Linking Online and Offline – How to Measure the ROPO Effect
Modern purchase journeys are rarely confined to a single channel. Customers often combine online and offline touchpoints when making buying decisions, using information gathered from multiple sources. One of the key behaviors worth tracking is the ROPO effect (Research Online, Purchase Offline)—where users first research products online and later complete their purchase in a physical store.
The reverse scenario—revROPO (Research Offline, Purchase Online)—occurs when customers visit a brick-and-mortar store to explore products, but ultimately make their purchase online. Both patterns are essential to understanding the role of digital channels in driving offline sales, and vice versa.
Example Analysis:
How an Online Visit Impacts Offline Purchases
Measuring the ROPO Effect with YourCX
As part of a YourCX survey, users were asked:
“Do you usually visit the online store before making a purchase in the physical store?”
Key Findings:
73% of respondents answered “Yes”, indicating that the majority of customers display behavior consistent with the ROPO effect (Research Online, Purchase Offline).
Although this group has a lower conversion rate (2%), they account for over 61% of total revenue.
By contrast, users who do not research online before visiting a store have a higher conversion rate (4%) but contribute only 33.5% of total revenue.
Insights and Best Practices
Monitor ROPO behavior with direct survey questions, such as:
“Did you visit our website before coming to the store?”
“Where do you plan to complete your purchase?”Segment users by purchase path (online/offline) to tailor messaging, offers, and retargeting strategies.
Strengthen the digital touchpoint before purchase—for example, by improving product descriptions, offering comparison tools, or displaying in-store availability.
Track revROPO behavior by asking online buyers:
“Did you see this product in a physical store before buying online?”
The YourCX platform enables precise analysis of cross-channel interactions and allows you to measure the mutual impact of online and offline touchpoints. This leads to a better understanding of how your website supports offline sales—and vice versa—making it a core part of any successful omnichannel strategy.
You can also automatically measure how offline experiences influence future online actions, helping bridge data gaps between physical and digital journeys.
