Tracking offline conversions has been challenging businesses for years. The Internet is a powerful tool in driving business but how can you track your online marketing efforts to an offline purchase?

For the majority of bricks and mortar businesses, a large percentage of conversions take place offline, despite a strong online presence and rigorous online marketing. Measuring offline conversions and proving on paper that the online marketing triggered the offline conversion is difficult, because you can’t often directly measure the process from start to conversion.

As local search continues to become more innovative, we can only assume that the web will continue to drive more offline purchases. With some consumers more likely to use their iPhone for online shopping research, businesses are going to see more mobile customers who may be more inclined to visit a physical location whilst they're on the go.

Google and comScore once conducted a study, which showed that 63% of consumers who search products online go on to buy the same items offline. No doubt that since this study took place, the numbers will have changed slightly but what hasn't changed is the fact that people are still finding products online and buying them offline.

So what’s the solution? Well, we recommend trying in-store surveys as a way to find out how people are arriving to their purchases. In addition, online coupons and offer codes can be tracked offline.

When it comes down to it, without a way to track an offline sale, it's going to be difficult to tell how effective your online marketing efforts are.