Twitter uses Foursquare, Nielsen to show impact of ads on offline store visits, sales

Twitter wants you to know that its ads work — offline. To demonstrate Twitter ads impact real-world behavior, the company tapped Foursquare and Nielsen to show how telco campaigns on Twitter produced a meaningful effect on store visitation and sales.

The case study found that Twitter campaigns helped drive higher foot traffic to various mobile carrier store locations and higher spending in stores. Specifically, there was a 23 percent lift to mobile carrier stores and a nearly 7 percent revenue lift.

Foursquare provided the foot-traffic analysis using a control/exposed methodology. Nielsen delivered the spending data via anonymous, aggregated credit card transactions. Carriers with store-traffic monitored included T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, MetroPCS and Cricket.

There was an additional analysis of the influence of telco ads on Twitter users vs. non-users. The study concluded that Twitter users were more receptive and more likely to be influenced by smartphone-related ads than non-Twitter users.

Twitter users were roughly 2.4x more influenced by manufacturer and mobile carrier ads than those not on Twitter. The report also stated that “offer-based tech and telco campaigns on Twitter generate[d] a $21.84 ROAS (on average).”

While the immediate objective of this case study is to help Twitter break through in an ad market increasingly dominated by Google, Facebook and the programmatic black box, the larger significance is that offline store visitation and lift measurement is becoming increasingly common — even necessary.

Pandora not long ago announced an offline measurement partnership with Foursquare. And yesterday, GroundTruth, formerly xAd, said that “8 out of 10 brands” were interested in its cost-per-visit ad model, which only charges brands on the basis of actual store visits.

Beyond this, using credit card data to show in-store sales impact (which Google is doing with Store Sales Measurement) will also become increasingly common.

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.