Mother’s Day is this Sunday. My question is not what you bought your Mom (hopefully something), but how you purchased that gift for this the special occasion. Apparently, only 24% of internet users said they used mobile for last year’s Mother’s Day shopping. However, this year, brands are looking for better solutions with beacons, geo-targeting and geofencing tactics. While these are exciting technologies to embrace, take into consideration these tips on what you need to know with proximity marketing. Then with the right implementation, you’ll provide the most personalized shopping experiences for customers.
We all know (still) the biggest challenge for retailers is attracting customers back into brick and mortar stores. In order to resolve this challenge, marketers must implement location marketing technologies like beacons which can boost footfall traffic when combined with mobile technology. Location-targeted ads are expected to take off this year. However, marketers need to adopt a mobile engagement platform in order to properly execute location proximity campaigns.
For example, a few years ago Macy’s used beacon technology to communicate app promotions with Mother’s Day shoppers who walked into department stores. However, their branded content and mobile assets were not hosted on their own platform, but rather it was managed via a 3rd party. There was some backlash because Macy’s had little control on what content and engagements were used. This year, if brands want to implement location-aware promotions, they must own their content. They need to implement their own native mobile asset templates to upload branded materials. Therefore, marketers have more control and can design the best omnichannel experiences, both mobile and in-store, for shoppers anywhere at anytime.
Another suggestion for implementing proximity marketing is to ‘go beyond’ push messages.
source: Macy’s
While push messages have their time and place, there are more beneficial ways to engage app users. Specifically, brands need to capitalize the “precise” proximity of a shopper’s location via beacons and deliver more contextualized & personalized offers. For example, when shoppers pass by the perfume section, or garden section, or jewelry, trigger a rich message to that customer in respect to the section/aisle in which they’re located. Or place a beacon at the exit door and trigger a survey when the shopper leaves the store so they’ll fill out their customer feedback. Or trigger a survey the day after Mother’s Day and ask if your shoppers’ moms liked the gift.
Next, let’s say your customers are driving nearby your business or store. In order to reach them, trigger a geo-fenced promotion by inviting them inside your shop. Geo-fencing is an invisible barrier or radius that you set in a mobile engagement platform. Then you trigger a mobile asset like a coupon, push message once your shoppers enter or exit that radius. Depending on the rules you set, you can choose the number of times a user enters/exists that geo-fenced area or amount of time spent in that area before receiving the promotion (mobile asset). For example, you want to promote your spa giveaway or Mother’s Day brunch/dinner promotion. Trigger a voucher if the user stays in that geofence radius for at least 1 hour and intrigue them to stop by.
Geo-Fence voucher
Overall, in order for brands to truly succeed in their proximity marketing campaigns, consider these points:
- Own Your Content! Use your own branded materials to trigger and design mobile assets
- Precisely target shoppers in the exact store aisle with beacons
- Go beyond push messages – Use rich messages and interactive assets like games, surveys, and polls
- Trigger geo-fenced promotions such as for spa treatments, brunches, flowers, etc.
