How to Best Track Conversions in Digital and Non-Digital Media Campaigns

Introduction

Whether you're running a digital campaign aimed at ecommerce sales or a non-digital campaign for B2C lead generation, understanding how to measure your ROI is key to success. This post will delve into the best practices for tracking conversions in both digital and non-digital media campaigns.

Setting the Stage: Objectives and KPIs

Before diving into tracking, it's crucial to set clear objectives and KPIs that align with your business goals. Whether it's increasing sales, generating leads, or enhancing brand awareness, having a clear target will guide your tracking strategy.

Key Takeaway:

• Objective Alignment: Your tracking mechanisms should be designed to measure the KPIs that directly relate to your campaign objectives.

Digital Media Campaigns: The Tracking Arsenal

1. UTM Parameters

UTM parameters in your URLs can help you identify which specific campaign, source, or medium is driving traffic and conversions.

2. Conversion Pixels

These are small pieces of code that track user behavior on your website. They can be customized to track specific actions like form submissions or purchases.

3. Real-Time Dashboards

Platforms like Google Analytics 4 and other 3rd party attribution platforms offer real-time dashboards that provide immediate insights into campaign performance.

Non-Digital Media Campaigns: Old School but Effective

1. Unique Phone Numbers

Assign unique phone numbers to different campaigns to track which ones are generating calls.

2. Promo Codes

Use different promo codes in various print ads, TV spots, or radio mentions to track their effectiveness.

3. Vanity URLs

These are easy-to-remember URLs that redirect to specific landing pages, allowing you to track visits and conversions from non-digital sources.

Insightful Opinion:

• Don't Underestimate Vanity URLs: They not only make it easier for customers to find you but also provide invaluable tracking data.

Bridging the Gap: Unified Tracking

1. Multi-Channel Attribution Models

These models consider multiple touchpoints a customer interacts with before converting, attributing value to each channel involved.

2. QR Codes

QR codes can be used in both digital and non-digital campaigns. They offer a seamless way to track user engagement across different platforms.

Key Takeaway:

• Unified Tracking: A holistic view of both digital and non-digital metrics can provide deeper insights into customer behavior.

Our Own Media Conversion Tracking Tool

There’s plenty of attribution tools; many with various bells and whistles, as well as price points. Granted most are for ecommerce businesses; and not lead generation or offer generation. Plus most focus on digital and not non-digital tracking.  At NuSpark we recommend them if it makes sense to manage your promotional campaigns with great looking dashboards. Most platforms utilize universal pixels on your server, wihich does allow more complete media tracking.  But we also do manual reporting based on the 3rd party pixels as provided by the platforms, which also means that it may not be totally accurate but in our experience they do provide relevent data across channels and are valuable for optimizign campaigns and making business decisions based on results.

That said, below is a comprehensive media tracking tool combining all the sources that we CAN track using a combination of ad platform pixel tracking, GA4 conversion tracking, QR Code clicks, Text Message clicks, Promo code conversions, and phone call leads, all within one report, covering digital and non-digital sources.  Feel free to click the link below and download a sample PDF.   Once we engage we’ll explain how it works. It’s how we do things here at NuSpark Media Group, so we can provide you the answer to “Did it work?”

Download PDF

Conclusion

Tracking conversions in digital and non-digital media campaigns doesn't have to be a Herculean task. With the right tools and strategies, you can not only measure but also optimize your campaigns for better performance. Remember, the ultimate goal is not just to collect data but to derive actionable insights that drive quality leads and sales.

Learn more about NuSpark Media's tracking approaches.

Happy tracking!