Smartphone owners appear to be happy to opt in for geolocation technologies and the benefits they offer.
Although assumptions had been made that location based marketing techniques would put consumers off because of a feeling of being tracked and stalked, new research is showing that as long as the method is used properly, consumers can actually find it to be quite appealing.
Research conducted by Urban Airship, a mobile marketing provider, shows that consumers are happy to opt-in.
At the same time, though, new American legislation could actually create a dramatic change in the landscape for location based marketing using apps, as the concerns over the privacy of smartphone users continues to grow. There are some who have equated the use of geolocation technology to stalking, and they are determined to put a stop to it. This is interesting news as it appears to be in direct conflict with the sentiment of the majority of device using consumers, at the moment.
That said, as location based marketing has not yet become mainstream, consumers may not yet know its full potential.
As geolocation technology is only just getting started, many consumers may not yet be fully informed about what it entails and what risks it could pose to their mobile security. At the same time, it could be that consumers feel that the advantages still outweigh the potential risks and are willing to share their location with the applications on their smartphones and tablets.
Urban Airship conducted an analysis of 4 billion push messages that were sent by over 1,000 mobile apps. What they determined was that 62 percent of device users were fine with sharing their location to a provider that would send push marketing messages. Among those applications that were analyzed, the opt-in rates for providing location data ranged from an average of 60 to 80 percent.
The Urban Airship CEO, Scott Kveton, explained that the location based marketing analysis showed that “assumptions around consumers being reluctant to share location are false and massively short-sell mobile,” and pointed out that, on the whole, device owners “value the location-based functionality of apps.”
Also present were Todd Marks, the CEO and president of Mindgrub, as moderator, as well as the marketing director of Funk, AirPatrol, Lauren Edwards, and the CEO of viaPlace, Scott Schelle. Each of the companies that participated in this forum focused on different elements of location based tech, including schedules and wayfinding, three dimensional location and mapping within indoor spaces, and finally mobile security based on position, which can offer smartphone disabling functions, among others.