S3Corp. Tech Blog

Marketers are not just tracking your activities when you are browsing the internet; they are also monitoring you offline. This includes the use of various technologies that help connect your online and offline behavior. From the ads you see to your purchases in physical stores, companies are finding ways to collect and link data from both environments. Here’s how marketers are doing it, and how they’re using that information to target you more effectively.

Tracking Offline Campaigns Online

Despite the shift to digital advertising, traditional offline ads still play a large role in marketing strategies. Billboards, print ads, and other forms of physical advertising continue to receive substantial investment. However, measuring the impact of these offline campaigns on online behaviors, such as purchases, is a challenge. Marketers need ways to track if those billboards or print ads are driving traffic to their websites or boosting online sales.

One of the most straightforward methods used to track offline campaigns is through the use of unique URLs or discount codes. These are often shared through physical advertisements like billboards or magazines. When you visit a website using a link from an offline ad, the company can track that visit to know exactly where it came from. For example, a specific URL featured in a billboard may be exclusive to that ad, ensuring that every visitor who arrives via that URL saw the billboard first. Similarly, discount codes such as “washingtonave10″ are often linked to particular ads or locations. When you use that code, the retailer knows the exact campaign that influenced your purchase.

Another common method is through QR codes. These are increasingly featured in print advertisements, allowing you to scan them with your smartphone to visit a website or redeem a coupon. By scanning a QR code, you are telling the company which ad influenced you to visit their site. Text messaging campaigns are also used, where you text a number seen in an ad to receive a coupon or more information. Marketers track the specific phone numbers used to connect each campaign, further connecting offline ads to online activity.

These methods, though basic, have been around for years. However, as technology continues to advance, marketers are developing new techniques to gather even more detailed information about consumers’ behavior, both online and offline.

Connecting Online and Offline Behavior

While tracking online behaviors is relatively easy for marketers, connecting them to offline actions, such as in-store purchases, is more complicated. For example, if you buy a product in a store with cash, it is nearly impossible for the retailer to know if you were influenced by their online ads. However, marketers have come up with innovative ways to bridge the gap between online and offline behaviors.

One common strategy is the use of loyalty programs. Many retailers offer loyalty cards, such as those at Starbucks, Tesco, or REI. These cards track your purchases and are linked to your email address, which is the same email address you use for online shopping. By signing up for a loyalty card, you allow companies to track your shopping habits both in-store and online. For example, if you download a coupon online and later use it in-store, marketers can connect that in-store purchase with your online behavior through your email address.

Retailers may also gather your email address directly at the point of sale, often in exchange for a discount or the promise of special deals. Once they have your email, they can send you coupons, updates, and advertisements designed to keep you engaged with their brand. Every time you interact with a retailer, they gather more data about your preferences, your purchase history, and your likelihood of responding to various ads. This information enables them to refine their advertising strategies, targeting you with increasingly relevant messages.

Data brokers play a key role in connecting online and offline data. Companies like DataLogix, Acxiom, and Epsilon specialize in collecting, analyzing, and selling consumer data. These companies aggregate information from loyalty programs, online tracking, public records, and mobile apps. They combine these data points to build detailed profiles of individuals, including economic status, political views, and even personal preferences. This comprehensive data allows marketers to better understand and predict consumer behavior.

These data brokers not only collect information from online sources but also tap into public records, such as your address, marital status, and voter registration details. By combining online data with offline information, these brokers can provide marketers with highly detailed profiles that help them target ads more effectively.

Data Collection Away from Your Computer

Marketers don’t just rely on your online activity to gather data. Many companies also track your behavior away from your computer, particularly through your smartphone. Most smartphones come with location-tracking features that allow marketers to track where you go, even when you’re not connected to the internet. For example, Google once tested a system that used GPS data to track users’ movements and connect them to ads they had seen on their phones. While Google may not be using this system currently, many other companies are collecting location data from mobile devices.

One such system is Apple’s iBeacon, which uses Bluetooth technology to track shoppers’ movements inside physical stores. This system can provide retailers with valuable insights into how consumers browse products in-store, helping them refine their marketing strategies. Other companies, including Google, Daelibs, and HP, have developed similar technologies that track consumer movements.

Shopping malls are also using technology to monitor consumers’ behaviors. Many malls have installed systems that track signals from shoppers’ smartphones, following their movements as they walk through the mall. While these systems often claim to anonymize the data, there is no clear evidence that they are not able to link this data back to individuals. As the technology improves, it is likely that marketers will increasingly combine this offline data with their online tracking to build more comprehensive consumer profiles.

ClearChannel Communications has developed another technology that tracks mobile users through billboards in major US cities. These billboards collect data about the phones that pass by, which helps marketers assess the effectiveness of their campaigns. While the system doesn’t collect personal information, such as age or gender, it does categorize phone users into groups based on their behavior, such as “soccer moms” or “NBA fans.” This data is then sold to advertisers who target these groups with tailored ads.

The concern over privacy has led some to question how much personal information is being collected without consent. For example, Minnesota Senator Al Franken expressed his concerns about ClearChannel’s technology, as it could potentially violate consumer privacy by sharing data collected without permission. These issues are becoming more pressing as mobile technology advances and marketers find new ways to collect data.

Opting Out

While it may seem like marketers are collecting data on every aspect of your life, there are ways to limit the information they can gather. Opting out of data collection programs is one step you can take to reduce the amount of data being sold about you. While it is difficult to completely avoid data tracking, there are services that allow you to opt out of data broker databases.

For example, StopDataMining.me provides a list of data brokers that offer opt-out options. By opting out of even a few of these services, you can limit the amount of personal information being shared with advertisers. However, it is important to note that new data brokers may appear, and they will continue to collect data in different ways. Even if you opt out of one company, another could collect the same information.

It is also essential to be aware of the permissions you grant to mobile apps and websites. Many apps ask for access to your location or other personal data, and it is up to you to decide whether to allow these permissions. By reviewing and limiting the permissions you grant to apps, you can reduce the amount of data being shared with marketers.

A Disappearing Distinction

The line between online and offline behavior is becoming increasingly blurred. With the rise of smartphones, GPS, and location-based services, it is now rare for consumers to be completely offline. Many people are constantly connected to the internet, even when they are walking through stores or attending events. This constant connectivity provides marketers with an unprecedented level of insight into consumer behavior.

As this distinction disappears, marketers are finding new ways to gather and connect data from both online and offline sources. The availability of detailed consumer data has made it easier for companies to target individuals with highly relevant ads, increasing the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns. However, this also raises significant privacy concerns, as the amount of personal information being collected continues to grow.

In the future, it seems likely that marketers will find even more ways to track consumer behavior, both online and offline. As technology advances, the ability to link these two data streams will only improve. This poses an important question for consumers: Is it worth the tradeoff between the convenience of personalized ads and the loss of privacy?

While the ability to track consumer behavior has provided immense value to marketers, it has also led to significant concerns about privacy. As consumers, it is crucial to stay informed about how our data is being collected and to take steps to protect our privacy.