Ashad RehmanWhat is geofencing? Is it just another app on the mobile app market? Is it a new concept which is trending or has it been around for a while? How can geofencing help me improve my business?
These are some questions that come to our mind when we hear the term, “geofencing.” Do we really know what geofencing is and how it can be leveraged within our businesses?
Let’s learn a little about geofencing!
What is Geofencing?
First things first, Geofencing is all about locations. In the mobile app development industry, geofencing creates a virtual fence around a pre-defined geographical location. The app then helps the user identify potential business locations by sending them customized push-notifications. They belong to different apps existing on the user’s mobile device already. For instance, if you love to eat porter steaks at Morton’s, you happen to pass by one of their steak joints in Newark, and you have its app installed on your phone or any other app that features Morton’s, you will get a push notification.
How does Geofencing Work?
Think of yourself as running a supermarket chain within your city. If people want to find out where your business is located, they turn on the GPS and RFID on their smart devices. Now, if your target customer wanders within the periphery of your virtual fence, your business app installed on their device will automatically send out a push notification. It can be in the form of personalized messages, attractive schemes or some other lucrative discounts. Anything that can attract an average shopaholic to come over and consider you instead of your competitors, cuts the bill.
Who Can Use Geofencing Mobile Applications?
If you are a small or medium sized business operating locally, geofencing mobile applications can do some real wonders for your business. In essence, geofencing apps are the best solution for businesses that are operating within a region from multiple locations.
Here are some great examples of where geofencing mobile apps can be used:
- A coffee shop can send automatic alerts to individuals who like to caffeine it up.
- A real estate business can send automatic alerts to users searching for nearby rent/sale houses.
- Wedding planners can set up geofencing around bridal stores, florists, shopping malls.
- Multiplex and theatres can send notifications to nearby users for their favorite movies.
In short, these type of applications is dominantly used in markets where geographical location matters. If you are a business seeking to run a location-based marketing campaign, or if you are associated with any sort of business that requires location-based marketing, geolocation-based apps are a wonderful resolve for your business.
These apps are predominantly used in the following industries.
- Travel & Tourism
- E-commerce Businesses
- Entertainment Industry
- Deals & Offers
- Real Estate Businesses
- Automobile Industry
- Food & Fine Dining
- Cafes & Clubs
All of such businesses and many others that are eager to run promotional offers can make use of the geofencing location feature in their respective mobile apps.
Related Read: How Much Does it Cost to Build a Mobile-App like NatWest Online Banking App?
The Best Advantages of Using Geofencing In Your Business
Geofencing is an interesting option which allows your business to thrive greatly and do better in a local target market. Here are some increasing benefits of having geofencing as a part of a business plan.
Attract More Relevant Customers
Whether you want potential customers to come to visit your business or you just want traffic to come to your digital product, geofencing is a great way to usher in people showing an interest in your service. A single push-notification with an amazing catchphrase is good enough to attract them to your mobile app. If you flood their phones with consistent push-notifications, it can lead customers to deactivate the geofence. Remember, push notifications are meant to add value, not become a nuisance.
It Increases Customer Loyalty
One great way to make the best use of geofencing is to mine customer information to identify which of the individuals are dormant. Then, you can use different targeting methods to target those customers and eventually win them back. Here’s an example to better explain this process; imagine a customer coming into the vicinity of your store and you let them know that their favorite chocolates are back in stock. And just because they are loyal to you, you are offering them some interesting discounts. In fact, add a layer of engagement to the whole layer by updating the notification with something endearing like “we miss you!”
Macy’s pepped up their use of proximity-triggered messages and notifications to enhance in-store customer experiences. The proximity-triggered ads pushed out from their proximity enabled mobile application, included personalized deals, department-level deals, recommendations, rewards, and discounts for customers. They took it up a notch on Thanksgiving for an in-store contest focusing on Pinterest for a mobile-enabled shopping list and showcasing deals. A push notification prompted shoppers to engage with a digital experience, the mobile-enabled and beacon-triggered Macy’s Black Friday ‘Walk In and Win’ game, offering shoppers a chance to instantly win $1 million Macy’s gift codes and a lot of other fun gifts.
It Influences Purchase Decisions
Geofencing is also a good option for all businesses that are seeking to increase customer influence. People want businesses that can cherish them, that can be there for them. When businesses let their customers know that they value them, they become loyal to their service. Hence, the next time when you push forward an interesting deal or put a promotion right in front of them, the percentile of acceptance is greater than the chances of observing failure on the respective deal. Such things happen because of you like a product score a certain influence on your target customers.
It Helps Monitor Workforce Movement
Not only does the Geofence prove itself as a tool for running location-based marketing campaigns, but it is also an interactive tool for monitoring workforce movements in specified areas. With effective geofencing, you can keep an eye out for workers. You can also monitor their tasks and rest time. You can see how your workforce is moving around. You can also define the best routes to deliver products to your customers and at the same time, allow customers to visit you. By monitoring workforce movement, a geofence can really help your business groom and grow effectively.
How Can Marketers Leverage Geofencing for their Respective Businesses?
There are many commendable ways in which geofencing can assist in modern-day digital marketing specialists. Modern marketing specialists can leverage geofencing in their businesses in two innovative ways. One way is by noticing the interaction of the user with the app in a defined area. The other way is to learn about their offline behaviors from location data.
Here are some examples of how marketers can get the best ROI from investing in geofencing tactics:
Example # 1
You can increase foot traffic by sending promotional offers to shoppers who are just passing by your store. Imagine a person searching for Ray-Ban sunglasses and it happens to be that your store houses a classic pair. You can personalize the push-notification and send it to that person. Imagine, how many others are looking for Ray-Ban sunglasses or any other glasses? Geofencing will attract all passersby searching for sunglasses to your respective store.
Example # 2
With geofencing, your business app can suggest product suggestions based on previous buying behavior of users. There is a huge market for video games and you have a video game store operating in the heart of Barcelona. Suddenly, this new game called ‘Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice’ releases, and people start hunting like crazy for it. Geofencing can trace individuals who have previously purchased video games from your app and send them push-notifications to purchase the game.
Example # 3
Geofencing not only allows you to create a regional fence, but you can also create virtual fences around your competitors and attract their customers with better deals for your business. It’s like somebody visits Walmart and asks for the pricing on a vacuum cleaning robot. Suddenly, you see a push-notification arrive on your smartphone with a better deal from Tesco. Seems like Tesco has introduced geofencing in the most commendable manner.
How to Start off with Geofencing?
Geofencing technology has become incredibly important for your online business if you are operating in a local market with multiple locations. Having a geofencing technology in place for your online business requires you to implement these five important steps.
- Ensure that geofencing stays aligned with your existing mobile app business strategy
- Pick a proper geofencing software which allows you to meet your set goals and objectives
- Test the software using a powerful testing mobile app
- Get an app development help by implementing the right software into your app
- Now all you have to do is get creative with geofencing notification campaigns
It is without a doubt that geofencing is an incredible tool for modern day marketing specialists. It gives your business an entirely different approach so you can acquire a competitive edge. When geofencing is done properly, it allows you to build greater loyalty, generate real-time engagement, and in return maximize your ratio of success. Within no time, you are able to score better conversions.
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