Just as a business can track visitors to its website, it can also collect data about visitors to its physical locations or events. This process, known as footfall tracking or people counting, offers insight into how well your space and your marketing are performing. 

The modern customer journey includes multiple online and offline touchpoints. Shoppers may research online before visiting a physical location, or browse in person before ultimately converting online. That’s why integrating footfall tracking data into a broader identity resolution and customer data strategy is essential for accurate attribution and overall marketing success. Here is a closer look at how to integrate footfall tracking into your data ecosystem.

What is Modern Footfall Tracking?

Footfall tracking is no longer just about counting visitors. It’s about connecting in-store behavior to the broader customer journey. In most cases, data is collected continuously to identify trends and optimize customer experience.

Footfall count is a key performance metric for any business or organization with a physical location. Insights from footfall tracking can be used for: 

1. Operational efficiency - optimize staffing and layouts, and make scheduling more efficient
2. Marketing and attribution - improve campaign measurement and accurately measure channel impact
3. Experience optimization - track dwell time, map customer paths, and identify engagement zones

All of this information is useful on its own, but it becomes truly powerful when integrating with digital marketing metrics to map the entire customer journey.

Footfall Data For Digital Marketing Attribution

Most businesses assume that increased in-store volume can be attributed, at least in part, to successful online campaigns. Yet many struggle to accurately quantify this connection. Modern footfall counting systems make more accurate attribution possible when in-store and online data are connected. 

Well-chosen solutions go beyond dwell time and conversion rate to collect more granular data. They can reveal how many people visited your store after viewing your website or seeing a specific ad. You may even be able to tell whether customers are visiting your competitors. 

In short, footfall data is not just an operational tool, it’s a key component of modern marketing attribution. 

Modern People Counting Systems Pair With Identity Resolution Tools 

Beyond mere people counting, modern footfall tracking uses the latest technology to deliver rich data. 

• Infrared sensors
• Video analytics 
• Wi-fi tracking 
• Mobile footprinting 

Any or all of these options can provide key insights, however, some are easier to pair with your  digital identity resolution system. While infrared sensors, and video analytics can reveal in-store behavior, they don’t connect visitors with digital shoppers. 

By contrast, wi-fi tracking and mobile footprinting recognize users based on their mobile devices. Since most people carry mobile phones, this is a fairly reliable way of tracking customers. 

Wi-Fi tracking recognizes unique mobile devices, how long the device stays in store, and how often it returns. Mobile footprinting is even more precise, using location data to track customer behavior even before they set foot inside. It puts their visit into context, allowing you to see where they’re coming from and potentially what they’re shopping for. 

When properly consented, mobile footprinting can bridge the gap between media exposure and the physical visit. This allows you to more accurately measure ROI and make informed marketing decisions. 

Privacy Regulations Compliance in Footfall Tracking

When using cameras, wi-fi, or mobile footfall tracking solutions, data protection regulations may come into play. These methods of tracking may require user consent, and shopper data must always be stored appropriately. Businesses need to find their own balance between data collection and privacy compliance. 

An attorney or data privacy professional is always the best source of information on privacy regulations compliance for footfall tracking or any other consumer insight technology. General guidelines include, getting consent where necessary, knowing how data is stored and processed, and having data privacy agreements in place with any third-party vendors.

Connecting Footfall Data to the Digital Customer Journey

Businesses get the most out of footfall data when they analyze it in context with other customer behavior information. This is most easily done when footfall data is fully integrated with your Customer Data Platform (CDP) and Point of Sale System allowing you to unify online and offline data. 

Integrated systems create opportunities for: 

1. Cross-channel attribution - see how both online and in-store marketing campaigns contribute to conversions and make more informed marketing decisions
2. Customer journey mapping - clarify how customers interact with your business both in person and online to optimize the customer experience
3. Marketing ROI analysis - improve the accuracy of ROI calculations by understanding exactly how each investment contributes to conversion both in-store and on your website
4. CDP enrichment and identity resolution - gain a deeper understanding of customers to enable personalization and improve customer lifetime value

Multiple sources of online and offline data deliver the richest insights for businesses. Launch Labs Enterprise Data Solutions help you get more from your existing data through data collection, identity resolution, and customer engagement. Contact us to learn how Launch Labs can empower your data strategy.