Three quarters of UK retailers are failing to assess the actual impact of their digital marketing spend, due to not accurately attributing the impact on footfall.

A survey of 1,153 UK retail workers carried out by digital agency Marketing Signals revealed that 68 per cent of retailers are unsure of the return on investment (ROI) of their most recent digital marketing campaign.

Recent research from Marketing Signals found that 85 per cent of UK retail transactions happen in store, not online, with 94 per cent stating they always research a product online before going to physically purchase it.

Gareth Hoyle, managing director at Marketing Signals, said the research points to the growing importance of omnichannel in the UK, yet many struggle to measure success.

“Online advertising, of course, doesn’t have the same issues - every click and sale can be measured and attributed - the issue for retailers comes when consumers have first visited a website and then gone to a store to complete their purchase.”

Hoyle noted that while technology such as Google Store Visits exists to help retailers accurately measure the return of their digital spend, many ignore this and attempt to resolve the problem with in-store surveys.

“Using the surveys to establish if customers who’ve searched for something online have actually visited a retail store, isn’t a particularly sophisticated solution to a very modern problem,” he added.

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