Mar 22, 2019
Today’s post is a special guest post from our friend Emily Clark at Clutch.co. Emily is a writer for The Manifest, designing surveys and reporting on mobile apps and app development trends and news.
Location tracking is a popular tool in mobile app technology that gives a company access to a user’s location data, which provides more accurate and unique information on each consumer.
More than half of people (57%) are comfortable with apps that track their location. People allow apps to access their location because they find it convenient and feel safer with location tracking on.
This information can be used to provide a more personal experience for consumers. Mobile app development companies can help businesses use location tracking features to create targeted advertising experiences.
Through location tracking, businesses can create a buyer persona, explore geo-aware targeting, and integrate timely push notifications to create the most personalized advertising experiences for their customers.
Create a Buyer Persona
You can use location tracking information to gain insight into your consumer base. This information should be used to craft buyer personas.
Buyer personas are generalized personal representations of your target customers. They are fictional characters that represent your standard customer based on data and analysis.
These representations help businesses better understand their audience and what motivates them. Buyer personas are based on the analysis of real customers. Below is an example of a buyer persona template:
To create the most accurate buyer persona, businesses should collect as much information as possible on customers. A key aspect of buyer persona is their location, like where the person lives, or what areas they frequent.
Besides more basic demographics like age and career, buyer personas also include information about a customer’s socioeconomic profile, which allows businesses to adjust their marketing strategies to meet the needs and draw the attention of all customers.
Location tracking can indicate a user’s socioeconomic status as it shows where people live and where they go on a daily basis.
Through the collection of customer information, businesses can begin to understand what motivates customers, and can better understand what people will buy based on where they spend time.
Explore Geo-Aware Targeting
Geo-aware targeting uses location-tracking technology to target audiences that are physically nearby a location. This location service can identify previous customers who have downloaded the app within a certain area and send them alerts about new deals.
For example, if you own a local cafe, when your target audience is nearby, you can send an advertisement to them, increasing the chance that they will come to the store and bring the cafe more business.
Costs for mobile advertisements are quite low compared to other forms of marketing. By combining a thorough buyer persona with location tracking, businesses can learn to send advertisements to the right customers at the right time. This creates one of the most personal forms of advertising.
Sephora notifies customers via their mobile app whenever they are near a store location. Below, Sephora recognized that a consumer was traveling in Boston and sent a personalized alert:
This increases the likelihood that customers will come into the store and make a purchase.
Also, if you have a gift card and have registered that card in the app, Sephora will send you a message whenever you are near a store, reminding you to use your gift card.
Businesses can alert nearby customers with ads and benefits. This type of marketing is effective because it is targeted at a specific audience and offers immediate, personalized, value.
Integrate Timely Push Notifications
Location-based push notifications alert people when they are walking by a certain location. These types of push notifications drive customers to act and engage.
Location-based push notifications have a 40% click-through-rate. Timely push notifications are more relevant to users than other kinds of ads. Since people are already nearby a store, the convenience level of using the discount is much higher.
For example, as a consumer walks past a Starbucks storefront, your mobile app can send a customer a push notification telling them that they have a coupon for a free beverage.
Starbucks uses three methods of personalization in this one message. It incorporates the customer’s name, location, and favorite drink.
When phrasing messages to customers, it is important to consider the impact of personalization. Personalized messages are directly based on the customer, and should include the customer’s name, rather than a more generic phrase like “Dear customer.”
Messages that are personalized with the customer’s name significantly increases the likelihood of a given customer engaging with that notification or message. Location-based push notifications combine personalization with convenience, which increases the potential for customer engagement.
Use Location Tracking in Your Next Marketing Campaign
Mobile apps can provide customized services based on the user’s current location. These location-tracking apps create a more personalized experience for the customer based on their needs and physical proximity to various storefronts.
Location-tracking apps can also target advertisements towards the right audience: the people that visit a store or business the most frequently, and in certain cases, provide users with a sense of safety.
Location tracking can increase sales and engagement for businesses by reminding customers whenever they are near your businesses, or providing them with an incentive to visit a store.
Through location tracking, businesses can create a buyer persona, explore geo-aware targeting, and integrate timely push notifications to create targeted advertisements and a highly personalized experience for their customers. If you are unsure how to implement location tracking services into your app, contact a top mobile app development company for help.
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