Category: Mobile Marketing

Proxama has launched the first of its mobile proximity ad campaigns on London buses.

This move, which has equipped 500 of London’s famous double-decker buses with Proxama’s Bluetooth-powered beacon technology, marks a key milestone in the industry. The buses will deliver real-time travel updates as well as relevant in-app ads to travelers who have signed up for the service.

Half a million travelers have already signed up for the service.

The project was developed by advertising giant Exterion Media and app developer Mapway. Proxoma’s beacon Mobile SDK was integrated into its Bus Times London mobile app, which deploys in-app ads to the mobile devices of passengers with the application. This allows marketers to capitalize on what is known as “dwell time”; the 17 minutes of idle activity that occurs during the average London bus journey.

More specifically, the half a million (and counting) users of the app receive contextually aware ads that “capitalize on the consumer’s exact physical context,” reported The Verge. Android users of the app started receiving the apps earlier this year and now they have also rolled out on iOS as well.

Location-based advertising using beacon technology drives higher consumer engagement levels.

According to a recent press release announcing the launch of the UK’s largest iBeacon consumer transport experience on London buses, brands that use beacon-triggered enhanced advertising have discovered that delivering contextually-relevant experiences boosts consumer engagement levels.

For instance, Sticky9 is seeing a 14.5% click-through rate average, which is much higher than the usually 1% or 2% of advertising that isn’t beacon-triggered.

What makes the particular enhanced Bus Times London app a particular hit with users is that aside from being sent relevant in-app ads that allow brands to capitalize on the consumer’s precise physical context and dwell time to deliver the best ads at the right time to increase click-through rates, it also provides users with real-time travel updates for the exact route on which they’re travelling.

Commenting on the partnership with Mapway and Exterion Media, Proxama’s marketing division CEO Jon Worley stated in the press release that “This collaboration is a huge milestone for the proximity marketing industry. App owners are looking for ways to increase active user numbers and establish new sources of revenue, and beacons can deliver on both objectives.” Worley added that the partnership is just one more indication “that 2016 is the year that beacon technology for marketing gains significant traction.”

Shopify’s latest acquisition will help business market their online stores with messaging apps.

The Canadian e-commerce company recently announced that it will be acquiring Kit CRM, a virtual marketing assistant that uses simple text messaging to assist businesses in accomplishing their marketing needs for their online stores. Businesses that connect Kit to their store can manage their social marketing with this virtual marketing assistant, which works with five online marketplaces. Acquiring Kit will give Shopify a notable conversational commerce opportunity.

This marketing trend could help business owners run their operations with greater effectiveness.

Conversational commerce is a major up-and-coming marking trend. According to Small Business Trends, it primarily pertains to using messaging and chat interfaces to interact with companies, brands, services, etc. that until this point have had no real place in the “bidirectional, asynchronous messaging context.” With the help of this marketing tool, end-users and customers are able to talk to brands via instant messaging applications like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Slack, and others.

The Chief Marketing Officer at Shopify, Craig Miller, commented on the recent acquisition announcement saying that Shopify believes messaging apps are the doorway for the internet on mobile and that conversational commerce represents a massive opportunity for their company.

Conversational commerce could change the way consumers make online purchase decisions.

In addition to acquiring Kit, Shopify has also been busy with developing commerce bots for Facebook Messenger that will enable business owners to have improved interactive and engaging communications directly with their customers.

In recent years, messaging apps have significantly increased in popularity to the point that in some cases they’ve become more popular than social media platforms. With this level of popularity, conversational commerce may end up proving to be a fundamental shift from standard commerce. It may also end up changing the way that consumers make online buying choices and even how they communicate.

“Kit addresses a real pain point for merchants and is one of our most highly rated apps in the Shopify App Store. We look forward to having the Kit team join Shopify and help us define the future of conversational commerce together,” Miller stated.