Foot-traffic attribution is the standard measurement methodology for DOOH and OOH campaigns where the conversion event is a physical visit. The mechanic uses anonymized mobile-device location panels — large data sets of opt-in mobile location data from apps that share their data with measurement providers like Placer.ai, Veraset, or Foursquare — to compare visit rates between two cohorts: devices exposed to the ad (because they were physically present in a venue running the spot) and a matched unexposed control group.
The output is typically a percentage lift number — 'visits to the dispensary increased 35% above the trailing twelve-week baseline among the exposed cohort versus the control.' Highfloor includes foot-traffic attribution on every flight where the brief includes a physical-visit conversion goal — cannabis dispensaries, restaurant locations, retail stores, event venues.
Foot-traffic attribution has limits. Panel data is sample-based, so small flights with low venue density can produce noisy reads. Mobile location data has some accuracy variance (especially in dense urban environments where multiple buildings cluster together). And the methodology measures correlation, not causation — Highfloor pairs foot-traffic with branded-search and call-volume signals to triangulate attribution claims rather than relying on any single data layer.