for one of Google's large retail partners during a geographically-targeted online marketing campaign. We found a 300% ROI for the client during the test period.
To test this theory, we worked with the client and agency to select test and control DMAs with store locations. In the test DMAs, we added geographically-targeted search and content campaigns for the furniture category. The control DMAs did not promote the selected furniture lines through online advertising, and other ad campaigns were kept constant. We then partnered with Applied Predictive Technologies (APT), a software and services firm focused on Test & Learn solutions in the retail environment, to analyze sales, unit and transaction data for set times before, during and after the test, which happened in September-October 2008 (as well as the same time periods in 2007).
Despite running a test at the peak of the economic crisis, the client saw a 300% ROI, with $3 in sales for every $1 spent online. In addition, there was a 2% overall in-store sales lift in the test DMAs over the control markets and a lift of up to 5.3% in a select group of under-performing stores. More specifically, the furniture category saw a sales lift of 1.4%, which is noteworthy because the average furniture buying cycle is longer than the five week test period.
What does this mean for you?
1. Use this study to build a case for clients who are predominantly brick and mortar to implement online ad campaigns.
2. Replicate a similar test to demonstrate the benefits directly to your clients, as well as to determine the right targeting and media mix.
