Personalization and hyper-targeting are the top trends in digital marketing. A marketing technique that combines both of these effortlessly is geofencing marketing. Geofencing allows marketers to advertise to their customers within a specific geographic radius.
Using location data, a virtual territory or geofence is first established. Geofences can be built using GPS, RFID, Bluetooth, beacons, cellular data, and WiFi. When a user crosses the virtual geofence, location-specific messages through channels like push notifications, in-app notifications, SMS, etc are sent.
How Beneficial is Geofencing?
Geofencing opens up a lot of possibilities to the contemporary marketer. Geofence marketing is really helpful in improving the overall customer experience. Many industries have successfully relied on geofence marketing to bring them the desired results. From limited-time offers in nearby restaurants to interactive shopping lists, there’s a huge scope for marketers to create innovative campaigns. Geofencing is a great way to increase foot traffic into stores and restaurants.
Here are some of the key benefits marketers can accrue by leveraging geofencing marketing:
- Boost regional sales
For marketers focusing on local sales, local SEO and geofencing go a long way in getting customers to make purchases. Since geofencing is location-based, marketers can easily target local customers in a defined geographic area.
- Personalize Offers for Customers
With geofencing, marketers can collect user data which can be leveraged to create personalized offers to their customers. Based on the localized data obtained, marketers can choose to alter their campaigns to suit the target audience.
- Gain Business Insights
Geofencing is an excellent way for marketers to accrue data on factors like the frequency and duration users typically spend in a geofenced area. Also, it is a very useful tool to track user entries and exits in the geofenced area.
- Improving customer loyalty
With the ever-increasing costs associated with user acquisition, it is easier to retain existing customers. This is exactly why customer loyalty matters. With geofence marketing, it is easy to remind customers every time they pass your fence.
- Convert Potential Customers of Competitors
Geo-conquesting, or diverting potential customers of competitors to one’s store is an effective way to bring in traffic that would otherwise be lost to a rival.
Here are some examples of successful geofence marketing campaigns:
Whole Foods
By leveraging a geo-conquesting campaign, they targeted their mobile ads to users near their competitors’ grocery stores. Additionally, they targeted health stores in the vicinity, thereby increasing their relevance to customers. These campaigns worked well for them, resulting in a boost in their post-click conversions rate which is 3x the industry average.
BMW
The automobile giant used geofencing not as a marketing tool, but as a product feature. BMW’s Trackstar and BMW’s Trackstar Advanced Services track the position of the vehicle and informs the owner of the vehicle moves without the car keys.
American Eagle
By targeting malls, where American Eagle outlets are there along with their competitors, the brand tries to capture the mindshare from their competitors. This move worked in their favor and the brand’s in-store sales grew 3x, which helped in increasing their overall revenues.
Using Location-Based Push Notifications to Boost Customer Experience
Geofencing marketing can really amp up the CX and take it notches higher. For instance, employing geofencing in an airport to inform customers about the relevant gate changes, delays, and boarding passes. Not only this information boosts the customer experience by taking some of the stress away, but can potentially boost engagement.
In cases where the geofencing strategy is implemented properly, there’s potential for remarkable user experiences that can make long-lasting impressions in the minds of the customer.
Combining geofencing with location-based push notification is a winning deal. CleverTap’s all-in-one engagement platform helps marketers in orchestrating such campaigns, boosting engagement and customer experience. The platform offers a complete suite of solutions that engage customers across the entire customer journey. Leading brands including Domino’s Disney+ Hotstar, 7-Eleven Philippines, and more boost their engagement rates with CleverTap.
