Offline conversions refer to success events that happen outside of addressable digital channels, such as sales in brick & mortar locations, or closing a sales through the advertiser’s call center, or closing a lead through a third party agent or franchisee. There is usually enough PII information collected from the offline conversion (information such as names, credit card numbers, etc…) that allow marketers to identify the individual performing the offline conversion.
Through integrations with marketers CRM systems, it should be possible to tie a user’s digital activities (including their marketing journey and online conversions) with offline conversion events.
Why would a marketer want to do that?
Because conversions, whether offline or online, do not happen in silos — and being exposed to marketing messages online has been shown to drive sales in the brick & mortar world. Because of the online/offline divide, too many marketers have taken the easier route of associating offline conversions with offline marketing, and online conversions with online marketing — but customers don’t think and behave in such a simplistic manner. By looking at customer journeys that drive both online and offline conversions, marketers are able to obtain a far more accurate picture about the incremental effects of their digital marketing on ALL types of conversion events
