Tracking the impact of paid search on offline conversions enables keyword-level optimization and boosts incremental ROI 200%

San Francisco (August 19 , 2014)Kenshoo (www.Kenshoo.com), the global leader in predictive media optimization technology, and RevTrax® (www.revtrax.com), a promotions platform that drives and measures in-store sales through digital coupons, today announced the results of a partnership uniting offline conversions and paid search performance for omnichannel optimization on behalf of Staples Canada (www.staples.ca).

In an effort to better understand its online-to-offline marketing efforts, Staples Canada utilized RevTrax couponing technology to create and track a digital coupon offering consumers $10.00 off a Copy & Print order of $30.00 or more. The coupon could be printed, accessed as an online ecommerce code or displayed as a mobile landing page, depending upon where it was accessed. Once the coupon was redeemed, Staples Canada supplied the redemption data to RevTrax, enabling the matching of search campaigns and keywords to in-store transactions. Skai integrated the keyword-level conversion data into its platform, enabling campaigns to be optimized in real-time for performance by tailoring ad copy and informing bid policies to drive more coupon redemptions.

“We had several goals for this campaign, including driving online and in-store sales and uncovering deeper insights into customer behaviors and coupon redemption patterns,” said Arthur Marcoviciu, Digital Marketing Supervisor for Staples Canada. “By leveraging industry-leading technology from RevTrax and Skai, we were able to efficiently and effectively unite and optimize our online and offline marketing efforts for maximum ROI. For example, we learned that business customers drive the highest average order value when converting through non-brand keywords. Since most coupon redemptions occur in-store, we wouldn’t have been able to drive this level of cross-channel insight without this partnership.”

In the three-month period of the campaign, Staples Canada saw drastic improvement in critical KPIs, including a 200% increase in incremental ROI, a more than 9% increase in average weekly redemptions, a redemption increase of 148% from first to final week, and more than 1.4 million impressions. Simultaneously, average cost-per-click dropped 11%.

“The majority of purchases still occur in-store, so evaluating the success of a digital marketing campaign through an ecommerce-only lens provides a limited and inadequate definition of success,” said Jonathan Treiber, CEO & Co-Founder of RevTrax. “Working with RevTrax and Skai, Staples Canada went beyond the status quo and identified the search campaign elements driving the most in-store revenue, ultimately creating a cycle of learning and optimization to reduce costs and improve omnichannel effectiveness.”

By linking the often missing piece of the puzzle – transactional data from the online campaign – to offline conversions, Staples Canada received a holistic view of its omnichannel campaign performance and the ability to optimize campaigns based on in-store transactions just as it does with e-commerce transactions.

“Using data from one channel to inform another has become a best practice for marketers, and Skai has been leading the charge on this front with offerings such as Skai Intent-Driven Audiences which uses consumer search intent to automatically deliver targeted social ads,” said Gary Nafus, Managing Director, Americas for Skai. “The biggest hurdle for many marketers in this regard is uniting online and offline efforts; partnerships between industry leaders like Skai and RevTrax deliver solutions to bridge the gaps and achieve great results.”

Visit Revtrax.com/Staples-Canada or Kenshoo.com/Staples-Canada to download the case study of Skai and RevTrax results for Staples Canada.

About Staples
Staples makes it easy to make more happen with more products and more ways to shop. Through its world-class retail, online and delivery capabilities, Staples lets customers shop however and whenever they want, whether it’s in-store, online or on mobile devices. Staples offers more products than ever, such as technology, facilities and breakroom supplies, furniture, safety supplies, medical supplies, and Copy and Print services. Staples also offers free shipping for Staples Rewards Members, in most cases overnight. Headquartered outside of Boston, Staples operates throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. More information about Staples (SPLS) is available at staples.ca

About RevTrax®
RevTrax® is an omnichannel promotions platform that empowers marketers to drive and measure online-to-offline sales using cross-channel digital coupons and offers. Its scalable enterprise solutions provide promotional intelligence across all digital channels and devices. Founded in 2008, RevTrax is headquartered in New York City.

All RevTrax trademarks are the exclusive property of OnCard Marketing, Inc. d/b/a RevTrax.

About Skai
Skai is a global software company that engineers cloud-based digital marketing solutions and predictive media optimization technology. Brands, agencies and developers use Skai Search, Skai Social, Skai Local, Skai SmartPath, and Skai Halogen to direct more than $200 billion in annualized client sales revenue through the platform. Skai is the only Facebook strategic Preferred Marketing Developer with native API solutions for ads across Facebook, FBX, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Yahoo Japan, Bing, Baidu and CityGrid. Skai powers campaigns in more than 190 countries for nearly half of the Fortune 50 and all 10 top global ad agency networks. Skai clients include CareerBuilder, Expedia, Facebook, KAYAK, Havas Media, iREP, John Lewis, Resolution Media, Sears, Starcom MediaVest Group, Tesco, Travelocity, Walgreens, and Zappos. Skai has 23 international locations and is backed by Sequoia Capital, Arts Alliance, Tenaya Capital, and Bain Capital Ventures. Please visit www.Kenshoo.com for more information.

Skai brand and product names are trademarks of Skai Ltd. Other company and brand names may be trademarks of their respective owners.