Getting Proximity Marketing Right on Mobile

Every marketer understands the increasing necessity of investing in their mobile strategy. While many elements make up a winning mobile presence, one of the most important components is the consideration of proximity.

Proximity-based content or proximity marketing has emerged as an extremely powerful channel available to marketers with content engagement rates of 45–85%. Including proximity in your mobile strategy and getting it right is crucial.

The difference between proximity-aware content and content void of proximity considerations is big. Receiving an offer or recipe idea on my grocery store app as I walk in to the grocery store can’t be compared to getting that same content when I’m at my daughter’s piano recital or on vacation.

Contextual content is the difference between annoying your customer or driving value and improving the shopper experience. Getting this right is about putting user context and experience at the forefront of mobile strategy.

Traditionally, mobile strategy has been driven through engagement with a mobile agency, but increasingly this process is being done by internal digital teams. Executive level roles like the Chief Digital Officer and the expansion of internal mobile teams at some of the world’s leading brands is a testament to its’ core importance. In addition to these growing internal resources, mobile-centric platforms have made putting this process in the hands of marketing and digital teams even more achievable than ever.

So, how should increasingly empowered marketing teams evaluate their mobile strategy? What should be considered when evaluating proximity marketing on mobile?

A crucial starting point is recognizing that this process and proximity marketing in general is about customer experience and is inherently iterative. It requires a commitment to understanding the key touchpoints or elements of your customer’s journey and leveraging the tools that allow teams to test and evaluate the outcomes of your assumptions.

Below are some highlights to help better understand how proximity can enhance your mobile strategy:

Ask

• What are my customers already doing on mobile while they are at my store or venue?
• What are they doing on other apps while they visit?
• What are points of friction or pain in the customer experience? Can they be addressed on mobile?
• What are staff and sales associates asked throughout the various regions of a physical venue and how can proximity content help address them?

Use

Leverage tools that allow you to test and see what sticks. There are platforms that empower your team to build content into your apps without needing to involve developers or push app store updates. Ensure that the tools you use provide the metrics to evaluate what is working. Also, recognize that you want to focus on the customer and not be bogged down with evolution and changes in things like proximity technology. You’ll want to feel confident the platform provider you choose is on top of the technology as it evolves. Are they just a platform or do they provide the type of support, onboarding and subject matter expertise to ensure your success?

Content

Focus on content strategies that offer customer value and improve the customer experience. Sales lift will follow. Leading with exclusively promotional-centric content is not the way to drive channel engagement. Build your audience, demonstrate how the channel is valuable to the end user, then test appetite for content that is more promotional in nature.

• Address pain points, offer incentives, think about the customer experience — what can I add to improve the customer journey?

Inspiration

What does a well thought out proximity strategy look like from the user’s perspective?

Starbucks and removing customer friction:

Beacon triggered push to open the app when a customer walks in the store; In-store content offers up a recommendation of what is usually ordered; use in-app payment to ‘click to buy’; order pick up at the counter without ever waiting in line

The fan experience at a sports venue:

Game details and who is playing is presented when a fan enters the stadium; easy to purchase, ‘smart’ seat upgrades based on where i’m sitting with in-app pay to upgrade; proximity based video/content to enhance points of interest within the stadium

Retail and the ‘in-store’ app mode:

Richer or mobile-exclusive offers and incentives; nearby product info — put Amazon in the palm of my hand; seamless loyalty and payment prompt when customer approaches checkout

The important take away is that proximity matters and marketers should have the tools to be in control of building the experience that matches their brand and customer journey. Success will come from being able to test, learn, and work with the right partner that brings value-add beyond the platform through established best practices and customer success tools.

See how Rover can help put you in control of building out your mobile proximity strategy.
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