Tracking the Untrackable for Fireplaces: Measuring In-Store Intent from Online Behaviour

The challenge: The campaign appeared to be underperforming based on lead form submissions alone. While the business owner was happy with overall business outcomes, the standard lead metrics weren’t reflecting the true impact of the online campaign — there was a disconnect between reported performance and actual results.

The solution: To bridge this gap, I took a closer look at customer behavior. Most audiences researched fireplaces, electric stoves, prices, and models online - but made their final purchase decision in person, at the store. This meant the online lead form was capturing only a fraction of actual interest; it wasn’t the full picture of how customers were converting.

To solve this, I set up tracking on “Get Directions” (Google Maps) clicks on the website. This allowed us to measure how many users clicked through for directions versus how many ultimately visited the store in person. This gave the business much clearer visibility into audience behaviour and intent, and significantly improved the accuracy of performance reporting.

See screenshot below for the increase in conversions and decrease in cost per conversions month-over-month

**

Key takeaway: Understanding the true nature of a business - not just its surface-level metrics - allows me to deliver results that are specific, meaningful, and aligned with where the business actually needs to go.