The store visit report in Google Analytics was terminated in October 2022. It is required to use other tools to understand the effectiveness of marketing measures to store visits, such as number of ad-viewers and number of store-visiting users who visited the website. In this post, we will introduce the way to use Google Marketing Platform as a solution.

Google Analytics store visit report gets terminated after November 2022

– GA (UA) store visit report was terminated in October 2022, with no substituting reports in GA4

The GA (UA) store visit report showed an estimation of users who visited a physical store after visiting a Website with GA. This report allowed advertisers to check the store visits through ads or organic search. But since its end in October 2022, there has been no data measurement and report updates. In addition, no store visit report has been announced for the new GA4 as of February 2023. Other tools must be used to measure the effectiveness of ads in driving store visits. In this post, we will introduce the way to use Google Marketing Platform to run such measurements.

(Figure 1: Google Analytics Visit Report end in October 2022), Reference: About Store Visits in Analytics – Analytics Help

Store visit measurement using Google Marketing Platform

– 1. Store visit measurements in Google Ads

Google Ads can track store visit conversions to understand how your ads are driving store visits.
The following requirements must be met to measure store visit conversions. (Quoted from the help page)

• Store locations must not be considered sensitive. For example, locations related to healthcare, religion, sexual content, and children would be considered sensitive and ineligible for store visit conversions.
• Your ads should use location assets or affiliate location assets so that we know which stores you care about. The more locations you have, the higher the likelihood your account will have enough data to be eligible for store visits.
• Make sure your location assets or affiliate location assets are active and not turned off at the campaign level or ad group level in Google Ads. You should also opt in campaigns to show assets. If you don’t opt in campaigns, store visits won’t be reported, and your Google Ads account may not receive enough data to be eligible for store visits.
• Your ads must have enough ad clicks or impressions, and your business must have enough foot traffic, to pass our privacy thresholds. Since store visit reporting utilizes Google AI, we need sufficient data to accurately report store visits. Because every advertiser is different, these numbers vary by advertiser.
• If you’re using location assets with a Business Profile, make sure that your store locations are set up in your Business Profile and all of your store locations are verified in your Business Profile.

Quote: About store visit conversions – Google Ads Help

Once the above are met, the number of visits will be reported in the Search, Display, and YouTube ad reports. These can be used to optimize Google ad distributions.

– 2. Store visit measurement solution using Campaign Manager 360

The Campaign Manager 360 is a Google Marketing Platform service that allows managing ads across multiple channels and measuring and reporting results. While the store visit conversion with Google Ads limits measurements only to that of Google Ads, Campaign Manager can also measure the effectiveness of ads in store visits distributed through other channels.

Note: Reliable ad distribution with Campaign Manager 360

Specifically, linking Google Ads, DV360, and SNS(Social Media) ad distribution tools to Campaign Manager 360 will aggregate information across all ad channels. Then, by linking the store location data to Campaign Manager 360 enables us to measure the number of store visits.

(Figure 2: Concept of data linkage using CM360)

As a partner of the Google Marketing Platform, we offer a one-stop solution that covers contracting and implementation of the Campaign Manager 360, linking ads, linking store information, and reporting the number of store visits after ad deliveries.

If you have any questions or concerns about store visit measurements and reporting using Google solutions, feel free to contact us.

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