Did you know that more than 95% of actual purchases still occur offline (i.e. in the real world) - yet a large amount of these purchases started online. 

This phenomenon is known as "Research Online / Buy Offline" or "ROBO".  Consumers use the internet (i.e. search engines) to learn more about a product and then locate a retailer that sells what they need.  But many purchases are unlikely to actually be made online - especially if the product needs to be seen, touched or perhaps it is too large (e.g. flat-screen televisions, gardening equipment, etc).

The opportunity for companies and PPC agencies is to ensure that your products are visible to these consumers.  Pay Per Click advertising is a great channel for achieving this - it is quick to establish, can be adjusted in real time, and it is in the right place at the right time.  The challenge, however, is in tracking the conversions (sales) that occur offline as a result of this activity.

One technique for tracking offline conversions and linking them back to a PPC campaign is to use coupons or vouchers.   Although it is simple and effective, this approach seems to be often overlooked.

1. Create ads that make a relevant and compelling offer:



2. Ensure that you provide a landing page that also contains a coupon that can be printed easily and taken into the stored to be redeemed.  It can be as simple as this:

Note that there are a number of bar code generators available online - you simply need to ensure that the format is consistent with your existing EPOS systems.

The sales that are associated with these coupons can then be associated with specific PPC/Adwords campaigns and a true ROI can be established.  Simple and very effective.