Geofencing is an effective marketing geolocation technique. It involves setting up a zone and then targeting anyone who enters it. It draws people to stores, restaurants, and other businesses. Even though we can use it in many different places, this practice is still not very common. It is, however, essential to think about, given how often people use their phones.
What is Geofencing (A Proper Definition)?
Geofencing is a marketing technique that lets a company send a push notification or text message to people entering or leaving a particular area. Geofencing is a way for retailers to send personalized and targeted commercial offers to their customers who live in the area. So, customers will see alerts or messages on a smartphone or a connected object, but sometimes through a mobile app.
How does Geofencing Work?
Three things must happen for a user to get a message or a push notification. They are:
- That he was able to get push notifications.
- He had downloaded the company app.
- That he has turned on his Bluetooth.
Users who live in certain areas that are “virtual barriers” usually receive these push notifications: These virtual barriers can be:
- Passive means people run the app in the background and use Wi-Fi or cell data.
- Active means that the user has to open the app or connect to a service to use them.
When users go over or under these limits, they get an alert. There are different types of technology that can set up zoning. It can be a few meters or a few kilometres.
Usually, companies merge Geofencing with a lot of different types of technology. For example, GPS, RFID (radio frequency identification), and sometimes Google Earth are used to show where things are.
The Challenges Companies face while Geofencing!
The development of connected objects and smartphones every day makes geofencing a great idea. Many businesses use this marketing method to create a virtual barrier around them to send a promotional offer or advertisement to the phone of people who might be interested in their business. These are some examples of how this might happen:
- Stores that give new customers a deal they can use at the store or online to get them to come in.
- Airports that share deals at duty-free stores and special deals for upcoming vacations.
- Stadiums that send welcome messages, guides, or coupons for nearby restaurants to people who come to see them are called stadiums that send welcome messages.
Using geofencing, you can find new customers and reach out to them in a unique way. Companies can send a message in many different ways. One way is to send it to a person at a time and a place where they are most likely to buy something quickly.
Consumers are becoming less and less interested in the ads they see all day. It is good to know. The best way for a brand to use geofencing is to make personalized offers to its customers to have a better customer experience. Relevant content that isn’t too annoying for people is what it needs to do.
How do Geofencing help Local Businesses?
In marketing, geofencing is also becoming more and more common. So much so that now we use a new term: Geo-marketing. This, for example, means that you can make a virtual wall around a store. Then, potential customers can be sent promotional offers or ads on their phones when they cross the barrier. This way, they can be encouraged to buy when they see the ad.
It is also possible to make a virtual barrier around a store competing with yours to give your customers better deals. So even though geofencing doesn’t always make people want to buy, it is possible to use this technology to watch how people act inside a store and use this information to make more effective marketing campaigns.
Retailers use geofencing to make their marketing projects more effective. geofencing is a way to:
- Make sure people know about an event or a new product;
- Carry out customer prospecting;
- Make competitive offers to keep the market competitive.
How to Set up a Successful Geofencing Campaign?
The goal of geofencing is to get more customers to come to the store so that the business can make more money from them. However, so that people don’t think it’s too intrusive, it’s essential to follow some rules.
1. Obtain the user’s permission
If the company decides to send messages or push notifications through the app, the user must give their permission first. Therefore, it is essential to be clear about how the company decides to use user data, on the one hand, so that the messages don’t bother the customer and, on the other hand, to follow the GDPR law and the standards in place.
2. Use a good call-to-action to get people to do what you want!
As part of geofencing, messages must include a relevant call to action depending on the person’s location. This is the only thing that will make them want to do something.
There must be a reason for notifications and messages to don’t seem intrusive. In addition, their content must not be cold or generic but must have added value to draw the target’s attention to the message they are giving. Thus, it is better for a restaurant to talk about its lunchtime or evening menu than just its address.
3. Avoid a flood of messages
When you send a message or notification, you need to do it at the right time to avoid making people feel like they are being watched. This is true, even if geofencing lets you send personalized messages to people based on where they are. This is still advertising. There is a right time to send out promotional offers, but it’s better not to send out too many simultaneously.
Thus, it is better to send a single targeted message at the right time rather than many notifications to make someone buy something on the spur of the moment.
4. Keep an eye on the results of your geofencing campaign to see how it went!
As with any other marketing campaign, it is essential to keep track of the data that comes from geofencing. When you monitor your campaign results, you can make changes to improve the experience users have and change your strategy so that it works better in the future.
It’s good to use geofencing to target people in a more personalized way. Be careful, though, to be honest, and send the messages at the right time to meet your sales goals.
