How To Get the Most From Location-based Mobile Marketing
As brands and app publishers look to what’s next for their mobile strategy, retention and engagement are usually top of mind. One of the most powerful levers available to mobile marketers looking to increase relevance and drive engagement is the use of location to inform and enhance a mobile content strategy.
Location is one of the more actionable data points available to marketers and, if used wisely, can drive app open rates four times higher than standard push-based content. While location-based, context aware marketing presents a powerful opportunity, if done incorrectly, spammy over-messaging with an advertising heavy content focus can result in the opposite effect and even the dreaded app uninstall.
Below are four key things to consider when looking to maximize your return with location-based marketing while avoiding its potential pitfalls.
Think customer-first with your content strategy
No customer wants to associate opting in to location-based content in your app with nothing but ads and excessive promotional push notifications. Don’t look at location-based content as a channel to purely drive ad content. Consider how your understanding of a user’s location can deliver end-user 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? What native features are of your app are made more relevant when a user is at one of your locations?
Take a long term view to grow the channel, leverage other channels to grow your opt-in audience
Don’t expect all 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 and email list or SMS opt-in list. Leverage other channels such as email, or point of sale marketing materials to communicate the value or key features of using your app in-store and clearly communicate the features and use cases driven by your location-based strategy.
Look at location not just in terms of ‘entrance events’
We often look at entering a location as the primary trigger for location-based content. However, some of the most powerful location-based results come from other types of location-driven content such as exit events or engaging users who haven’t been seen at a location after a period of time. In many cases, the lack of a user’s physical presence is as effective of a trigger as acting upon their current position in your venue.
Test and iterate!
Take a test and learn, data-driven approach to getting your content strategy right. When developing a location-based content strategy, 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. Think about how you can enhance or complement the existing customer journey you have crafted for your customer, rather than trying to ‘reinvent it’ on mobile.
These are just a few of the things to consider when evaluating your location-based content strategy. If you’d like to stay up to date with more best practices in location-based marketing, take a look at more from the Rover Blog or follow us on twitter.
