Franchises and multi-location retailers have a new way to harness the power of Facebook advertising with a recently added objective called Store Visits. Once set up on the Facebook Locations framework (formerly known as Parent-Child), retailers can use the Store Visits ad units to promote their local stores and better measure how much of their walk-in traffic is a result of their Facebook ads.
The objective is currently in beta test and is only available to managed clients with at least 100 locations that are outside of multi-floor malls or densely populated urban areas, though we expect Facebook to roll it out wider soon.
The immediate advantage for franchisors is they now have the ability to nationally create ads and deliver them to potential customers most likely to visit their local stores. They also have easy access to metrics showing how many people saw or clicked on each store’s ads, which will help in the planning of future campaigns.
The metrics used for Store Visits are estimated based on satellite imagery determining the local footprint of the business, information from people’s Facebook mobile app and verification polls given to customers within the Facebook app itself. The information will be anonymized and will only include Facebook users who have their location services turned on for Facebook.
The numbers are an extrapolation based on the amount of information Facebook gets. This means that the more customers who come into the store, the more accurate the measurements will be.
The reporting will be available in the Ads Manager section. Users should keep in mind that if some locations are being measured while others are not, they should divide these between two different ad sets.
The default reporting view will include a conversion funnel showing total impressions (who clicked on the ad), attention (who saw the ad) and who actually visited the store, along with the overall conversion rates of each.
Facebook will also display a line chart showing the most popular times of visits by day.
To drill down further into the Store Visits analytics, click on the Columns button and choose the Customize Columns option from the drop down menu.
Once there, check both the Store Visits and Cost per Store Visit boxes and click Apply.
From there, advertisers can find a wealth of information, including approximately how many people who went to their stores paid attention to or clicked on their ads prior to their visit. The default settings for those metrics are store visitors who saw the Facebook ad in the last 7 days or clicked on it in the last 28 days. However, custom reports can be created to suit a company’s needs. Users can speak to their Facebook representative if they would like to adjust the metrics.
Advertisers can also see how each ad did individually by clicking the All Campaigns button in the top right hand corner and selecting the All Ads option from the drop-down menu.
For franchisors and retailers who have more than one location, they can drill down even further. By clicking the Breakdown button and choosing the Business Locations option from the drop down menu, they will have the ability to compare results from their different locations.
Users can also determine the effectiveness of the ads’ Call-To-Action buttons by choosing the Customize Columns option within the Columns drop down menu. Once there, check the Button Clicks option and click Apply.
One additional metric available to advertisers using the Store Visits campaign is an estimate of how many people exposed to the ad actually paid attention to it with the Conversion Funnel option. The other metric is Daily Store Visits, which estimates what day the ad created the most in-store traffic.
The Store Visits ad unit is a powerful new tool for franchisors and multi-location businesses, allowing them to correlate their ad spent with actual, in-store results. As mentioned, advertisers must first be set up on Facebook’s Locations framework in order to use this type of campaign. If you require assistance implementing Locations for your brand, please contact us at [email protected].
Related Links:
A Comprehensive Guide to Facebook Store Visits
Video Walk-Through: Facebook’s New Store Visits Objective
How To Use Facebook’s Dynamic Ads To Drive Local Store Visits
Facebook Locations Updated with Name, Reviews Changes – 2016
