4 Optimizations for Location-based Marketing

Marketers who have their mobile strategies well under way are now turning their attention to the titanic, yet rewarding, tasks of retention and engagement. Location is one of the most powerful levers to build mobile engagement, because it allows you to deliver real-time content that is highly relevant to your user’s physical location. An analysis of data across all of our clients' campaigns shows if used wisely, location-based push messages can drive app open rates four times that of standard push-based content. Conversely, spammy messaging that is heavy on advertising content can have the opposite effect and even result in the dreaded app uninstall. The following are four tips to run a location-based mobile marketing program that entices new users and keeps your existing ones coming back for more. Think Customer-First, Not Sales-First No customer wants to associate opting in to location-based content with annoying ads and excessive push notifications. Consider how your understanding of a user's location can deliver value and improve the customer experience. How can you make the customer journey faster, more informed and more enjoyable, if you know a user is in your store or venue? Rather than serving up an ad or coupon, present them with a free game, a map of your venue or an interesting video that ties to their location. An engaged user will become a loyal user over time, so don’t make hard sales the objective of every piece of content you deliver. Take a Long-term View to Growth, and Lure Your Audience Through Other Channels Don’t expect all of your users will opt in to location-based content right away. Take a long view of building your audience, just as you would in growing an email list or SMS opt-in audience. Pushing too hard upfront may annoy them and turn them off for good. Also, look outside of your app to build your audience. For instance, use email or point-of-sale marketing materials to communicate the value of using your app in-store to entice customers to sign up and start engaging. Look at Location, Beyond Just ‘Entrance Events’ We often look at entering a location as the primary trigger for delivering location-based content to our mobile app users. However, some of the most powerful location-based results come from other types of location-driven content. When setting up your program, think creatively about reaching users at other points in their journeys, such as when they’re exiting a location, when they are dwelling within a location for more than an hour, or when they haven’t been in a location for 60 days. Test and Iterate! Take a test-and-learn approach to getting your content strategy right. What works for one brand might not necessarily work for another. Evaluate engagement metrics around your location-based marketing efforts and iterate on them to ensure your content strategy resonates with your audience. Mobile marketing is a fast-changing world, so what worked for you a few months ago, may not produce the same results today. Continue to fine-tune based on what your current data is telling you. Location-based marketing is a relatively new practice, and there’s no silver bullet for every brand or app publisher. Continue to experiment and adopt more advanced techniques and you’ll find your program will deliver results that blow non-contextual approaches out of the water.

Performance Marketing

4 Optimizations for Location-based Marketing

John Coombs

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John Coombs