We’re not sure why Facebook rolled out this feature last year without fanfare. Offline Events are a useful and insightful tracking addition to its advertising platform. Given that social media is often an instigator or a motivation for purchase, this tool helps plug the information gap as to what effect it really has.
This tool that allows you to evaluate how Facebook ads contribute to driving off-line conversions such as foot traffic, orders over the phone, in-store sales or even live event attendance.
Previously it was virtually impossible to track results accurately. The only reliable metrics available were on-line events that could be tracked with the Facebook’s conversion pixel. This ability to also track offline events attributed to Facebook advertising is a massive step forward, especially for businesses that primarily sell in-store.
How does it work? Facebook Offline Events syncs real data such as transaction data from your customer database or point-of-sale system with your Facebook Ads and the users who have seen them. Upload a file that has key information such as customer’s name, email, purchase, and date of purchase. Facebook then compares that data with the users who saw the specific Facebook ads, and gives you a more accurate conversion analysis.
The results are fairly accurate; however, it still relies on gathering accurate offline data – from the business. On top of this, Offline Events do not tell you if a person also saw other advertising activity such as TV, billboards etc. and therefore what percentage from these channels should be contributed to the final sale.
Offline Events is a step in the right direction and sheds some light on the ‘black hole of attribution’ previously faced by marketers and sales people alike. Offline Events give credit to Facebook Ads and provides Return on Investment data for the Ad spend, and validation towards contribution to sales.
To find out how to create an Offline Event, speak with Pitstop Marketing today, or click here to find out more.
Read more about Offline Events here.